Is a poker set an appropriate gift for a 10 year old?

[Nightskyatnight]

My DS 10 loves playing card games and games like yahtzee etc. I was thinking of getting him/us a poker set for Christmas but is that totally inappropriate? Obviously don't want to encourage gambling but on the other hand it's a great strategy game and fun to play.

Yes it's fine imo

Don't see a problem, if no money is involved then you just use the chips to keep score effectively.

If he loves card games though there are loads out there more fun than poker, which is pretty dull really if you aren't playing for money. Try something like Star Realms, Jaipur or splendor for example.

I wouldnt, there are plenty of other games, would he like chess does he like board games, some of them are really fun. .

Sounds like a great idea.

i bought one and taught my kids some games like Blackjack because I don't know how to play poker.

When you think about it though, almost all card and board games are essentially gambling, aren't they? Not chess obviously, but if there's that element of chance and a little endorphin hit when you get a good result, how is snakes and ladders or monopoly (say) different to poker?

Interesting question.

Poker’s a game of skill, maths and psychology - the gambling part of it is relatively minor. It’s not like blackjack or roulette, where the player has no control over how the game goes and the probabilities are all stacked against you. In poker, you’re not playing the house, you’re playing other people. And that means that in the long run, the best players will win.

However, there’s enough gambling involved that, if you have a predisposition to that addiction, it’s risky.

I’d say ten’s a bit young, maybe. Fourteen, fifteen perhaps.

Poker is a fun game to play. Sure there is a luck element to it, but there is also a strategic component. The game is a marketplace with the challenge to get the correct price for your hand in a greater market where the only other pricing information can be obtained by close observation of the behaviour of your competitors. There are some good life learning skills in there !

The problem is that it is a faff to set up and only really works well (IMO) when you have a relatively large number of players (4+). Games like Hearts I think are a lot less faff and more fun to play. You can play any gambling card game with pretty much anything for tokens. A set is nice if you are organising regular games amongst friends, but not really necessary.

I used to have a computer poker game that was pretty good, but now pretty much everything is on PC. Does he have a tablet that he could download different card game apps onto ?

No I wouldn’t.

Get him in to playing Bridge instead - far more challenging and strategic and none of the negative connotations of poker. Try Whist if he’s not played that yet.

For your child, it's up to you. I've played poker with mine (just a regular pack of cards and a load of 2ps for chips). For someone else's child I wouldn't.

I agree that Bridge is a far better game for kids.

Sounds like a great idea. My cousins and I all used to play poker (or a form of it) over the Easter holidays placing bets with our chocolate eggs 😂

I think my parents were secretly thrilled when I lost and came home with less chocolate!

Yes its fine and better they learn about losing bets via poker chips anyway...an electric card shuffler was also a huge hit here around that age for a similar child.

My grandpa taught us poker when we were kids. And I remember playing poker with my friends too. We were about 10 years old. I haven’t grown up with any interest in gambling.

far more challenging and strategic and none of the negative connotations of poker

We'll have to disagree on the relative challenge and strategy demands of poker and bridge.

And, I have to say, that bridge has plenty of negative connotations for me.

But the main problem with bridge for a ten-year-old, I think, is that it requires a very specific number of players. So it has to be organised. Whereas poker can be played with any number of players, from two to ten. Just whoever happens to be around.

Get him “Cockroach poker” it’s hilarious and has all of the bluffing with none of the gambling, my 10yo loves it.

I taught my son at about 10yo, we loved playing together. I don't really see how it's that different from any other game with chips or tokens, New Market for example

As long as he doesn't have access to the deeds of the house I'm sure it'll be fine! Plus once you have all the chips there are lots of games you can play!!

we just had a huge jar of pennies!! All went back in the jar at the end of the game. As with most games, the fun was the playing/winning!

it hasn't led me onto a life of gambling, no more than owning Mayfair & train stations!!

Thanks all, think I'll go for it. Although also keen to hear about other card games you would recommend as well. @CapMarvel i haven't heard of Jaipur so I'll go ahead have a look at that.

thumbs up from me