Can Poker Print Magazines Survive?

Written by Raj on March 23rd, 2006

Over the weekend, I picked up two poker print magazines for the first time: Canadian Poker Player and CardPlayer. As a former print magazine publisher, the first thing on my mind after browsing both was: how do they stay in print?

Subscriptions barely pay for the postage for many magazines. Sure, these two have lots of print ads. But CardPlayer, from what I can tell, has all of its print articles online. CPP, on the other hand, appears to feature just a few articles online. I figure that it’s a rather tough go for a print magazine to go up against an online competitor, especially in the area of poker, and especially when the cow is giving the milk away for free.

Don’t get me wrong; I am one of those people that still enjoys reading print magazines. But with a game like poker, there’s something to be said about being able to listen to poker games or even watch them online (found via DrawDead). Because the subject matter is so interactive and analytical, I’m hazarding a guess that you’d learn far more about poker watching games and listening to analysis than just reading about it.

On the other hand, it’s still nice to be able to sit back and relax in your favourite chair or sofa and read something in print without having to fire up your laptop.

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