National Poker Fixation On The Way Out?

[Leavenfish]

My buyer at a certain major bookstore chain, has begun to give us substantially decreased orders for some poker magazines. He noted, "It is official, poker is the new Low Carb". By that he meant that the low carb craze in society came crashing down quickly early this years...and magazine sales seem to indicate it is heading in that direction.

MIND YOU, he is only talking about magazines...but it could perhaps be argued that magazines are a bell-weather of an item/comodity/national fixation.

Perhaps he is right, perhaps not--I have not had time to run the numbers. I tend to think the proliferation of titles on the market is more what we see at work than any general trend...but who knows, poker could well be on it's way 'out'.

---Leavenfish

[A_Junglen]

Nah

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Fish:

You may be right but I suspect you're not. Some of us in the Two Plus Two organization were talking about this precise topic today. There are probably seven or eight of these magazines right now, and it seems as if each one has the very same articles. You get your Fossilman story, your Doyle story, your Negreanu story, your Annie Duke story, and so on. That may have something to do with a drop in interest in poker magazines.

In fact, my sources tell me that one of them (which had a booth at the WSOP) has already ceased publication. I suspect that several others will soon follow.

Best wishes,
Mason

[jokerthief]

Come on Mason, youre being too modest. Why buy one of those magazines when we can read the 2+2 magazine for free right here with out cluttering up our home.

[BluffTHIS!]

[ QUOTE ]
but it could perhaps be argued that magazines are a bell-weather of an item/comodity/national fixation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Poker for most players is a hobby and with most hobbies perhaps magazines would be a good barometer. But with poker you have the added twist of lots of high school and college age wannabes who would like to become pros. Every year you get a new influx. So what is/are the appropriate barometer(s) for poker? Not this site and its readers, because a base of winning players depends upon a larger base of losing ones who most likely don't read these forums regularly. But I think there are four accurate indicators: poker book sales, tournament TV ratings, site traffic on the major online sites, and the amount of space allocated in B&M casinos to poker. In fact in regards to the last one, since casinos have historically looked down upon poker and its comparatitvely small earnings compared to a bank of slots, then that is a very good indicator. And all 4 of those indicators still are positive.

[Luv2DriveTT]

Levenfish's post did not clarify his role, he works for what is perhaps the largest magazine wholesale distributor in the country. He is in a unique position to spot trends, his input is valid.

On a related note, I visited B&N today. The number of poker magazines on display had dropped considerably since the last time I visited (although they could have been already sold, I had no friend at this store to verify) while the book section was the same size (allotment) but many of the titles that I would assume did not sell briskly had been removed to find space for the newer titles and books that seem to be mainstays. Interestingly enough only TOP & Gambling Theory & Other Topics was available, the location does a rather brisk 2+2 business from my past conversations with the manager.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi joker:

That's exactly right. None of these magazines are doing anything to distinguish themselves from any of the others. The only exception is our very own Internet magazine.

Best wishes,
Mason

[Leavenfish]

Well, like I said, I think it probably has more to do with the glut of magazines on the market than anything else. Each new title -- even if ultimately unsuccesful, canabalizes sales from others.

I think his remark comparing poker to the 'low carb' industry might be a bit premature--that really crashed with a thud! Still, it bares watching as I have seen a LOT of trends come and go which seemed to show up first in the magazine industry.

---Leavenfish

[SNOWBALL138]

I think if you polled 2+2ers on their poker magazine purchases, you would find a large amount of people who bought a few poker magazines before realizing that they aren't worthwhile. Besides myself, I can think of a couple of other posters who had the same experience.

Seriously, its hard to see how bluff magazine or all in magazine presents good competition to cardplayer magazine. Cardplayer has the best writers, the force of tradition, and free online access. As for 2+2 internet magazine, I'm not sure that its in exactly the same market as bluff magazine &C0., despite its higher quality.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Snowball:

While I agree that we are not in the same market, we certainly put pressure on magazines like Bluff and All-in (and even Cardplayer). That's because readers will compare the quality of our articles to theirs and complain.

best wishes,
Mason