What Is Freelance Poker Writing?

There are many popular casino-style games, but nothing matches the growthand popularity of poker and how poker influences society. Poker writing coverslimitless topics in the gaming world; and poker writing can be a blend ofjournalism, feature writing, sports writing, entertainment writing, travelwriting, food writing, technical writing, and so on, depending on what youchoose to write.

WHAT DOES FREELANCE POKER WRITING INCLUDE?

You might think “freelance poker writing” is exactly that: writing aboutpoker games. You might also think poker writing is about writing for onespecific market: poker magazines. This might have been true years ago, but notso today. The expanding market of online and offline poker and gaming magazinesis one small fragment, out of dozens of paying markets, to find freelance work.The Internet has spawned many online writing opportunities, such as blogging,writing for poker and gaming websites, self-publishing, and writing SEOarticles for companies and affiliates. And “poker writing” is more than writingabout the games of poker. Poker writing encompasses the influences of poker,such as entertainment, technology, psychology, law, lifestyle, money, travel,and so on. Writing about poker and gaming, along with their influences onsociety, is limitless.

Many successful freelance writers tap into an arsenal of online and offlinemedia outlets to sell their work, not just to poker and gaming magazines. Theirrecipe for success is simple: they write varied topics related to poker andgaming that don’t just fit into a specific poker magazine, but also fit (withsome reslanting) into many other non-poker magazines and media outlets (i.e.trade magazines, regional magazines, newsletters, tourism guides, newspapers,websites, blogs, ebooks, etc.) that cover varied subjects (such as gambling,gaming, professional sports, sports betting, travel, lifestyle, women’s issues,money, finance, real estate, hobbies, and so on).

WHY POKER IS ON THE MINDS OF SO MANY PEOPLE

To write about poker, you need to know why it is on the minds of so manypeople. Why all the excitement? What do players see in a little game of cards?Many people fall in love with playing poker because it challenges the mind;poker games are thrilling and competitive; and let’s face it, we love thewinnings. The winnings in poker games, even online, can trail with many zeros.What other game can you play with a $40 entry fee and win a couple of hundredthousand dollars, or as with WSOP winners, several million? It’s what lures thecrowds to the game. Once players begin to play, everyone is a legend in theirown mind. The enticement and excitement of winning drives players to want toplay more. Typically, players just play more and more once they discover TexasHold’em.

Even if you aren’t playing poker for the money, you will quickly becomeaware of the jackpots of money that poker players play for online and offline.Many people play poker because of the great challenges of the mind. AmarilloSlim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarillo_Slim), another legendary pokerplayer once said, “Poker is a game of people….It’s not the hand I hold, it’sthe people that I play with.” Most of the older players do play with dollarsigns glinting in their eyes. On the other hand, if you read some of thearticles written about Slim in the past, you’ll discover he enjoyed beating hisopponents as much as anyone else.

Guru.com, CraigsList.com and Elance.com showcase job postings for manydifferent freelance opportunities. If you have the skills to write on gambling,specifically poker, then you’ll never be short on writing gigs.

In fact, a search on a handful of job boards produced many writingopportunities, from blog posting, to writing articles on poker games andstrategies.

POKER WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

If you want to write about poker and gaming, the opportunities are there. Ifyou are educated about poker and you can write well, the opportunities will beendless. However, you have to be better than average to earn a decent income asfreelance poker writer. You must know your “stuff” in this field.

Writing about poker and its players requires you to learn about the games ofpoker and about the players whom people want to read. For instance, DoyleBrunson and Amarillo “Slim” Preston are two old timers who many consider two ofthe last living legends of the game. However, Brunson pulls a crowd more sothan Preston. People look for articles, books and information on Doyle Brunsonbecause he is still an active player in Las Vegas. Furthermore, Brunson liveswhere poker rooms are on every corner, whereas Amarillo Slim lives in, well,you guessed it-Texas!

A freelance poker writer has many opportunities. For starters, a pokerwriter can write from home because of the online games and tournaments. Theonline poker rooms (the ones offering the large satellite tournaments) arenewsworthy as are many of the sit and go tournaments that offer large purses.Writers find ample topics and stories to pull from in this capacity alone.People want to read what’s going on in the online poker rooms. As a new writer,you need to write as much as you can on the subject of poker no matter wherepeople play it.

In addition to the newsworthy opportunities online, web content is a hugemarketplace for freelance writers. Writers who can write content-rich articlesrelated to poker and gambling are in high demand.

To succeed as a poker writer, you will need to find your niche. However, youdon’t necessarily have to stay within your niche market. Many writers willwrite on poker and cover online and offline games. They’ll cover the WorldPoker Tour for an offline gambling magazine one day and write an informative“How to Spot a Poker Cheat” article the next day for an online website. Pokerwriters like the ability to remain diverse but it pays to have a niche.

For example, there are several writers on Elance.com who write web contentfor gaming websites but still pick up a couple of writing gigs offline inmagazines and for newspaper articles. Respectively, several notorious authorsand professional poker players write primarily as book authors and authoritieson their game but occasionally they will snatch a writing column for an onlinepoker website.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking the gigs you have online will allow theoffline writing jobs to fall in your lap. You have to keep your options open.You will need to apply for most of the work you get, even after you becomewell-known within the industry. However, if you’re good, you’ll very seldomface competition for the writing jobs you want.

When you become established in your niche, clients, editors and colleagueswill willingly generate referrals for you. In fact, if you are well-informedand can stand out as a leading authority on poker, you can create your own jobsif jobs don’t randomly come your way. You’ll be able to query an editor withideas and convince the editor to publish your articles. You may be able toquery a book publisher with a manuscript idea and have it accepted forpublication.

In addition, the offline writing jobs on assignment are often lucrative.Most of the writing jobs on assignment will allow you to live like a highroller, or at the very least, a low roller with some great perks. Poker writersnormally stay where the action takes place, which is commonly in a casino. Ifyou’re covering a World Poker Tour event, you’ll likely stay in upgraded casinoaccommodations; after all, the casino knows you are writing on the event andthey’ll likely want you to plug their plush rooms and their many amenities.

On assignment writing jobs will enable you to eat in marvelous diningrestaurants, stay among the upper echelon of poker players in suites orupgraded rooms and enjoy hosted parties among poker players. Writing onassignment as a poker writer enables writers to stay in some of the mostelegant resorts in the world while enjoying the lifestyle of the pampered pokerplayer. And trust it when you see it in magazines and hear about it online,these professional players are pampered.

Before you obtain your first job assignment as a poker writer, you need tolearn all you can about poker. Read everything there is to read. Listen toeverything and anything you can on the subject. Flip on the TV set and watchsome live game coverage and learn the terminology. Poker tournaments and pokercoverage are constantly on TV, especially in the evenings and on weekends.

PERKS OF A FREELANCE POKER WRITER

Poker writers who travel to some of the casino destinations hosting worldevents such as the WSOP (http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com) or the WPT (WorldPoker Tour – http://www.worldpokertour.com ) find they can enjoy a lifestylemany freelance writers dream about. Not every freelance writer can endure theschedule of these writers. However, if you are a writer who can face theunpredictable scheduling of events in the World Series of Poker, have a greatpersonality and excellent people skills, then your chances to live a jet-setlifestyle in the world of poker is better than what many writers mightthink.

Life is better as a poker writer than it is in most areas of writing. Youwill be rubbing shoulders with people in Sin City and many other casinodestinations where money is no object. Remember, money is no object to a greatnumber of poker players. Stakes are always high. With that in mind, rememberwho you are and where you are. Remember to capture the story, and not theparty.

You will get a free ride pass as a poker writer if you can achieve a namefor yourself in the poker world. You will have the things only high rollers canget just because the right people want YOU to remember their name. Naturally,this will only happen after you become recognized as a poker authority. If youstrive to achieve it, you will know what the inside of the suites at the MGMand Paris Las Vegas look like because you’ll be staying in them. You won’t walkor hail a cab in Vegas. You’ll be riding in a limo, free of charge. Best ofall, when you are on a job, you will drink and eat what you want and never seea bill. Welcome to success. Revel in it and know you’ve worked hard for it.