8 year old in the "Pit" at SBE

R

RShellhouse

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Someone posted a image on my facebook of a 8 year old playing in the "Pit" at the SBE Expo....

Now nobody stated he was gambling but I can't imagine in the "Pit" he was playing for funsies

I look at this and go "Really?" I think it is probably one of the worst examples I can image representing our sport..I wouldn't want anyone I know seeing the image and going "oh THAT's the expo you went to"


Now the question is...what do you think?


R
 
RShellhouse said:
Someone posted a image on my facebook of a 8 year old playing in the "Pit" at the SBE Expo....

Now nobody stated he was gambling but I can't imagine in the "Pit" he was playing for funsies

I look at this and go "Really?" I think it is probably one of the worst examples I can image representing our sport..I wouldn't want anyone I know seeing the image and going "oh THAT's the expo you went to"


Now the question is...what do you think?


R
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Rick,
If an 8 year old is gambling in the pit, I agree with you. If they are just there to play and experience the thrill of playing SVB or Alex - no harm no foul.
 
Don't take the kids for granted, especially those with their own Justis cases. Briana Miller won the Women's division last year, when she was 14.

Maybe visiting the pit will set the kids scared straight.
 
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ctyhntr said:
Don't take the kids for granted, especially those with their own Justis cases. Briana Miller won the Women's division last year, when she was 14.
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Huge difference in playing in a tournament and gambling in the Pit....


I mean....like complete opposite sides of the coin huge...

Id point out Briana and go Hey so and so last year at 14 she won the w
Woman's division ....I am not gonna point out a 8 year old kid and go he won 300 gambling ....

shrug.....sorry if I gave you the impression I was underestimating anyone.


R
 
Blackjack said:
Rick,
If an 8 year old is gambling in the pit, I agree with you. If they are just there to play and experience the thrill of playing SVB or Alex - no harm no foul.
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I agree.

I also think that it is a mistake to ASSume he was gambling.
 
Black-Balled said:
I agree.

I also think that it is a mistake to ASSume he was gambling.
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Well i was there and seen it in person,he was gambling on the big money table, also he won his first match against eddie abraham,with lots of side action,then the 9 year old boy played shane winters and lost(scooter made a smart bet he laid 2 hundred to 1 on winters),if there is a smart bet with a 9 year old?the fans love it when the younge boy got up there.the boy never made 2 in a row,he won because eddie scratched on the 10.boy it makes you think where is the boy parents,i hope they wasnt there backing the boy!
 
richiebalto said:
Well i was there and seen it in person,he was gambling on the big money table, also he won his first match against eddie abraham,with lots of side action,then the 9 year old boy played shane winters and lost(scooter made a smart bet he laid 2 hundred to 1 on winters),if there is a smart bet with a 9 year old?the fans love it when the younge boy got up there.the boy never made 2 in a row,he won because eddie scratched on the 10.boy it makes you think where is the boy parents,i hope they wasnt there backing the boy!
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thanks for the 1st person account.

I think it is real wrong. Something like that could get the event shut down forever.

It also does nothing to instill any reality into the kid's life-perspective.
 
richiebalto said:
Well i was there and seen it in person,he was gambling on the big money table, also he won his first match against eddie abraham,with lots of side action,then the 9 year old boy played shane winters and lost(scooter made a smart bet he laid 2 hundred to 1 on winters),if there is a smart bet with a 9 year old?the fans love it when the younge boy got up there.the boy never made 2 in a row,he won because eddie scratched on the 10.boy it makes you think where is the boy parents,i hope they wasnt there backing the boy!
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I wonder if this constitutes contributing to the delinquincy of a minor.

I just can't figure out why pool is looked down apon by city councils, cops, etc. all over America. :rolleyes:
 
I've heard it often said that if pro pool is going to go anywhere, you've got to get the kids involved. Just Kidding! There is no place for this and could cause serious harm to the event.
 
And people wonder why pool isn't all over our tv's and praised in the churches and everywhere. It SHOULD be so well appreciated, but this stuff is what keeps it down. We can't take our children, because it's such a great role model of "morals" for them.
 
JesPiddlin said:
And people wonder why pool isn't all over our tv's and praised in the churches and everywhere. It SHOULD be so well appreciated, but this stuff is what keeps it down. We can't take our children, because it's such a great role model of "morals" for them.
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There's prob 20 million kids middle school and under who play poker. At least as many who show up to the gym every day and kick each other in the head, learning to fight.

Pool doesn't have a black eye or a bad image.... it's just boring to watch on tv; therefore, there are no sponsors. Years ago, pool HAD sponsors before Mackey & Company screwed the pooch.

The only black eye pool has (had) are its leaders screwing the big name sponsors, when they did come.

:)
 
Alot of our "Champions" have followed this same path. I know one in particular that was betting $40 a game while standing on a pop case. Less than 10 years old. High Action rooms breed action players. My local room hosted a Jr National qualifier years ago and I bet that I had 5 kids not old enough to drive ask me to play some $100 sets.
 
sliprock said:
Alot of our "Champions" have followed this same path. I know one in particular that was betting $40 a game while standing on a pop case. Less than 10 years old. High Action rooms breed action players. My local room hosted a Jr National qualifier years ago and I bet that I had 5 kids not old enough to drive ask me to play some $100 sets.
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I know of a couple, myself, one is probably the "one in particular" you spoke of.
 
First of all The game of skill gambling ruling does not have an age limit. Young players have been in action for years i will mention a name or two since no one else will.

What about Keith McCready they kicked him out of school for having too much money of course he was pretty old like 13 when he busted the pay ball game on the 12' table out there in LA. He asked his gym teacher to hold his cash he did not want to put to however many thousands it was in the gym locker room. I think the game was $40/ball playing 6 handed. This was before cell phone pictures and you stream video.

The first time I ever saw Shannon Daulton was in Cincinatti he was 12 or 13 and playing 50 dollar bank with Keith (early 30's or so at the time) another prodigy as mentioned. It was on bar tables and Shannon was getting 6-4 and cussing up a storm at the game and his daddy Gerald. I know Shannon had been gambling all over south central Kentucky prior to this so it was not his first rodeo.

So how old is old enough to gamble for you guys. Is it over 13 ready for a barmitzah or 16 ready to drive or perhaps that grand old age of 18 when a man is a man old enough to kill for the army and buy smokes. Maybe no gambling in the pit till you can buy a drink 21. Our sport should not take candy from a baby someone should have perhaps pointed him down the way if he was playing adults BUT should we stop it if an 8 yr old is playing a 9 yr old for a couple of bucks. Are we saying to the youth at such an event you can watch but do not do what we do, are we saying that gambling is bad in our mind or just in the mind of the public, we want to get in the public so we need to hide our gambling nature that some are embarressed about. What if the 8 yr old is there with his Mom or Dad and they put him in the game.

I bet we could go all over and find adults putting kids in action maybe not at 8 but definitely 12-15 and over. I know because I have done it in the past and many others have done the same. I put a later champion in action when he was too young to drive and we made quite a bit of money together throughout the south I am talking about Brian Groce. I myself was early 20-21 this was in the mid to late 80's. Everywhere we went he got action so the people in those rooms had no problem trying to take off the young kid he was always someone they did not know sometime he went in alone sometimes I went in as well. He would have a decent little roll on him and would seem to be an easy enough mark. They found out different we booked no losers but we did pick our spots and avoided a few places other than that he pretty much played who we found.

Did you see the movie "Searching for Bobbby Fisher" the kid (8 or 9 yrs old) wants some chess competition his mom staked him to a cheap game in the park the old russian dude busts him pretty quick but Laurence Fishburn recognized greatness and called out what is your name I want to know I saw you .... It was just a little gambling in a movie but Chess still goes on. If in Color of Money III there is a scene from SBE where an 8 yr old gets beat out of a game or two maybe wins a game in dream sequence of the star rembering coming up and some of his experiences that would not be so bad perhaps we would look better if the high level hustlers in the pit told the kid to play a younger table might have been good.

However we are talking about Scooter and he was just looking for a way to make a buck or two off the situation the same way as the stock and oil traders are working on profiting the current earthquake tsunami in Japan it is a tough situation but hey they have to keep trading might as well make a buck. This guy is next on the list and he has the cost of admission lets play.....

I myself I think 8 yrs old is too young to play unattended however if he has a parent with him I say let him play until the operator puts an age limit on the pit then that is the law of land. The operator Allen Hopkins Productions should make the rules. What are you going to do if he puts up 18 and and over age limitin the pit and then he also puts a sign Saying No Gambling to keep the public calm.
 
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sliprock said:
Alot of our "Champions" have followed this same path. I know one in particular that was betting $40 a game while standing on a pop case. Less than 10 years old. High Action rooms breed action players. My local room hosted a Jr National qualifier years ago and I bet that I had 5 kids not old enough to drive ask me to play some $100 sets.
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Could his initials have been S.D.? LOL, think he may have started even earlier.
 
The only real problem I have with this is that the clouds of smoke down there are unhealthy. I wouldn't let my kid go down there for that reason alone. I also wouldn't allow him to be in that environment because there is too much adult conversation happening with a lot of drunks getting loud and boisterous. In other words a situation could get ugly quick and I wouldn't want my kid hurt just because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Without the smoke though and with me there I wouldn't hesitate to let my kid see what's going on. I'd use it as a lesson for him and might even let him play a little if I thought the situation was fairly safe and sane. However I don't think that fathers trying to live their own gambling dreams through their little children is a good idea.

Edit: Allen Hopkins should probably be aware of this though as they do share some liability. The gambling is wide open and probably not legal. I am sure that there are some laws on the books about contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
 
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A 16 year old pool prodigy just finished 2nd in the Masters division @ the BCA western regionals. Had a special permit from the state liquor control division of some sort to enter the casino.

But an 8 year old????? Gee, I dunno. Somehow little league baseball sounds a lot healthier...
 
I for one think that's pretty awesome. People need to relax and stop pretending like they are the utmost authority on morality. Glass houses and all of that.
 
Lol at people thinking this is a detriment to a kid having fun. I guarantee you kids don't look at things the way you do. What, you didn't make bets when you were a kid? If you're really worried this kid is going to turn into some gambling feen or that this is a huge problem, you're spending your time worrying about things you can't change. And most people on AZB post their opinions about everything, without doing anything about it.
 
JB Cases said:
The only real problem I have with this is that the clouds of smoke down there are unhealthy. I wouldn't let my kid go down there for that reason alone. I also wouldn't allow him to be in that environment because there is too much adult conversation happening with a lot of drunks getting loud and boisterous. In other words a situation could get ugly quick and I wouldn't want my kid hurt just because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Without the smoke though and with me there I wouldn't hesitate to let my kid see what's going on. I'd use it as a lesson for him and might even let him play a little if I thought the situation was fairly safe and sane. However I don't think that fathers trying to live their own gambling dreams through their little children is a good idea.

Edit: Allen Hopkins should probably be aware of this though as they do share some liability. The gambling is wide open and probably not legal. I am sure that there are some laws on the books about contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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JB they did a good thing at sbe,no more smoking inside,it was much more enjoyable with out that nasty cigar smell every where,iam not 100% sure about the smoking rule there,but i didnt see no one smoking or did i smell it,i forget for a secound,the only one allowed to smoke was richie richeson,i did see him lite one up at the big pit table,but he did only take a couple of drags and then put it out,after a lot of bettors spoke up.
 
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