Is Poker a Game for Kids?
Posted on May 9, 2008
Filed Under Pocker
The game of poker itself can be played and enjoyed by people of all ages, in the case of kids though the problem is that poker is primarily a game of betting, although games such as 5 card draw can be played for fun easily enough. Of course there are legal boundaries in many countries when it comes to youngsters gambling, and I certainly agree that gambling should have some legislation in place of this kind, that said, if I had children I would have no problem with them playing poker for coins of a very small denomination, or poker chips for instance.
Apart from the problems with the game itself being interwoven with gambling connotations, I cannot see why the game of poker should not be a game for all ages, after all, if you prevent a kid from playing poker on the grounds that lots of people gamble whilst playing it, you will only bring out the inevitable rebellious side of a younger person and cause them to want to play it even more, so you may as well allow kids to experiment with the game under supervision if they wish to play. The fact remains however that despite the game of poker not being a bad or dangerous thing in the slightest, I don’t feel many parents would be comfortable about their kids playing poker, mainly this is because of the aforementioned idea that is rooted in peoples minds about poker and gambling problems, especially if they are not particularly knowledgable about the game.
One thing I should mention here is that despite the non pocker playing persons current perceptions of poker, these preconceived ideas about poker are changing and the game is gradually being viewed in a more positive light as the years go by. So it is not impossible that the game will be considered safe enough for people to allow their children to play, given enough time, but it certainly isn’t the case in most families just yet, despite there being no concrete reasoning behind the general parental sentiment that poker is a bad thing.
Comments
Leave a Reply
