Poker adoption among Gen-Z (1 Viewer)

[FlushMD]

Hello out there!

Has there been any research done about the percent of Gen-Z poker players compared to earlier generations? With the advent of the machine, I see a sharp decline in youngsters engagement with real people. Thus, I would think live poker is on the decline. If one has never played live poker, is online poker even interesting compared to Fortnite / Grand Theft Auto.... Just curious.

Thanks,

Dr. Flush (FlushMD)

 

[Highli99]

They are playing. My coworkers high schooler has weekly games with 10+ kids.

One kid has chips, one kid has a table, one kid has chairs, etc. I had him over to see my setup and he was in hog heaven.

My best friends son also plays with friends and is also in highschool. I got him a set of Tina chips and a topper and he was stoked.

Finally, just found out my youngest cousin also plays, although it seems to be more a friend group activity and not his passion.

All of this makes me happy that there will still be games going when I’m an old fart.

 

[FlushMD]

Hah! I'm already an old fart! I work closely with college students and poker play is almost non-existent. Maybe the group I'm working with are out of the norm. All engineering majors. Great to hear some youngsters are eager to learn about the game and keep it alive.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Gambling is on the rise in a big way, and phones/streaming have been a way for the younger generations to watch/get a rush from it. Sports betting worries me, advertisements and apps are becoming very main stream.

The domination of social media, there's constant 'engagement', so much so that live poker may be too slow.

I also teach engineering undergrads and dont see much, but I doubt they'd tell their TA/lab proctor about their illegal gambling activities! They are busy studying Bernoulli's, no time for Pot Odds.

 

[Machine]

All engineering majors.

I think the majority of engineers excel in math, poker is gambol just like the lotto; I think at least early on they view these as equalities as it pertains to gambol'n.
When I was younger, I played .5/.10 game with a small group from an engineering college, it was hard to find players.

 

[dylpickle]

As a Gen Z myself, and new PCF member as of December, I can weigh in anecdotally.

The rules to poker are well known, and dice chips are as widely owned in the US as monopoly or cards against humanity. While video games are huge, surpassing revenues for film and music combined the last view years, tabletop games (from modern hobby games to mainstays like magic the gathering and dungeons and dragons) are a growing wildly fast. I’d wager most major cities have multiple hobby game stores, most well-off towns of 20k+ people have one, and in Europe tabletop gaming is even more commonplace.

The designs of hobby board games have by and large gotten much better since 2000, and the quality of art and components has skyrocketed since around 2010. As anyone here should agree, the components you handle can bring as much joy as the game!

I see a couple challenges to bringin poker’s popularity up synergistically with the rise of board gaming: the box of dice chips, mostly sold at target or Amazon or Walmart, are lumped in with other “classic” tabletop games in the minds of many. Also, without a compelling teacher, the strategy of poker will come across as far more subtle. Finally, the mixed games most folks would suggest to alternate with Hold ‘Em are wild card games or five card draw, as opposed to the more generally interesting circus games many here enjoy.

Gen Z and board gamer, signing off from a long-winded (and expectedly confident) take about the world.

 

[buzzmonkey]

I just had a session where I was teaching my neighbor's sons how to play.

 

[BukNaked36]

I have a follow up question.

Is the hoodie, ear buds, sunglasses look still a thing for younger players? To me, that's more annoying than not playing.

I've been to Vegas a couple times last year, and it seems like there's a good number of younger guys playing and being reasonably social while doing so.

 

[dylpickle]

I think that totally depends on the place. But most people who play that way would get the experience they want better online anyways.

 

[OzzieJim]

I'm 29 and I'm the oldest player at my game that has run 7+ players weekly for about 2 years. The vast majority of my players come from a chess background and were introduced to poker via online content makers. The other guys are gambling addicts, crypto wizards or "fun regs" from the local casino. I'd say at the casino it's a mix of old (50+) and young (-30) at about even numbers with few in between. The underground games are generally a mix of young players trying to start a pro career and 30-50 year olds taking their money with the addition of some older whales.

Not having been around (an adult/interested in poker) for the OG poker boom I'd say this is the best time for the game since then, and it's likely to get more popular not less so as more and more players become streamers and poker influencers. There is still an especially large gap in the female poker influencer market that I can only imagine a smart video game / chess streamer will pick up on like Alex Botez has to some success.

 

[Sisu41]

Zoomer myself, I know people are playing, I see my friends and family members trading cash for poker on venmo. I just wish they were playing at my place.