blonde poker forum

I have been a regular reader of this magazine for years. Up until recently, I had no trouble buying it at WH Smith each month. About 4 months ago, the Kilmarnock store no longer stocked the magazine and now Ayr have also stopped selling it. When I asked the store manager (also a poker fan) why this was, he kindly checked the sales figures for me on his laptop and told me it had been in decline in terms of sales for some time.
 They only stock what is popular. It was a bit irritating to see a 1D magazine on sale when my favourite magazine has been cut. Interestingly they also cut the WPT magazine this year as well from both the Kilmarnock and Ayr stores.  He mentioned a digital copy of this magazine is available, but for me it isn't the same. Buying an actual magazine each month gave me that feeling of waking up to a Beano or Eagle being delivered by the postman when I was a kid. Sad times .

its no longer printed but there is a digital version

When did they stop printing it mate?   I had this same discussion with a friend, he said it was last year, however I have issues from earlier this year. I know there was a US version, so perhaps I had a version of that from this year.  The digital version may have to do.  Thanks

went digital jan 2015

Ok, thanks. I guess with so much free information available , it wasn't cost effective anymore. It must be tough to keep any magazine running these days.

I used to pinch copies of Poker Player along with the WPT and Bluff mags from the G Casino each month. Was a big fan.

In my local WH Smith it was always tucked away in the corner behind mags about sailboats and clay pigeon shooting. Gave up looking for it in the end and just resorted to thieving it from the casino.

Haha, you saved money doing it that way as well.  I always had to search for it in my WH Smith, however I could usually find it.  One problem for some people buying it from my store was the dates often being months behind. I remember buying a copy with Devilfish on the cover years ago that was actually about 3 months older than the current issue in the Glasgow shop. I guess as it was a poker magazine, few people in the store really understood what they were selling anyway.

You can probs get it free online, I know I got sent an email about it earlier this year

Very.

Their revenue mainly arose from advertising, & their main advertiser in recent years has been PokerStars, who rarely advertise in print media these days. So most of them have either gone Digital, or ceased to publish.

It's a far cry from just 8 or 10 years ago, when there were 6 or 7 hard copy poker periodicals.

The first one I recall - & we all read it avidly, as it was the only place we could see our Festival Results - was Poker Europa.

Poker Europa was THE most peculiar magazine, in that each copy was printed in three different languages. Latterly, they reduced to two languages - English & German.

I used to write Tournament Reports for them, think I got £175 per Tournament. What a life.

Poker Europa - who also ran an online poker forum - was owned & managed by Niz Szeremata, & Jon Shoreman if I recall correctly, with help from Keith The Camel Hawkins, who was a big mate of Nic Szeremeta.

Nic had a daughter, Kate, who played a bit of poker too. Think Keith had the hots for her.


(http://www.thehendonmob.com/media/Image/media_gallery/magazines/2008-02_Poker_Europa_Cover.jpg)


(http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/pictures/KateSzeremeta2.jpg)

I got to know Nic's daughter Kate quite well.

About 7 or 8 years ago we drew adjoining seats at a tournament in Brighton. She was good company at the table and we chatted for hours until she was moved during the last level.

We both made day two and as I was bagging my chips she appeared at my shoulder and asked me where I was staying. I told her that I was in the Old Ship Hotel, which was a budget place but nice and clean with friendly staff. She said she hadn't booked anywhere and asked if I would mind if she walked back with me so that she could get a room. Of course I agreed.

As we walked back to the hotel we made small talk about the days play and our prospects for tomorrow. She said her feet were killing her so she took her shoes off and walked barefoot.

When we got to the hotel there was no one on reception so we pressed a buzzer and waited. Eventually, a smiling gentleman arrived. Much to Kate's disappointment and to my absolute horror, Mr Smiley informed us that there were no rooms available. Bugger! I had already planned to accidentally on purpose bump in to her at breakfast and then walk her back to the casino.

She turned to leave. I offered to escort her to another hotel, and then, in a sudden fit of uncharacteristic boldness I blurted out, "Look, this is silly. I have a perfectly good room with a spare bed. You would be more than welcome to use it".

She turned to face me and looked directly into my eyes. I knew she was gauging my intentions. We stood in silence for what must have been about five seconds but felt like a lifetime, then she laughed and said "OK then, thank you. What's the worst that could happen?"

At that point the worst did happen. I woke up.

Digital version is free and the app is decent http://www.pokerplayer365.com/magazine-app/

Disclosure: I used to be the editor and it's now owned by some close friends of mine, but it's still great

Such a shame there are no real poker mags left in the market. This is what happens when there is a monopoly. No switching, means no advertising, means no media.

I remember that magazine as well Tony, I enjoyed reading it.  I guess when a company like pokerstars reduces advertising in print, it becomes difficult to keep things running like before.

Haha, Tom.  Great story .


I love the internet and spend hours using it everyday.  However, I still prefer print magazines and books. So far, I still haven't warmed to ebooks. There is nothing like actually holding a real book when traveling on a bus or relaxing on the couch.  Recently I was chatting to a few of the staff in our local library. One of them said some days hardly any customers come into look at the books. I must admit that had been the first time going into that library in about two years myself, I used to go twice per week for years. Nowadays if you want to know something it is less than 30 seconds away with a few clicks off the keyboard.

It seems sad.


 Lewis

Thanks Alan, I will have a look at that

One of the daily things I most enjoy - every single day - is reading The Times - print version - from cover to cover, ditto, if time permits, The Daily Telegraph. News is so fascinating. Online news, I just can't get used to it, & I almost never look at the News sites online.

Ah...the Kate that had a little run in with Vicky!.....


“In the first edition of Victoria Coren’s book, “For Richer for
Poorer, A Love Affair with Poker” she refers to a tattoo that Kate
Szeremeta, a fellow poker player, has as showing “Ben Elton’s face
tattooed in four colours across her stomach.” In fact, the tattoo is a
heart shaped tattoo (the size of a £2 coin) with Ben Elton’s name
written across it above her hip. We apologise for the fact that Kate
Szeremeta’s tattoo was incorrectly described and are happy to put the
record straight.”

******

The book is available here - but please bear in mind, should you get
hold of a copy from the original print run, that it will include this
erroneous description, based on a mistake in my memory from ten years
ago. Kate Szeremeta does NOT have a tattoo of Ben Elton’s face. It is
of his name in a heart. It is NOT on her stomach. It is above her hip.
I apologize unreservedly for the hurt, anger, distress and offence
taken at my memory lapse, and for all the trouble and expense that
ensued from it. I thought Kate was a friend of mine and would never
intentionally have done anything to upset her. I’m sorry. If you wait
for the paperback, there will be no reference to Kate Szeremeta at
all. I hope everything is now very clear.

I agree, print newspapers hold my attention much more. I feel sorry for kids who over the next 10 years will most likely lose the excitement of reading comics they can actually hold. Like I said above, comic day was one of my favourite days as a kid. The beano, Dandy, The Eagle and then 2000AD. After comics my love of magazines followed. Now it is mostly digital.

The weird thing is ebooks are a like for like replacement for books. A slightly different experience, sure, but basically the same.

Newspapers are broadly similar online to print, albeit you probably read less online than you used to in print.

Magazines though? They have died, or are dying out, and have been replaced by....well.....nothing

There are some "digital" magazines, but they really don't work that well as a product (apart from Poker Player obvs :) )

But in the main magazines have been broken down into parts across the interwebs. For listings you go here, for reviews you go there, for interviews you go somewhere else, for specialist news you go to that other place for half naked women you go pretty much anywhere you want...

I deal with a number of business to business magazine publishers at work, they are all generally finding a problem with keeping readers - and that's for magazines which generally get given away for free.

A lot of them are trying to shift over to digital versions, some of which are done very well (with interactive adverts for example); but in general readership is declining. Like Alun says people can generally just get their information from a range of resources online, even when it might be quite specialised.

I'd be pretty peeved if "Woman's Own" stopped printing,. What would we read in waiting rooms?

Used to have some cracking covers, that, & it was the best for knitting patterns.


(http://www.littlereddog.info/images/collectables/vintage-magazines-1950s/lrd0570-vintage-1950s-womans-own-magazine-for-sale-a.jpg)



(http://www.littlereddog.info/images/collectables/vintage-magazines-1950s/lrd0551-vintage-1950s-womans-own-magazine-for-sale-a.jpg)

Hi Tikay,
            Nic and Kate used to play at Torquay casino a bit few years ago, did/do they live that area?
Anyway he has been there a few times recently-ish, doesnt say much, seems a bit grumpy lool

Yes, Nic lives in Torquay, Kate used to, not sure about now.

Grumpy? Nic? You sure?

Inside Poker, now that was a magazine...

Inside poker, there were a lot of mags back then. I also remember Inside Edge from years ago . I bought it long before I even knew about online poker. 

Inside edge was okay, then they ruined it by focusing solely on poker.

You're welcome :)

That, like everything in publishing, was an entirely commercial decision. Market didn't, and still won't, support a sports betting title.

Can't remember the name of the paper which started up about 10 years ago to take on the racing post.  Think it lasted about 3 months before they run out of money.

Sportsman. Was a really good paper, but nobody bought it.

Yeah of course, the problem for me at least, was that it became exactly the same as all the other poker magazines. Liked the Sportsman too, but like you say, never getting enough punters.

No I agree. We tried to pitch it a bit more high-end, but you're basically right.

Sad thing is we all really loved the sports betting bits. We would have loved to have kept on doing it.

Advertisers don't want to market to a bunch of shrewdies so we had to pitch it more recreationally. Ahead of our time I guess, although the betfair forum HATED us/me for it.

But I think we got a nice balance in the end. Am really proud of some of the sports betting stuff we did. Some of it was shit though obv :)

Very good. Kept me believing until the end.

Excellent Tom.

excellent tom laughing out loud at the end