midlifejourney.com

I have a friend, a baby boomer, who loves to play online poker at one of the many online poker websites. His favorite: PokerStars.com. Texas Holdem is his game. And he’s very good. Wins good money. He spends much of his weekends playing free poker online, watching the stars of the World Series Poker play at full tilt. I don’t play poker, but I am fascinated by its popularity, especially among the 20+ crowd who are winning millions of dollars every day, either online or at live poker events. They play against poker professionals twice their age, with decades of experience, and often, come out on top. It begs the question, can a Baby Boomer succeed at online or live poker? What’s turned these young poker players into poker wizards?

While searching for the answer, I came across a book published a couple of years ago, which I think has stumbled onto one explanation: Gadgets, Games and Gizomos for Learning. (Book is available at amazon.com). According to author Karl M. Kapp, it all has to do with video gaming! and the learning experience of those who play them. A short excerpt captures the essence of his explanation:

…I found myself watching a televised poker tournament at 2:00 A.M. Through half-open eyes, I noticed twenty-one year olds playing against fifty-five year olds, the grand masters of poker, and winning. How could that be? Why were these young guys, kids really, winning? How could they hold their own against such experienced and knowledgeable players?

Then the announcer, as if reading my mind, provided the answer: “One of the reasons relatively unknown poker players can defeat thirty-year poker veterans is because of online poker.” What? Did I hear him correctly: online poker? What do you mean? How is that like “real” poker? …

…The announcer explained that online poker allows a gambler to play as many as eight hands at once against unseen but real opponents. The experience of playing so many hands over and over again while receiving almost instant feedback on good or bad bluffs allows twenty-one year olds to gain as much experience in two years as someone who has been playing poker all his life.

Wow! It hit me. Maybe this generation of kids, my kids, my gamer kids, has a different expectation for learning, an expectation for learning, an expectation built on a framework of video games providing instant feedback and constant interaction. A framework augmented by constant access to gadgets and a comfort level with thechonology that boomers and Generation Xers can only imagine.

Do baby boomers have a chance against these poker wizards? Can they even catch up? I don’t know. It takes a great deal of online playing experience—a serious time commitment most boomers just can’t afford.