Up until a month ago, Benjamin showed zero interest in my poker play, aside from being aware I play it and that I leave sometimes to go to the WSOP and other cardrooms.
He does not know how to play, and did not express any desire to learn. In fact, in the past he has made negative statements about gambling, such as, "I wouldn't want to gamble, I would hate losing", and, "It would be too stressful."
Ben is close to 13 years old.
By contrast, I had a fascination with gambling and Las Vegas when I was as young as 6 years old, and in fact looked forward to the year 1993 -- the first time I'd be able to gamble legally. Most teens look forward to being 21, when they can legally drink. I never did for that reason. I had zero desire to drink alcohol or do drugs, which remains the case today. I wanted to be 21 so I could gamble!
Anyway, starting from about a month ago, Ben expressed the desire to "learn how to play poker". He then started taking more interest in watching for short periods of time when I played on Bovada, and also noted, "I don't know what's good or bad here, but I want to learn."
When I had A8 of diamonds and the flop was Q42 all spades, he said, "Even I can tell that's bad."
He once again asked last night if he can learn how to play poker this week.
There are upsides and downsides to this:
Upsides:
- He will understand my own play, including WSOP updates next year
- We can play an event together at the 2032 WSOP, as a father-son bonding activity
- He could end up winning a bracelet, making us among the few father-son bracelet holders (seriously, there aren't all that many)
- He can take over PFA when I croak
Downsides:
- He might end up an addicted gambler
- If he starts off well at age 21, he might get recruited by Matt Berkey and end up teaching at Solve For Why
- He could end up winning two bracelets, which would make me look bad
- If he keeps losing and needs more of a bankroll, he could end up murdering me for inheritance money like Ernie Scherer did to his parents
So should I teach him how to play?
FYI, I will not let him play for real money at this point, no matter what.