Poker's not always had a fair rep in the wider world. It's often lumped in with straight gambling and other 'undesirable' behaviors. Author and PokerOrg Player Advisory Board member Alex O'Brien has done her bit to redress the balance in a new audio documentary on the BBC.
"This is me giving my five-year-old daughter her first poker lesson," O'Brien says at the start of The Poker Parent, and during the fascinating 30-minute documentary, she illustrates why she believes that teaching children poker can equip them with important life skills, "from critical thinking and understanding probability, to learning about psychology and learning to control her emotions."
Both sides of the argument
O'Brien pulls in some other poker players to help make her argument, such as Jen Shahade, who says, "One of my missions in life has been to make games more inclusive."
Shahade goes on to say, "I think that poker, for me, the lessons it teaches you are about what you desire in life, what you fear in life, and it also teaches you about your relationship with money."
Nikita Luther also brings her positive spin on the game, and how the skills you learn can make hugely positive changes to your life.
But not everyone feels the same.
"Poker is definitely a gambling activity," says Sally Gainsbury, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic at the University of Sydney. She does admit that there is more skill in poker than in other gambling activities. But she doesn't believe it's good to expose children to the game.
"As a general rule, we would say that young people shouldn't be exposed to gambling," Gainsbury says. "There is a strong evidence base that the earlier someone engages with gambling... the more likely they are to gamble themselves. That doesn't mean they will develop a problem, however we do see that people who start to gamble earlier have additional risk factors."
And popular poker pro David Lappin also has some cautionary words. Saying that he wouldn't mind his children learning how to play, he goes on to say, "I do shelter them from what daddy does to an extent. I do feel there's a dangerous side to the game and it can be addictive for some people."
You can listen to The Poker Parent on the BBC now.
Alex O'Brien is a science writer, poker player, member of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board and author of The Truth Detective. You can read an extract from The Truth Detective here.
