There are two things poker players enjoy—playing poker and talking about playing poker. That’s why the industry has seen an explosion of poker content over the past few years. From livestreams to vlogs to instructional videos, the rise of social media has allowed poker hobbyists to connect in a way they never have before. But perhaps most accessible of all is one of poker media’s oldest forms: the written word. It wasn’t until tournament reports began spreading across the US that the game was able to evolve past something that people did with a couple of drinks on the weekend, to a world recognized competition of elites.

These days, it’s less online poker reports and more blogs, allowing fans of all experience levels to share their journey and track their progress. But how hard is it to start blogging about poker? And can it actually be more profitable to be a poker blogger than an online poker player? What types of blogs work best for poker players? Let’s take a deep dive into those questions and investigate the realities of both hobbies.

As a poker player the first path to monetization is the most obvious: become a better player than your opponents, so that over a large enough sample-size you win more money from them than they win from you. Of course, that’s much easier said than done, with new players having much to learn to transform the dream into reality.

However, by spending a good amount of time in online poker practice and utilizing the best poker deposit bonuses, a dedicated new player can work their way up the rankings and find their most profitable limit and game variation. Beyond that, online poker players can create an additional revenue-stream through sponsored gameplay, be it through a partnership with a major poker site or poker-streaming on sites such as Twitch and YouTube.

Similarly, poker blogging revenue will be achieved primarily through sponsored content—as well as ad revenue, affiliate marketing, and selling one’s own products, courses, or e-books. In fact, many poker bloggers have also learned the art of video game blogging, as the two have a high correlation in readership and allow bloggers more ways to get sponsored content.

In contrast to many regular blogging affiliate programs, poker affiliate programs can encompass the entire user experience, from training sites, to analytics study sites, to the software used for gaming, to the playing sites themselves, allowing dedicated poker bloggers to earn thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars per month in affiliate payments, much like high-level TikTok and Instagram influencers do.

It’s clear that in today’s digital age, there are many different outlets available for poker players to share their journey with their audience, with each one offering slightly different opportunities. In that light, here are a number of platforms and resources for poker bloggers and content creators to consider.

It’s clear that in today’s digital age, there are many different outlets available for poker players to share their journey with their audience, with each one offering slightly different opportunities. In that light, here are a number of platforms and resources for poker bloggers and content creators to consider.

Most often dominated by poker players, streaming sites such as Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram offer both poker bloggers and poker vloggers the opportunity to engage with their fans and supporters in real-time. While a number of poker personalities have attempted to do poker-news focused streams in the past, no clear leader has emerged so far, perhaps leaving the door open for a well-versed content creator. If you think you’ve found your niche, then start getting well acquainted with your twitch dashboard.

When inspiration wanes and social media sites come up empty, poker bloggers might do well to visit one of the many poker news aggregators for ideas to explore or report on. Sites like Americas Cardroom’s Big Blind Blog, PokerNews, Poker.org and CardPlayer all make great resources for poker bloggers looking to plug into the latest and most exciting happenings around the industry.

With all the micro blogging and social content out of the way, let’s not forget the most important aspect of all—hosting an actual blog. Fortunately, these days professional blog hosts are as plentiful as micro blogging sites. Experienced web writers, may consider using a self-hosted platform through their personal website, while those looking to get their feet wet for the first time may prefer to look at free one-click options such as Medium, Substack, and Wix that will take care of all the heavy lifting and allow writers to focus exclusively on the content. Substack in particular is a good option as it allows content creators not only to collect their readers’ email addresses (with their permission of course), but also monetize individual posts if they so choose. It’s easy to see why it’s a popular platform for successful copy blogging as well as conservative blogging.

On the surface the question of which is tougher to start—playing poker or creating a blog—seems like an easy one, with a basic blog requiring nothing more than spending a bit of time getting familiar with one of the free platforms listed above and putting one’s thoughts down in written, audio, or video form. However, if the goal is to earn a meaningful income from the passion of either blogging or playing poker, the two hobbies offer a number of similarities.

First off, when speaking of the upper echelon of each discipline, both offer low odds of success that can only be overcome through consistency and hard work. Whether it’s learning how to properly utilize twitch banners to earn an affiliate referral from a poker platform’s no deposit bonus promotion, or learning the proper range of hands to three-bet from the big blind, both require spending time researching, analyzing, and implementing. However, unlike in poker, when deciding how to start a blog, writers have the option to source out many of the steps in the process by hiring relatively inexpensive web professionals through work sites such as Fiverr and UpWork. Of course, from a pure hourly perspective there is no competition, with poker players able to achieve hundred and even thousands of dollars per session, something that would be impossible for all but the very tippy top of bloggers.

As many amateur writers have found over the years, blogging can be quite the rewarding endeavour, both financially and creatively. So whether you’re looking to start a video-game blog, poker blog, or even a cooking blog, here are the steps you’ll need to take to grow it into a successful business.

• Name It – By far the most exciting part of the process, figuring out how to come up with a name for a blog is not as unimportant as it might first seem. Because while it’s true that there are exceptions of blog titles that have nothing to do with the content featured, for anyone starting out today, it’s important to help indexing sites such as google help you by giving your blog a name that outlines what readers will be searching for. For example, when naming a video-game site that focuses exclusively on games from 2000 and earlier, choosing a name (and website address) like vintagevideogames will likely outperform one titled eddieplaysgame, at least in the short-term before a dedicated readership has been built. Likewise, when starting a blog focused on poker tournament strategy or online poker strategy, consider selecting a name that in some way answers the question ‘what will my readers search for to find me in google?’

• Create A Budget – Just as poker players must practice strict financial discipline to avoid blowing up their bankrolls and knocking themselves out of the game, so too do bloggers – poker or otherwise – need to consider the costs of things like web-hosting, logo design, and social media ads. Same as with any business, by creating a realistic budget and sticking to it, bloggers can increase their likelihood of long-term success.

• Create And Distribute Pillar & Micro Content – Whether it’s a 2,000 word blog post, an hour-long audio podcast, or a 15-minute YouTube vlog, the best way to attract an audience is to create a solid piece of long-form ‘pillar content’ that offers its consumers one of two things: entertainment (such as in a poker trip vlog), or value (a detailed instructional blog on playing poker against an aggressive opponent, for example). From there, a popular content-creator strategy is to chop that longer piece of content into smaller pieces and distribute them across social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok so as to increase awareness and drive organic traffic to the primary piece.

• Monetize – Although this will likely come much later in the process, it’s good practice for bloggers to keep their eyes open for opportunities to monetize through the use of, for example, sponsored content, twitch banners, and influencer partnerships. As far as poker goes, your readers will appreciate any sort of no deposit offer you can bring to their attention.

All in all, it’s clear that playing poker and starting a blog have more things in common than it would appear on first glance. Most importantly however, both require extreme patience, discipline, and hard work. Just as the influencers mentioned above did not build their platforms and audiences overnight (nor their poker skills), so too should you not get discouraged when facing the inevitable challenges that will undoubtedly spring up during the process. Because at the end of the day, it is those who can remain resolute in the face of adversity that will have the best chance to defy the odds and turn their passion into a business.

Good luck!