An Unprecedented Time: Teenagers and Poker

[Taylor Caby]

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All,

Haven't read through much of this thread yet, but looks like some good stuff. I agree w/ Taylor, though. There's definitely still a ton of money in poker, but there are plenty of other similar opportunities - this just happens to be the one people around here are most familiar with. A lot of the other opportunities also scale far greater than poker - where you are obviously constrained by the number of hands you can play. Here's an interesting article about a couple of guys who developed a facebook sticky notes app: Business Week article

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Amazing story. I love hearing about stuff like this. It's so unbelievable to me that just about every young kid that starts a successful company has the same story.

Sorry for the hijack, but:

Company is started because they have a cool idea and a little spare money plus a lot of free time + passion. Not too long afterwords, the company starts to find some success or they see an opportunity and run with it. I feel like none of these kids actually expected anything to come from it, but they did it anyway.

Moral of the story is let your interests guide what you do, not money. Also, just get out and do something, you can't accomplish anything by not trying. You never know what opportunities you will see after you just try something you are passionate about.

/hijack - but i think it will be very hard for kids that have had tons of poker success to be passionate about other things post poker. What's the kid going to do that has 2 million in the bank but then can't beat the game he used to beat 5 years ago going to do? It's going to be tough for him to go back to school or work a 50k a year job, but this might be necessary in some cases. This is what I worry about the most for myself and other poker players.

tc

[Taylor Caby]

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Very interesting thread.
I myself am a 20 year old poker player in my sophomore year of college. Last year I made 100k after taxes and this year I have made 300k so far. I love the position I'm in, but it can be a confusing one. I know I could make plenty more if I just dropped out and concentrated on poker. I am not one of those guys that Loves the game though. Sure I like it and it can be pretty fun, but the grind can get old, and I'm mainly in it for the money.

I love college and have alot of fun here but getting good grades while having 10k nightly swings can be difficult.

I think the main reason I'm in college is I dn what I'd want to do if I quit. Tons of my friends are here, I love going out and partying like a normal college student. If I didn't have college I imagine being very bored a large portion of the day.

I am just scared my mediocore grades aren't going to get me a job paying the kind of money I will like out of college. Pretty tough decision that I've thought alot about..

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Exactly 100% the way I felt in college. This post was exactly me 2 years ago, scary in fact. I recommend doing everything you can to keep decent grades -- this is a great piece of mind to have in case things go sour at the tables.

tc

[JSchnett]

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I'm just curious, if many are making then many are loosing, obviously it wouldn't be a great PR move to provide details on the % of loosing players in general or the amount in $ figures..but is there any numbers out there to indicate?..I suppose we could look at the opposite side of the coin and determine if the online poker scene will have a negative impact on society in a greater magnitude then the positive?

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Maybe I'm naive but this is the way I feel about the impact poker has on society:
1. The teen age group is up alot from online poker because they have no income to play with if they bust. It is also hard for them to get their money online to lose it in the first place.
2. Most of the money in the online poker economy comes from people that already gamble in one form or another. These poeple will lose their money in some way it is better to be semi redistributed to the good players and the rake than just the house edge in casino games or sports betting.
3. More money is being wagered in poker than ever before but a very small % of people lose enough to threaten their everyday living and most play recreationally.

[Indiana]

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3. More money is being wagered in poker than ever before but a very small % of people lose enough to threaten their everyday living and most play recreationally.



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plz convince the republicans of this sir.

TY

[ImsaKidd]

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Very interesting thread.
I myself am a 20 year old poker player in my sophomore year of college. Last year I made 100k after taxes and this year I have made 300k so far. I love the position I'm in, but it can be a confusing one. I know I could make plenty more if I just dropped out and concentrated on poker. I am not one of those guys that Loves the game though. Sure I like it and it can be pretty fun, but the grind can get old, and I'm mainly in it for the money.

I love college and have alot of fun here but getting good grades while having 10k nightly swings can be difficult.

I think the main reason I'm in college is I dn what I'd want to do if I quit. Tons of my friends are here, I love going out and partying like a normal college student. If I didn't have college I imagine being very bored a large portion of the day.

I am just scared my mediocore grades aren't going to get me a job paying the kind of money I will like out of college. Pretty tough decision that I've thought alot about..

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Exactly 100% the way I felt in college. This post was exactly me 2 years ago, scary in fact. I recommend doing everything you can to keep decent grades -- this is a great piece of mind to have in case things go sour at the tables.

tc

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Its awfully hard when you feel like studying costs $xxx/hour.

[AMT]

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Very interesting thread.
I myself am a 20 year old poker player in my sophomore year of college. Last year I made 100k after taxes and this year I have made 300k so far. I love the position I'm in, but it can be a confusing one. I know I could make plenty more if I just dropped out and concentrated on poker. I am not one of those guys that Loves the game though. Sure I like it and it can be pretty fun, but the grind can get old, and I'm mainly in it for the money.

I love college and have alot of fun here but getting good grades while having 10k nightly swings can be difficult.

I think the main reason I'm in college is I dn what I'd want to do if I quit. Tons of my friends are here, I love going out and partying like a normal college student. If I didn't have college I imagine being very bored a large portion of the day.

I am just scared my mediocore grades aren't going to get me a job paying the kind of money I will like out of college. Pretty tough decision that I've thought alot about..

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Exactly 100% the way I felt in college. This post was exactly me 2 years ago, scary in fact. I recommend doing everything you can to keep decent grades -- this is a great piece of mind to have in case things go sour at the tables.

tc

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Its awfully hard when you feel like studying costs $xxx/hour.

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sometimes its important to realize that not 100% of everything ever is measured in money. it keeps many things, like poker, in perspective long enough for many kids to do the things they want and should do, like stick out a semester or final year of college (I say this as a winning 2p2er and a senior in college, so its not completely baseless).

[KingDan]

If you have the Jesus seat in a few 25/50 games, is going to class worth however many thousands your are passing up in EV? Or is it worth doing some small assignment that is worth 2% of your grade? Probably not,but these things add up.

[Indiana]

to those who say that studying costs $$$/hr think about this...in my business its not uncommon to make 250K/yr and still have time to play 20 hrs/week poker.

So if you really think it through, the best EV is to find a good paying job and play cards on top of that....plus u get benefits.

What im trying to say is that most 9-5 type jobs are basically passive income because they aren't that hard compared to poker, and you can still have time to play cards......so study young boys and girls! college is teh pwn.

Indy

[ImsaKidd]

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to those who say that studying costs $$$/hr think about this...in my business its not uncommon to make 250K/yr and still have time to play 20 hrs/week poker.

So if you really think it through, the best EV is to find a good paying job and play cards on top of that....plus u get benefits.

What im trying to say is that most 9-5 type jobs are basically passive income because they aren't that hard compared to poker, and you can still have time to play cards......so study young boys and girls! college is teh pwn.

Indy

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Its awfully hard to get excited or stay motivated for a job that wont pay more than 30-40$/hour for a long time, especially given the stakes most of the younger guys in this thread play.

EDIT: And I certainly don't think they are passive income. I had 3 summers of working 40 hours/week, 2 of which were in an office environment. It was boring, monotonous, and the office environment sucked the life from me.

I dont want to rail on your point too much, it is probably just differing opinions.

[csquard]

In interviewing some top young pros, one common theme I keep seeing is the connection between computer/video games and online poker. The teenagers/college kids who have surged into the poker world are the first generation raised entirely in the world of video games/computer games/online role playing games. I've been struck by how different they approach the game, more like figuring out how to "beat" a certain level of a video game in some ways. Couple that with an incremental level of sophistication in game strategy, forums like this, and data intelligence systems like PokerTracker, and it seems like the perfect storm for the success we've witnessed. One thing ElkY told me during an interview is how WoW trained him to be able to make excellent, quick decisions 8-12 hours into a session. Doyle and Chip Reese had to learn that through 36 hour Ironman sessions, but the new breed have had other "free" training grounds to hone their ability to stay sharp.