Cashing in on a Craze – Poker

A guy I know just launched a website for his poker coaching business. He gets $100 an hour. He also makes money from affiliate marketing for a paid poker site, something that the big online ad networks have been warned against by the FCC. Given the size of this market, the amount of money that these poker sites are minting, and the fact that bigger media is hesitant to take their advertising money, there is quite a sweet spot for good poker players to make some money through coaching and affilliate programs. Will this be the next big career move? “Daddy, I want to be a poker website affiliate when I grow up.”

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Every now and then I ponder these markets. Gambling and porn are industries famous for being very profitable online way before anything else. How well would a gambling or pornography blog do? Think about the affiliate programs, the commissions and easy sell to the target market. Then I remind myself that I don’t really want to associated with these industries and go back to work on the cleaner ideas.

Poker though is another story. It’s fair to say that at the moment Poker is enjoying a fad-like run ala the hula-hoop, yo-yo and even dare I say it, the Macarena. Though maybe it’s something more. Poker has been around for a while and maybe this new found popularity is here to stay. Either way there is a lot of money around this game, with Poker stars earning as much as professional golf or tennis players and a lot of everyday people are getting hooked chasing the cash. It doesn’t feel as dirty as other forms of gambling. Most people would have played some Poker late at night at a friends house once or twice. Good clean fun, though taking your mate’s money makes it that much sweeter…hmm.

I love gaming. Gaming for money is even better. I used to play Magic: the Gathering competitively, going to tournaments most weekends in my home town of Brisbane and occasionally travelling overseas for tournaments in Singapore, Japan, and my claim to fame, the World Championships in Seattle, USA in 1998. A gaming tournament is like going to a movie, it’s escapism for a full day where you immerse yourself in a game and surround yourself with others sharing the same escape. Those that can make a living playing a card game are lucky indeed.