Teenagers' Popular Summer Job: Online Poker Player?
from the getting-younger-and-younger dept
We've been wary of news reports over the past few years hyping up various folks who were supposedly making all kinds of money playing online poker. While there clearly are some professional sharks out there who basically prey on bad poker players to take their money, almost every news story seemed to focus on people who (surprise, surprise) only claimed to win money (often lots of it). That's why we were skeptical of the story about a startup that skipped out on raising venture capital, and instead worked on funding the company through poker. Then there were the college students who felt that playing online poker was the best way to pay for college tuition. Even if these stories were accurate, leaving out how rare it is for someone to be able to make that much money in online poker seemed fairly irresponsible. The latest story, however, takes the cake. The San Jose Mercury News has apparently found a bunch of teenagers who saying that playing online poker is much better than getting a summer job. The article tries to portray this plan as not all that unreasonable, because (so the article notes), the kids approach the game as a job, rather than just as "gambling."Oddly, the article brushes over the fact that online poker remains illegal in the US (well, at least according to the DOJ's interpretation of the law, over which there is some dispute) and most sites have age limits that these kids probably didn't qualify for when they started playing. While the ones profiled are now 19, at least one admits he's been playing online poker since he was a junior in high school. Obviously, a first question from many folks would be about the parents of these kids. Some are quoted, and they seem slightly embarrassed, but at the same time seem somewhat pleased that their kid is making some cash and doesn't need to borrow money any more. Some might take this article and use it as an argument against the evils of online gambling -- but that would be wrong. It really should be about yet another story in the press that plays up the gambling industry's marketing ploy that "anybody" can become rich gambling, while hiding and playing down the much more likely scenario of people losing money (sometimes a lot). While this article mentions that most people lose money gambling, it buries it in a single sentence towards the end. Suggesting that online gambling is somehow a suitable summer job replacement also seems particularly questionable. I have no doubt that some young folks are making a ton of money while playing online poker, and I think that the US's position in trying to ban online poker is silly and unreasonable -- but it still seems quite odd that so many stories about online poker seem to focus on the success stories, rather than those who ended up losing tremendous amounts of money.
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Filed Under: high school, online poker
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It's true
He was making 3k+ a month during the spring and summer, and when I asked him how his job hunt was going (8 months later) he jokingly (but truthfully) stated "ok, I just have to find a job that pays more than poker"
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At least in poker you are not playing against the house, where you know that eventually you will lose. Unless you are Danny Ocean, the house always wins.
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The kicker is that he's not even a great poker player. Sure, he's above the average joe, but he's no Vegas shark. He's just a kid who took a methodical approach to ensure him steady winnings, and did plenty of research before investing his time and money in it.
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So?
That's capitalsim.. most people lose money.. it's for the few capable. So is poker. Can't even imagine why so much fuss about it.
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Hmmm
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Re: Hmmm
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Re: Hmmm
I seriously doubt that a bunch of kids with no bankroll could make enough to feed themselves let alone pay for college. The original article seems terribly irresponsible.
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They never get it right
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idiots
What a tribe of idiots, for God's sake!
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Re:
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FInd a broken site
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Re: FInd a broken site
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(Total Cash at end)= (Total Cash at start)-($5 x number of hands)
Online poker sites are the ones that win everytime.
The odds on low stakes black jack are better at that rate!
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Re:
"(Total Cash at end)= (Total Cash at start)-($5 x number of hands)" -------> What The Fuck ?!?
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online poker
From my statistics: I've played against 2724 other players, 1192(43%) of them are up from the hands that I've played with them, 1575 (57%) are down money over the 21K hands(actually very low for the average online player) that I've played online over the past 3 months (since I turned 18). The reason that there are so many winners is because of the low volume of hands that I've played against most of them.
While I may be a winning player, it's a tough way to make an easy living with days where you can easily lose just as much as you made the day before and can only blame it on bad luck, not bad play. I could argue the dynamics of winning poker(including deals that the sites offer that most casual players don't know about, like rakeback) and how it is very very possible to make money, I'll leave that up to somebody who can explain it better than I can.
Technically from my understanding of the current legislator on online poker, it's illegal to transfer funds to a site, not play on it.
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Not really, that's journalism. Things that are strange are news, not things that are common. Let's face it, no-one will be interested in a story titled: "Area man loses at online poker".
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Of course they focus on the winners! That's a no brainer. Who hears stories about the millions of lotto losers? Plus, it's good press for the poker businesses that pull the strings.
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It's possible
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What's quite ironic is that the parents of the 19 year old say they are proud that their son didnt have to borrow cash because he can earn off poker games. Some stories on the other hand say parents get into debt because their kids waste money gambling online. Which would you rather believe? In the end not all journalism is fair and accurate.
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Why wont the sites prove their legit and make their source code and rng public, they have things to hide!
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Making money online
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Re: Making money online
Absolute rubbish. You say you played for 1 year in one sentence then 3 years in the next.
If you can make 22 times your initial deposit then why can't the poker pros? Im not talking about the ones who are sponsored by the sites, the ones that say its impossible to win consistently at online poker.
I put it to you that you are a pokersite employee/ connected some how, whos job is to say on sites how well? your doing.
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Re: Making money online
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Oh funny...
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