With a wealth of poker news and information now available on the internet, many printed poker magazines are having a rough go of it these days. For Poker Player Newspaper, the pressure became too much as they ended their print edition after 30-plus years in the business.
Owner Stan Sludikoff said that the costs of printing and distributing a magazine “have escalated past a point of feasibility in our current business model.” He added, “Accordingly, effective immediately, we will be publishing Poker Player Newspaper exclusively on the Internet at pokerplayernewspaper.com.” Sludikoff, who’s 78, also mentioned that he’s open to selling the business with the following statement:
At this point in my life, given my desire to pass the mantle as well as to work through the economic pressures as expeditiously as possible, I am looking for a working partner/investor or alternatively for a full buyout of my family-based Poker Player business which has operated since 1982.
Just as Poker Player Newspaper is getting out of the print magazine business, the Global Poker Index will be launching a free printed mag. As an official partner of the World Series of Poker, the GPI will have a booth at the Rio this summer and distribute their magazine. In addition to the Rio, the free publication will also be handed out at other Las Vegas casinos like the Aria, Bellagio, GoldenNugget, Venetian and Wynn.
The company’s CEO, Alex Dreyfus, is extremely excited to venture outside the bounds of their internet presence. “This is our first full-scale foray outside of the digital,” he said. “We couldn’t be happier to take this step and keep our growing momentum going in time for the 2014 WSOP.”
Some of the content that’ll be in GPI’s June edition includes a feature on Vanessa Selbst and her WSOP plans, Top 1,500 GPI US Rankings, and a guide of Las Vegas for WSOP out-of-towners. If you’d like to read the first edition of GPI’s magazine online, you can do so here.