Teens Playing Poker

Gambling at a card table has gone on for years, but now poker is catching the interest of a different group, teenagers.

When you think of poker, you likely think of gambling and now the card game is becoming very popular among teenagers. But are these teens getting hooked on gambling at a young age or just having fun? You may be surprised at what many kids and their parents say.

It’s almost everywhere you turn, celebrity poker on television, games for X-Box and Playstation, and friends teaching friends the strategy behind the cards.

While many adults have poker parties, there’s now a group of younger hands dealing the cards.

Fifteen year old James Olver says, "Our one friend’s dad, he plays all the time on the computer and he taught us how to play."

Fourteen year old Andrew Rigsby says, "I learned at camp and I enjoy the game and I'm fairly good at it."

No matter where they learn, kids are playing. Olver says, "We play it's $5 and you get 800 chips and the winner gets the cash."

His friend, Jaymon Rivera also plays poker with him, "You're with all your friends and it's just fun to see how people react and getting the money."

But not all kids are actually playing with real money. Rigsby says, "It's still fun if you don't bet, it's all fun and games. I just like putting the cards together and getting better cards and better hand than everybody else."

And Rivera agrees, "Sometimes we play without money, just for fun, sometimes we do that."

Some parents say as long as the game is played as a game, poker can help teach kids life skills. Karen Rigsby’s sons, Andrew and Zac play poker but she says, "When the boys get together with their friends and they want to play Nintendo, I personally think playing poker with friends at a table is a little bit better than being glued to the tv not interacting with each other."

Monica Chenoweth is a mother of two and also plays poker herself, she says, "It helps [kids] use their minds, it helps them use strategies. I'd rather my children sit down at the table with me and play a game of poker or any kind of card game versus sitting in front of the tv playing violent video games or in front of the internet."

Like any game, kids say they like the competition they find in playing poker.

"It gets pretty competitive at times and I like to use strategies because it gets really fun when I win,” says 14 year old Zac Rigsby.

Of course winning is the idea, but when money is involved, that’s when the concern over gambling comes in.

According to Karen Rigsby, "I think kids have a hard time drawing a line between when it's recreational and when it becomes a serious problem...The point where it can lead to is where we don't want them to get and we've talked about all kinds of addictions, drugs, alcohol and gambling in our opinion kinds of falls into that category."

Some kids, like 17 year old Christopher Elledge don’t even play poker, because their parents disagree with gambling. "You're gambling to take away someone's money that they worked hard for, just an easy way of making cash really, hustlers game. I really just kind of stick away from it," says Elledge.

Still, some parents say with the right communication, poker isn’t such a bad thing.

"I see poker as something very innocent and fun....I think that we have bigger issues to be worried about than poker...You can get addicted to anything, I just think it basically boils down to how your raise your kids and I don't see anything wrong with it as long as it doesn't get out of hand,” says Chenoweth.

whether they gamble with real money or just chips, some parents say poker may actually be a tool to keep kids off the streets and in a home where they know they’re safe.

"Nowadays kids have a lot of down time and they need to find something to do and so they decide to play poker because a deck of cards is easy to come by,” says Zac Rigsby.

His mom Karen says, "You get to know people, it's not a bad thing."

Olver agrees, "They're probably glad that we're doing that instead of doing something bad."

Some say the popularity of poker is growing so fast because kids see it on tv and they want to be like the people they see on tv.

Some parents suggest, if you want to keep your kids from gambling with money, but still think poker is ok to play, have your kids bet with food instead of money, like candy or chips and pretzels. And of course, talk to your kids about the dangers of gambling from the beginning.