Poker boom creates opportunities for magazines

ATLANTA ? Bluff magazine reveals a world at the top of the poker craze that few get to see, of millionaire card sharks who spend money with abandon, use $1,000 chips as coasters and fly like rock stars from one glitzy casino to another.

But like its name, Bluff?s glamorous gloss is all for show. It spins its stories nearly a continent away from the poker mecca of Las Vegas at its headquarters in Atlanta, where the most exciting legal gambling experience is scratching off a lottery ticket.

?We?re aimed at the new generation of poker players,? said Eddy Kleid, Bluff?s co-president. ?We wanted to make it fun and sexy. We?re kind of like a Maxim for poker.?

Poker?s exploding popularity, with televised Texas hold?em tournaments and Internet games, has created an unprecedented opportunity for startup magazines such as Bluff to find some action. As many as 10 poker magazines have popped up in the past year.

?These magazines are really reflecting that growth,? said Samir Husni, a magazine expert and chairman of the journalism department at the University of Mississippi. ?But publishers need to know when to hold ?em and when to fold ?em. All of magazine publishing is gambling ? but when you are gambling on a fad, it?s a bigger gamble.?

The proliferation of Bluff and other new magazines has caused established poker publications such as Card Player to take notice.

?Thanks to all these new poker magazines, it?s forced me to come out with a better product,? said Jeff Shulman, president and co-publisher of the Las Vegas-based, 150,000-circulation Card Player. ?This is by far the best time for us.?

The poker magazine industry is flush with new advertising dollars from other companies profiting from the poker craze, including poker Web sites, regular (and legal) casino card rooms and other companies that sell poker-related products, from clothing to bobbleheads.

In all, poker magazines bring in between $5 million and $10 million a year, a figure comparable to the yields of specialty magazine markets for triathletes and other hobbyists, Husni said.

Poker has become popular among American youth, thanks to ESPN?s coverage of the World Series of Poker.

This year?s tournament drew 5,619 players, and the final table of nine was set Friday. The winner takes home $7.5 million

Card Player, published for 18 years and one of the oldest in the industry, has seen poker magazine upstarts come and go. In the past, a new poker magazine typically lasted from six months to two years, Shulman said.

?Now with online poker and a big budget for poker rooms, I don?t see any of these new poker magazines going out of business,? he said. ?But none of them are any real competition to us.?

Yet that?s something magazines such as Bluff and All In aim to change. ?We?re out to be the Golf Digest of poker,? said Bhu Srinivasan, president and publisher of All In.

Created last year in New York City, All In touts a circulation of 160,000 and also maintains a focus on strategy. In its July issue, world champion Johnny Chan, made famous by the poker movie ?Rounders,? discusses the value on betting. World Champion Chris ?Jesus? Ferguson gives tips in the magazine?s January issue on playing poker games against small numbers of opponents.

?We bring in pros to give you instruction after instruction to make you better,? Srinivasan said. ?The central theme of our magazine is to make you a better poker player, to help you win more money.?

Focusing less on strategy and more on personalities and lifestyle, Bluff has become popular in just 12 months. Morris claims the magazine?s circulation is now 250,000, although none of the most popular poker magazines is listed with the independent Audit Bureau of Circulation.

Morris credits the magazine?s rapid growth on its different approach to the game. Bluff uses first-person stories from professional players, partnerships with ever-growing online poker rooms, and even a fantasy-football-style poker league.

?I didn?t want to be a stats-and-strategy magazine,? Morris said. ?We recognize that poker has moved to the mainstream.?

By DANIEL YEE

News Added: 16 July, 2005

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