Should There Be a Minimum Age to Play Poker Online?

king is asking the poker community about the minimal age of online poker players

The minimum age to play poker on sites such as Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars is eighteen years old. You can not even open a play account if you are under the age of 18.

The fact is, many people think that there either shouldn't be a minimum age or that it should be greatly reduced. More people than you think.

Many young poker superstars got their starts well before the age of 18. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad started playing poker when she was just fifteen years old. Andy McLeod was banned from many sites after it was revealed that he was only 17 years old. Josh "JJProdigy" Field was dominating online poker at the age of 16 before he was banned, for different reasons. Phil Ivey played poker in a casino using a fake ID because he wasn't legally old enough to be there. The list goes on and on. Many top young talents got their starts playing under their parents names because they weren't old enough to open an account.

This goes on everyday. Right now there are droves of 15, 16 and 17 year olds playing online. Do you have a problem with this? Or should anyone be allowed to open up an online poker account, regardless of their age? Do you think that the minimum age to play online should be abolished altogether or lowered to something like 16 years of age?

The opinions will vary greatly depending on a person's current situation. If you are a young player then you are obviously much more likely to favor less age restrictions. You might know a friend who is playing under his parent's account because he is underage. Or maybe you are underage yourself and can't see why there would be a problem with someone like you playing online. You make plenty of money and you still do well in high school. You aren't hurting anybody else, so what's the problem?

How about the parents out there that are reading this article? Would you have a problem with your 14 year old kid playing online poker for real money? Would you allow them to play under your account until they turned 18? Or would you ban them from playing poker and take away their computer if you caught them playing?

If you think that you would allow your child to play online poker before the age of 18 or if you are currently allowing it now, would you feel the same if they were a losing player? You're probably assuming that your kid would dominate and make tons of money playing online poker - what if they were terrible and constantly lost money? Would you stop them from playing then?

Should the minimum age be sixteen? Lower? What if your 12 year old sibling or kid wanted to follow in your footsteps and play poker online - would you allow it? They might be very, very smart, but do you think that they would be emotionally mature enough to handle the swings that come with playing poker?

If poker is a game of skill, should anybody be allowed to play, regardless of age? Is there any difference between a 15 year old kid burning through all of his money playing an arcade game and a 15 year old kid burning through all of his money playing online poker?

Should the current minimum age of 18 years old be raised, lowered or eliminated completely? If you have the means and ability to get money onto a site, should you be allowed to play, regardless of age?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Poker Articles

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