BLUFF Magazine, anyone read it yet?

[jedi]

I was at my local B&M casino yesterday, and they had copies of the premiere issue of BLUFF Magazine, with James Woods on the cover. Has anyone seen this yet?

I read through it, and it's got some big names writing for it. It had Antonio Esfandiari and Erick Lindgren's viewpoints on tournaments they recently played, Josh Arieh's version of the hold-up in France, and Annie Duke talking about how to take advantage of guys perceptions of women at the poker table.

There was also a quiz near the back that looked absolutely AWFUL! I don't have the copy with me, but one of the questions was something like this:

What is the primary thing that determines if you're a winning poker player.
A) Skill
B) Luck
C) Experience
D) All of the above.

(Answer was D)

Grammar afficionados will enjoy the misuse of "your" in some articles, and I'm not sure if I've ever heard the use of the word "cardsharp" before. Maybe I'm new to this, but I've heard "cardshark" but not "cardsharp."

Anyways, I didn't think it had great poker value to it. Most of it was geared to inexperienced players I thought. Even the crappy experienced players won't get too much learning out of it.

There was some advice that contradicted Ed Miller's advice on folding in large pots. It said something like losing players consistently put in bets while drawing dead, just because the pot is big. Ed's advice says that it's a mistake to do this just because you MIGHT be drawing dead. You don't have to be right that often for calling to be profitable.

Anyways, just wanted to see if people read the magazine or knew what I was talking about.

[maryfield48]

From the American Heritage College Dictionary, courtesy of Bartleby (http://www.bartelby.com):

cardsharp

SYLLABICATION: card·sharp
PRONUNCIATION: kärdshärp
VARIANT FORMS: also card·sharp·er (-shärpr)
NOUN: An expert in cheating at cards.
OTHER FORMS: cardsharping —NOUN

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]

NOUN: An expert in cheating at cards.


[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. Well given the context, I think cardSHARK would be better in the article. I don't think it was trying to promote cheating in hold em.

[pheasant tail (no 18)]

[ QUOTE ]
There was some advice that contradicted Ed Miller's advice on folding in large pots. It said something like losing players consistently put in bets while drawing dead, just because the pot is big.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've played w/ the guy who wrote that article a few times (for only about 3 hrs. total) and thought that that article was great bc. he is hyper aggressive and I saw him getting caught bluffing at least 6 times.

Other than that I found the Mag to be a big glossy piece of crap. It would be of no interest if there were never a waiting list unless you think that poker is glamorous and want to know about famous people. I need no such ego-boost, the action, profit and comraderie of the game keeps me interested. Maybe it will get better.

If James Wood likes to play poker, well, great, I do too. Maybe some day we'll play together.

[maryfield48]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

NOUN: An expert in cheating at cards.


[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. Well given the context, I think cardSHARK would be better in the article. I don't think it was trying to promote cheating in hold em.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I haven't read BLUFF magazine so have nothing useful to say about it. But I do find this stuff interesting - the following is from an etymology website:

The earliest (1859) written version of the phrase was card sharper. As card sharp occurs in several of our dictionaries and card shark in none of them, I would suggest that the latter form is merely a modern mis-hearing of card sharp, possibly influenced by loan-shark.

[mike l.]

it's real trash and im glad it's around. it's for all the kids with fake ids i play against lately to look at and wank off to hoping theyll get on tv someday, maxing out their credit card cash advances losing at 20-40 to me. perfect. long live all this movie star poker crap.

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]

Other than that I found the Mag to be a big glossy piece of crap. It would be of no interest if there were never a waiting list unless you think that poker is glamorous and want to know about famous people. I need no such ego-boost, the action, profit and comraderie of the game keeps me interested. Maybe it will get better.

If James Wood likes to play poker, well, great, I do too. Maybe some day we'll play together.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've yet to read the Woods article, and briefly skimmed the Ferguson interview (not bad), but I'll have to agree on the rest of it. All of the content seems to be geared to screw up the fish.

Lederer's hand reading article I thought I'd find interesting, but turned into a recap of Caro's book of tells. I wanted to throw up when I read about Antonio Esfandiari. The quiz looked like a joke though.

[onegymrat]

Hi Jedi,

Yeah, I picked it up a couple of weeks ago also. I think it's crap. The quiz was ludicrous, especially the one that you pointed out. It's mainly a bunch of fluff and a mediocre attempt to jump on the "hold'em bandwagon" to get a few issues out. It seems like half the magazine were ads from online sites. Yes, I agree with Mike L. I hope those underaged wannabes will continue to leak money to us, especially after reading Bluff.

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
it's real trash and im glad it's around. it's for all the kids with fake ids i play against lately to look at and wank off to hoping theyll get on tv someday, maxing out their credit card cash advances losing at 20-40 to me. perfect. long live all this movie star poker crap.

[/ QUOTE ]

holy [censored] did somebody take an axe to jimmeny cricket or something...

you could at least pretend to have a conscience.

[J.A.Sucker]

[ QUOTE ]
im glad it's around. it's for all the kids with fake ids i play against lately to look at and wank off to hoping theyll get on tv someday, maxing out their credit card cash advances losing at 20-40 to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

That, and for inflating Wood's ego even more. Get him in the 1-2 game and you could retire early.

[Daliman]

I especially liked the part that said a standard buyin for a 2/4 holdem game is $800.

[nothumb]

Playing 20/40?? What, did you have a bad streak, or do the kids make it that good?

NT

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

My impression of both Bluff and All-In was disappointing. All-in seemed more gossip oriented than poker. Sort of like a people magazine with a poker theme. Bluff, while put together nicely, could only be described as lightweight.

I talked with the editor of Bluff, but after spending some time with the magazine cancelled another meeting with him. There is chance for improvement here.

I've also had a couple of phone conversations with the editor for All-in. He sent me a couple of sample magazines but seems to have disappeared. He didn't follow up with us as planned and didn't return my phone call. I wonder if they are out of business.

As for the other new magazine, Live Action Poker or something like that, it looked so bad when I saw it last May that I didn't even bother to read any of the articles. However, I understand that it is being revamped and will come back out as Fifth Street magazine. Maybe this version will be better.

Best wishes,
Mason

[tek]

All-in magazine didn't deliver and didn't return emails.

I charged it to my debit card, so I called the bank and had asked to reverse it. The lady asked me if I wanted BOTH reversed...Seems they charged me twice. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

So the bank reversed both charges. Two days later I called the bank and told them I lost the card and they sent me a new one with a new number... /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi tek:

The real shame of all of this is that a new magazine that could put some legitimate competition in the field would in my opinion be great for poker. I'm ready to help the right one when it comes along.

Best wishes,
Mason

[Losing all]

Why wait to help? Start your own, 2+2 style. Think of all the great essays you could milk out of the mid/high boys. Not to mention all the great tourney players we have here.

Poker mags are gay for the most part, but if anyone can pull off something worth reading, and maybe even worth paying for, it's 2+2.

[mike l.]

"Poker mags are gay for the most part"

magazines are by their nature gay. theyre all flash and ads and sex (and poker+sex just doesnt mix sorry, just look at how slimy gross the top pros in these mags are!) and glitz and bling and stupid shiit that anyone with any sort of life doesnt give a crust about.

i bet what mason would feel more comfortable and what some of us would really appreciate more, would be a trade/scholarly journal sort of thingy. people could go on and on about simulations and math and stuff and it would be cool. only thing is this superior (?) format we're using here covers most of it anyway, and mason can make more publishing books right now which is keeping him more than busy from what ive heard.

an outside source doing a more scholarly sort of collection of essays, reviews, and interviews 4 times a year would be sweet though. and i think that'd be the sort of thing mason would be willing to look at. that would also be the sort of thing you would not give away for free at the cardrooms, nor would it rely heavily on ads. they tend to be subscription based.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Losing all:

I ws involved in the ill fated Poker World magazine. It's an experience I don't want to repeat again. Part of the problem was that I didn't have complete control and trusted some people who with hindsight I shouldn't of trusted. That for sure will never happen again.

We are looking into adding a possible magazine feature to this web site sometime in the future. So something similar to what you are suggesting might occur here a few months from now.

Best wishes,
Mason

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Mike:

[ QUOTE ]
mason can make more publishing books right now which is keeping him more than busy from what ive heard.

[/ QUOTE ]

You have hit the nail on the head. I am just crushed right now and I don't see much relief in sight. One of the casulties is my ability to play much poker. On the other hand, I'm really happy with this opportunity and we have a bunch of great books (starting with Small Stakes Hold 'em) on the way.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Mason,

The opportunity is definitely there. I was surprised that it took so long for a second poker mag to be published. There was definitely money to be made.

Here is another example of the popularity of poker magazines now. At the WSOP this year, they were giving away copies of the premier issue of All In magazine. Those copies sold on Ebay for the next few months for about $15-$20 each. I was shocked. I just wish that I had grabbed more then the 3 copies that I did.

[Ed Miller]

an outside source doing a more scholarly sort of collection of essays, reviews, and interviews 4 times a year would be sweet though. and i think that'd be the sort of thing mason would be willing to look at. that would also be the sort of thing you would not give away for free at the cardrooms, nor would it rely heavily on ads. they tend to be subscription based.

I've thought about doing exactly this thing in exactly the format you describe. Four issues a year, subscription-based, "scholarly" format, strong content, etc. I did some back of the envelope calculations, and I decided that my time was probably better spent writing books at least for now.

It would be cool, though, and if someone else thinks it would be fun to do, I would be happy to help out.

I also thought about doing an online newsletter. That would be less cool, but also the overhead would be much lower as well.

[Michael Davis]

You need to convince university math depts. that this would be a worthwhile journal to own and the endeavor would be worth it. I don't know, though, you'd probably have to hire Karl Rove to convince them of this.

-Michael

[lordfoo]

[ QUOTE ]
I ... trusted some people who ... I shouldn't of trusted.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you an editor?

[wheeler]

A university math department isn't the right home for such a journal. There's nothing cutting edge about the math that comes up in poker.