Mobile Poker and Player Notes: One is a game changer, one isn't.

It's a big day for online poker in my opinion, with the launch of a PokerStars mobile client that uses the dotcom liquidity. Yes, this is not the first mobile poker client, not even the first for Stars, but it is so impressive, and uses the biggest player base in poker, that I think this could be a huge deal.

Not to be outdone, Bodog apparently have shaken up the online poker industry today with a revolutionary new addition......player notes.

Yes you read it right. In a joke of an announcement on CalvinAyre.com, they are actually trying to make out their player note facility is a 'game changer'. The best (and by best, I mean, worst) thing about these notes is that they do not even transfer to the next game - as Bodog has recently made the move to 100% anonymous tables.

Unlike many of my peers, I don't hate this new model by Bodog, I think all anonymous tables is a well intended idea if nothing else. But to make a song and dance about such a mundane poker feature from a decade ago, especially when you are in fact, pointing out its limitations compared to every other poker room, (Whose notes do transfer over to the next day) makes me question what the hell is going on over at Bodog. It is just, well, bizarre.

It only seems fitting that they chose the day PokerStars brought out such a promising change to the landscape of online poker, to announce such a non event like this.

#justsayin

Linking To Rival Poker Media Sites

One of my poker industry heroes, Bill Rini, picked up on something in my last blog which I wanted to expend upon, and that is the practice of poker media sites linking to other, rival, poker media sites, in their news reporting. And of course what I mean by this, is poker affiliate sites linking to other poker affiliate sites. 

A few years ago, this would be a tantamount to treason on a poker website. If a new poker writer made the noob mistake of innocently linking to a rival website, or a non affiliated poker room, in a story, then they would get a severe dressing down. 

Of course it makes sense why that would be. If the website in question had worked hard to create content, get good affiliate deals, and bring in traffic; why would they ever want to divert traffic to someone else who could get them to sign up to PokerStars? This was at a time where people were buying/selling/trading/bartering links like cigarettes in prison. 

The times have changed. The poker audience is much more sophisticated, and poker news is significantly more complex. I don't want to go into the debate about whether an affiliate site can have true journalistic integrity today, but it is clear we have turned a corner where linking is concerned. 

There is simply so much going on in the world of poker that we have to report the most important findings, and that means linking to rival poker media, and non affiliated poker rooms, who have broke the news. The Full Tilt scandal was a perfect example, PokerStrategy.com,PokerNews.com, and twoplustwo.com, were all getting exclusives that impacted the storyline. 

Given the gravity of the story, it would have been irresponsible not to link to each others findings, even though the three bodies could be considered rivals. 

It is not just ground breaking news like Black Friday where poker news sites are readily linking to each other. I mentioned yesterday that 'News In Brief' features are seeing this happen every day, and often on much more whimsical stories. 

Ultimately poker media sites do not want to out of the loop with any stories that are taking place in poker. We have got to the point where we have realised that rather than pushing our traffic away, never to be seen again. If we provide a good enough source of news and/or affiliate deals, the audience will keep coming back for more. 

It also shows, in my opinion, a great deal of integrity that we are prepared to take such a risk in the name of good news reporting, and I think the audience get that. 

Of course, the absolute worse thing you can do is still carry the story, without giving proper citations. Although the typical reader probably wont notice, your peers in the poker media will, and expect a cold war on twitter and snubbing at WSOP and PokerStars parties forever more. 

More blogs about the poker media industry

News In Brief Poker News Articles

In the last six months, I have noticed poker news websites are opting more and more for the 'news in brief' format. This is where, rather than writing up a single news story in its entirety, the writer opts to provide a round-up of several news stories from the day, with a quick summary of each. 

So for example, yesterday at PokerStrategy, our own version featured the story of Brad Booth calling out Phil Hellmuth, the Mizrachi brothers opening a dealer school, an update from the PokerStars cruise, an interview with Patrik Antonius, and a story about  a poker related gun range shooting game.

The first of these aggregated poker news articles appeared back when I was at PokerNews.com, in what is called the Nightly Turbo - I'd love to take credit but it was Matt Parvis and Elaine Chaivarlis you can thank for that. We have also been doing a version of it for some time at PokerStrategy.com called The Daily Rewind, and in the last few months I have seen a great number of other sites following suit. 

I, for one, really like this format of poker news reporting, because I think it achieves a lot in a short space of time. 

First of all, there is simply too much news to report story by story these days. The poker media is a limited resource, we cannot possibly expect to cover every single story taking place in poker like the BBC or CNN can, so aggregated news stories are a great way to include a lot of stories into your daily reporting. 

Likewise, a lot of news stories are certainly worthy of mention, but difficult to make into a standalone news story. A complete nobody winning a moderately noteworthy tournament for example, worth a mention, but difficult to turn into compelling writing. 

I also like them, because those sites that do them well treat the audience like an adult and actually link to other websites. There was a time when an affiliate website would never link to anyone else, but the very nature of these articles means you have to provide the original source of the news to allow the reader to go off and discover more about the story. Being confident enough to link away to a potential rival, because it is in the best interests of giving the reader the whole story, in my opinion gives the original site a great deal of credibility.

The best reason for this sort of poker news reporting is that it reflects the way we want to consume our media these days. We want to know everything, we want to know it now, and we want to bypass a lot of the crap and be presented with the core information. 

I must say it is a pet peeve of mine when people will not read a long piece of text and demand the 'cliffs' instead, but I think I am in the minority there. 

The format also makes them very easy to consume. They tend to have very nicely broken up text, lots of pictures, the core information right at the start. 

I know that on paper makes the audience sound like a five year old, but the reality is that one of the biggest challenges faced by poker media (And, in fact, anyone who produces web content) is getting people to stay on the page for more than a minute. The average reader does not even pull the scroll bar downwards on a news article, but these attractive snappy features are much easier to digest and have a much better time on page score. 

More blogs about the poker media industry

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 6: Network

I have always had a mild loathing for the term 'networking' - I just see it as a very Dave Brent-esque term - but there is little doubt that it is important in any industry. Often the difference between those poker writers that find work and those that don't is simply being on other people's radar. 

It is a tremendously easy time to contact anyone in the poker media, most people have a facebook or twitter account, or a website with a 'contact' page, with which they are happy to receive messages. Poker is not a world where the six degrees of separation rule applies, I would actually say it is closer to two or three degrees. If I am trying to contact someone, it is rare I don't know someone who knows them, and the chances are you probably have a better network than you think.

But first and foremost, try and contact people from their twitter/facebook/blog/website - the arenas where they have given their permission to do so. 

The benefits of networking are enormous. Networking will get you work offers, interviews, invites to events, exclusive stories, and much more. Also, having a prior history with someone gives you an edge, a context, for working with them in the future. I recall I approached PokerNews several times trying to get work, but it wasn't until I met the then-editor Paul Sandells at a poker tournament that my (constant) attempts to secure work bore fruit. 

Which brings me onto an obvious, but ignored, piece of advice - get out of the house. Get yourself down to the big events, get to your local casino, go to Vegas if you are thinking about going anyway. Meeting people in person is so much more effective. It can be very easy to think you can do it all from the comfort of your PC, but real life meetings are the best ways to leave a lasting impression. In the poker media, it gives you credibility.

That doesn't mean you should spend a fortune travelling the globe to get to these events, but you should definitely go to the ones nearby. There will always be something happening in your area at some point. I didn't go to Cannes for the WSOPE, but I always went when it was in London, and always venture out to EPT London - you just can't pass up great poker writing opportunities like that when they land on your doorstep. 

Who to network with? Everyone. There is no right and wrong, and you certainly should not assume that the best opportunities come from the people highest up. Most of my most reliable contacts in the poker media are not the big bosses, they are the guys doing the work on the ground floor who actually have the time to talk to you. 

One group to certainly mix with are the PR people and the agents. Be warned, more often than not they are trying to get you to write about something they are promoting, but what that also leads to is exclusive news and interviews. They usually have access to poker rooms, events, and top players. As long as you have your bullshit detectors ready and working, you will find them very helpful. 

Finally, get active on poker forums and twitter. Not only is this a good way of being involved in all the major discussions and meet people, it is a great way to put yourself on the map as a poker writer. I can't tell you the amount of times I have had people introduce themselves to me in poker rooms by saying 'hey, you're DaveShoelace on the Blondepoker forum' - many of whom have gone on to become good friends or contacts. 

Related blogs

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 1: The State of the Industry
Part 1 of my series on the advice I give to new poker writers. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 2: Don't Wait to be Asked
Part 2 in the series, where I share perhaps the single most important piece of advice. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 3: Blog

Why starting a blog is a perfect way to start a career as a poker writer.

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 4: Where to find work

Where to go looking for potential contracts

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 5: Where to find stuff to write about

Who to follow and where to look for news

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 5: Where to find stuff to write about

Of all the blogs I have written in this series, I am the most reluctant about giving advice on where to find things to write about. Simply because I feel that if you don't know where to look, or what to write, you really should question why you want to be a poker writer. It's an old cliche, but if poker is not the thing you can't not write about, then maybe you should be writing about something else. 

But I get asked it a lot, so here is my advice anyway. Just like in the last blog, I am going to try and avoid mentioning specific websites/topics because poker changes so quickly, much better to give a broad overview that can be used for a long time, no matter how the poker media changes. 

KevMath

First of all, get the news sent to you, that makes it so much easier. I have a number of google alerts set up for keywords, the most obvious one of course being 'poker' but you should also try and single out some terms for your own particular interests, like 'poker legislation' or 'poker tournament'. You get any published news article on these subjects emailed right to you when they go live, so no excuse for not being in the loop.

Likewise, make sure to sign up to all the main poker press release sources. Contact all the major poker rooms and organisations press departments to be asked to be put on their mailing lists, as well as any major poker PR companies. Lyceum Media and Poker Media Consulting spring to mind. 

Next, seek out and compile all the major sources of poker news and information out there and aggregate them in some way. Google reader does this, I personally just have them all saved to my favourites in google chrome, and I am sure there are tons of other services out there. The best sources to look at are popular poker forums (2+2 obv), the main news sites, and the blogs of major poker rooms and players. Last time I checked, pokercurious.com has some pretty decent link lists for this kind of thing, but they have not been updated in a while. 

The single most important thing in poker media today in this regard is to get twitter savvy. You will not find news faster than on twitter, nor will you find a better way of gauging the poker communities views on something, and finally it is a great way of getting in contact with people. If you are not converted to twitter by now, I won't be giving you a lesson here, but urge you to take some time out and learn how to use it effectively. Search for both basic twitter help, and 'twitter for journalists'.

If you are one of the converted, first of all follow @KevMath.(But you probably did anyway)

Done that, lesson two, follow me @barry_carter. (Shame on you if you didn't)

Kev does it thousands of times better than me but between us we tend to tweet all the major goings-on in poker. Follow any account of interest that we tweet, follow the twitter accounts of all the interesting poker players, poker rooms, and poker news resources. This really is where the poker media world is talking, including just about all your fellow poker writers, so if you are not tweeting, you are going to be left way behind. 

Historically, interviews have always been a welcome and profitable way to make money for a poker writer, so this is a great place to go looking for content. Most players and public figures in poker have a twitter account, facebook page, or personal website, so it easy to contact them. In fact, there has never been an easier time to get in contact with anyone, and most poker people are happy to do interviews. Interviews are also a great way to get networking.....more on that in the next blog. 

Previous Blog Posts:

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 1: The State of the Industry
Part 1 of my series on the advice I give to new poker writers. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 2: Don't Wait to be Asked
Part 2 in the series, where I share perhaps the single most important piece of advice. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 3: Blog

Why starting a blog is a perfect way to start a career as a poker writer.

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 4: Where to find work

Why starting a blog is a perfect way to start a career as a poker writer.

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 4: Where To Find Work

On the topic of where to find poker writing work, I am going to deliberately take a broad viewpoint, rather than pinpointing specific places to find work. This is for two reasons. First of all, I do not want to piss any of my poker media friends off by sending hundreds of plucky writers in their direction expecting work. Secondly, the industry changes so fast that new avenues are cropping up all the time, just as quickly as others are closing. 

The most obvious place to start is simply wherever you go yourself to consume poker media. Do you check out a particular news site, forum, or blog? There is nothing stopping you from making contact with them and putting yourself on the radar, especially if you follow the advice I suggested in blog number two about having a body of work to hand when you contact them. 

Your natural instincts will be to gravitate to the most obvious places where a poker writer is expected to find work, which will be a poker news site and poker magazine. That's fine, definitely do that (Though expect rejection, at least at the start). But look much further than that, so many poker websites have written content, may of which may need help. Strategy sites, poker room blogs, live poker events, poker forums, staking sites, B2B websites, and even ghost writing blogs for players. 

I mentioned this in blog number one of this series, but if you can find it, try and get work doing live reporting at poker events. This really is one of the best ways to get exposure, learn your trade, and network with the right people. It is pretty competitive right now, but if nothing else you are likely to have some geographical advantage with at least one event in the poker year. If you have an event coming to your region, let the relevant live reporting team (and casino) know you are available, because travel expenses are hefty, and if you can cut those in half instantly you give yourself a fighting chance. 

Another consideration, one which I believe is currently underused by poker writers, is editorial placement. News sites and magazines no longer have inexhaustible budgets, which means they often accept free content from commercial enterprises in exchange for allowing them to plug a URL within the content. So poker room X might get one of their sponsored pros to write a strategy article, or get a writer to review their recent live event, in exchange for sticking some branding all over the piece. 

So, if you can't get direct work from a magazine, or from an online poker room, why not see if a poker room will pay you to write something for them, to feature in a magazine? The cost of editorial placement will always be much lower than the cost of advertising with the same magazine/website, so the company would be on to a winner getting you to write a piece on their behalf. 

Instead of finding someone to pay you to write, why not write something that people can purchase from you instead? These are wonderful times for the self published author, the kindle has removed almost every hurdle a writer has to face in order to make a living. If you have an idea for a book, the only thing it will really cost you is your time. Be warned, however, that the poker book market is very competitive: strategy books go out of date as quickly as a new phone or computer, and few other types of poker book have a massive audience. But if you think you have a killer idea for book, formatting it for kindle is remarkably easy (And self publishing it for softcover is relatively cheap too).

But it does not need to be a fully fledged book. There is nothing stopping you from turning a poker article into something that can be purchased on the kindle. Not many people want to spend money on poker articles, but the beauty is that you can price it as low as $0.99, which is easy to justify as a purchase. You can also monetise your poker blog by making it available to subscribe to on kindle for a small fee. 

And once again, back to the poker blog. As I mentioned in my previous column, it is possible to monetise a poker blog and many people are doing it. Once you have developed a following, are getting plenty of regular traffic, and have started to score well on search engines; you can start approaching potential advertisers selling banner/link space (And you will find, they start contacting you). A blog is also, as I have found, a great business card with which to actually get work offers. 

A final note; offering to do some stuff for free in the early days will pay off. It sucks not to get paid for your work, but it gets your foot in the door for future paid work, so look on it as an investment for the future. Don't get screwed by any means, but a couple of favours here and there are worth it in the long run, if all it costs you is a bit of time. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 1: The State of the Industry
Part 1 of my series on the advice I give to new poker writers. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 2: Don't Wait to be Asked
Part 2 in the series, where I share perhaps the single most important piece of advice. 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 3: Blog

Why starting a blog is a perfect way to start a career as a poker writer.

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 3: Blog

I mentioned in my last blog that there is nothing stopping you from writing right away, and how important it is to have examples of previous poker articles. What I often get in response to this from plucky new poker writers is a reply of 'how can I get previous examples of work when I can't get work' - which is complete bullshit.

Anyone can create an impressive portfolio of work and learn a great deal at the same time by creating a blog. It only takes a few minutes to create a blog, and from that point on you can start publishing work and letting the poker media world see your stuff. 

My own blog goes through long periods of inactivity, followed by weeks of non-stop content. For me, the biggest single reason for my blog is as a business card. I want this to be the first thing people see when they google my name. 

Lots of people have contacted me through my blog, I have got plenty of work as a result, and I even have made a (small) amount of money directly from it.

A blog is great practice for a new poker writer. You get instant feedback on your poker articles and it gets you in the habit of writing regularly even if you can't find much work. 

Even more importantly these days, it is great practice for when you get web based content work. If you work hard on your blog, you will learn html, how to format articles in an attractive way, and SEO - three of the most vital skills for people creating web based poker content. 

In fact, one of the rising new places for poker writers to make money is for blogs for poker rooms, so experience of the back-office of a blog is very important. 

If you work hard enough, you can even monetise it. You can get paid to put advertising banners on it, or use it the promote something you are selling. I use my own blog to promote my book and the poker articles I write on PokerStrategy.com, and in the past have been paid to put banners and links on (Don't do that anymore, personal preference). 

If you want some good advice on starting a blog, look no further than this site by my friend Marko Saric's excellent blog www.howtomakemyblog.com - which really is the only place to go to learn how to make a compelling blog. 

More to come soon......

Previous blogs: 

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 1: The State of the Industry

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 2: Don't Wait to be Asked

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 2: Don't Wait To Be Asked

I mentioned in my previous blog that 'poker writer' did not exist as a vocation when I first started, and I had to make it up as I went along. Because there was no career path laid out for me and I had to use my own initiative; which means I am very hard on people who don't follow my next tip. In my opinion, if the only tip a new poker writer follows is this one, then they will have no problems finding work. 

The biggest mistake new writers make is asking for work, and then hoping for the best. What I mean is asking if there is any work available from an editor, and asking if they can have that work, without making a good case for getting it. I cannot count the amount of new writers have come to me with no examples of their own work, and in some cases, they have never even written a paragraph of a poker article in their life. 

Editors get loads of emails every week from new writers saying essentially 'I want to be a writer, do you have any work?' with no evidence of what they are capable of. I almost always ignore these emails, and I am pretty certain most of my peers do too. It is like going to a job interview without a CV, or without suitable work experience (Or even a suit). 

An editor will have a team of reliable experienced writers they can call upon if any work needed doing, so they are never going to take a risk on an unproven poker writer because they asked nicely. Especially because getting that new guy on board often means having to set them up on some sort of HR/payroll system. 

So the first piece of advice is: actually have something, ANYTHING, to show them that you actually are capable of writing poker articles. 

The second piece of advice is, don't wait to be offered work, offer them work. Tell them your ideas for content, tell them who you can get for an interview, tell them about a breaking news story that you have the lowdown on and could report on (If you are struggling for ideas, that's coming in a future blog). You make the process monumentally easier for an editor when they realise that they can put their feet up and don't have to hold your hand. 

But the biggest piece of advice, one that will really get your foot in the door - do the work first before contacting them. 

There is nothing, NOTHING, stopping you from turning your ideas into articles before you contact an editor. If you have an idea for a poker article, just do it. If you can get an interview with Jason Mercier, don't waste that opportunity, do it now, worry where it will go later. You have just made an editor's life so much easier than 90% of your peers, because the piece is ready to be published, all they have to do is approve it, and they can use it right away, and if they don't, you can send it to someone else instead. 

This is not just new guys that make this error. It pains me to say it, but I know some very talented experienced poker writers, much better writers than I could ever hope to be, who wait around for permission to write something. It really frustrates me when really good writers, often good friends, send me an email simply 'know of any work going mate?' and make no further effort to find work than that. 

I don't think I am a spectacular writer, but the one thing I have always had is enthusiasm. As a writer, I have always thrown hundreds of ideas at editors, and when I get an idea for an article I always write it first before finding a home for it. As an editor, I do not have the time to give people work who wont help themselves by meeting me half way, but will always try my best to reward enthusiasm.

More coming very soon......

Related blogs:

Advice to New Poker Writers Part 1: The State of the Industry

Advice To New Poker Writers Part 1: The State of the Industry

For maybe the last three years, not a week has gone by without somebody asking me for advice relating to the world of poker media. Often this is from new poker writers wanting to know how to find work in the poker industry or critique their work. A lot of the time poker rooms/events/businesses looking to get more exposure or help with a poker press release. I have helped a few players get sponsorship, been on a few judging panels, and sometimes it is as simple as folks asking me to retweet a tweet of theirs. 

I always try my best to help them, for a number of reasons. Mainly because I like being helpful, and probably, being liked. I also love to network, and figure that some of these guys will be leaders of industry one day when I need work myself. However, I am pretty busy these days, and finding it harder to answer all the emails I get. 

So I am going to start using my blog to document some of the main things I get asked advice on, as well as maybe focusing on the business of poker side journalism a little more. I am going to start with probably the subject I get quizzed on most of all, advice to new poker writers. 

Advice to new poker writers part 1: The state of the industry

I have been doing this for six years, and back when I started, the job of poker journalist did not exist. I got lucky, WPT magazine offered me some money to publish something I wrote on a forum, and I took it from there. I started looking for all the places that might possibly pay me to write about poker and pestered them until they did. 

WPT Magazine, where I started

Back then the industry was vastly different to what it is today. The game was booming, advertisers were paying magazines huge sums, and the competition was incredibly low. Print magazines were where the money was, and they paid very very well. 

Affiliate sites were making plenty of money at the time too, but they were not really hiring or producing content in the same capacity as they are today. I have not been as well paid for any single article I have written (Exception being the book I wrote of course) than I was from the magazines from 2006. 

Fast forward to today and we have been through the UIEGA, a recession, and Black Friday. The poker media industry has changed dramatically.

First of all, I hate to say it, but the magazines are dying. Most of their revenues came from advertising, not subscriptions, and they have possibly been hit harder by Black Friday than the affiliate sites. They do not have the same budgets to pay freelancers they once did, in fact some have no budgets at all, and rely on staff writers and free content from people plugging something (Sponsored pros, poker rooms, poker products etc).

This is not just a poker problem, print media in general is in a massive decline. I expect a few magazines to close their doors in 2012, even if the US market comes back with a vengeance.

To make it as a writer these days, websites are where it is at. They too have been hit hard by Black Friday, but the audience wants their content online these days. People want their news and articles instantly, on the go, on their iphones, and easy to digest. 

Although it is a terrible time for the poker industry in general, it is an amazing time to be a writer. There is so much to write about. I honestly do not know how I managed to churn out so much content in 2006, when things to write about consisted on 'whats the difference between no limit and pot limit' or 'man wins poker tournament'. These days there is so much to write about: scandals, legislation, software, online cash games, live tournaments, strategy, interviews, gossip - the list goes on. 

The pay is less these days, and it is much more competitive, but there are now so many more options available to a poker writer: News sites, affiliate sites, magazines, poker room blogs, personal blogs, training sites, ebooks, live tournament reporting, premium content sites, ghost writing blogs, and much more. 

I am going to go into more detail about places to get started in a future blog, but one last point I would like to make is about live tournament reporting. I think that the guys that report live from tournaments these days put themselves in the best position to get regular work, because the industry is positioned in such a way that they are at the heart of a lot of things. 

Lee Davy hard at work

Doing live reporting first of all means you get to make a ton of great contacts, and that alone is worth the effort. You also get to report instantly on what is happening, which is exactly what the modern audience want. You get to meet all the players, which is great for setting up additional work interviewing them. It is also a great reason for people to follow you on twitter, which could serve you well further down the line if you ever have a product you want to sell, and you have an army of fans ready to buy it. 

If any fledgling writer gets a chance to report live from an event, I advise them to do it as long as they can stomach the long hours and extended periods of boredom. I have two mates, Lee Davy and Matthew Pitt, who I both managed to get some work doing live reporting. This became the catalyst for them both getting a ton of work and now they have too much to handle (They also got the work because they work incredibly hard and are very enthusiastic, more on that in a future blog). Anyone who says there is no work out there need to follow the lead of these guys. 

More to come later on this week....