My Journey As A Professional Poker Player (82 Viewers)

Been watching her and Bob vlogging over the past few years and always love their dynamic and energy on screen. Recently there were a couple of vlogs they put out where Bob had some spins on promoting her training course, but they wound up using AI to create it and it didn't even pronounce her name correctly.

I created a parody and her and Bob wound up loving it, as she left a comment on my channel and Bob shared it on his twitter.

In the description box of the video I link to the two videos with mention of timestamps if you aren't familiar with their channel and need context. But here's my version, hope you guys enjoy it!

 
So I wound up making that Dnegs video private, it was way too long (14+ minutes) and was polarizing, receiving mixed responses.

I'm also leaning towards a rebranding. The whole Poker Jeezus thing was meant as a dig at people who are thanking God in sports for allowing them to score touchdowns, etc. and the ridiculousness of it.

But it does rub certain viewers the wrong way, and there are likely many who don't even click my content because maybe they think it's going to be overly religious or something.

In addition, my humor is typically dark and crude, which can hurt mainstream appeal and the growth of my channel.

As I look towards the future, I want to grow my channel, I want to appeal to sponsors, have the potential to be picked up as an ambassador for companies in the industry, and the direction I've been going likely hampers that significantly.

So more than likely I'll keep my channel, but change the name to "Anthony Martino Poker" since most other vloggers that have done well tend to go that route, and switch the picture to myself instead of the angry Jesus face.

I'm also going to rework my intro, try to utilize some familiar faces in the industry that I've played with (Pokerface Ash, Greg Raymer, Doug Polk, etc) and have clips of my engagement with them for the intro, and probably rework the overlays on the screen and try to improve that further as well.

May not have live content shared for a few weeks while I work on it, not something I want to rush out.

In addition, in my hunt for finding a new location to play, I stumbled on TCH Las Colinas in Irving TX (Dallas area). On a Tuesday night they had 7 PLO games running. And everything under 5/10 is capped buyins and restricted to a single UTG straddle. I've heard the 2/5 PLO game is infested with grinders waiting for Indian whales, but there's also a 2/2 PLO with a single $5 UTG straddle and buyins of $200-600 that gets multiple tables that could work.

It would also mean we don't have to change our drivers licenses, plates on the car, etc. if we remain in state. And it'd put me closer to @CraigT78 for the annual meetup at this place.

Still have lots of research to do, but that's the progress so far.
 
I preface this by saying i'm a big fan of your vlogs and not religious, but the poker jeezus thing has always made me cringe. It makes me happy that you're considering moving away from that, but again, just my personal opinion as a viewer.

Out of curiosity, are there any PLO youtubers who you feel are direct competition? I can't really think of any that are bigger than you. Maybe poker stallions but thats more of a livestream than a vlog. Champions card club (I watch them frequently) has him/them on every week. But their actual channel doesn't seem to be popular.
 
aurumity said:
I preface this by saying i'm a big fan of your vlogs and not religious, but the poker jeezus thing has always made me cringe. It makes me happy that you're considering moving away from that, but again, just my personal opinion as a viewer.

Out of curiosity, are there any PLO youtubers who you feel are direct competition? I can't really think of any that are bigger than you. Maybe poker stallions but thats more of a livestream than a vlog. Champions card club (I watch them frequently) has him/them on every week. But their actual channel doesn't seem to be popular.
Click to expand...

There aren't really a ton of people putting out PLO content.

PLO Professor and DonkFish Poker are both PLO/Big-O vloggers that teamed up and got an arrangement with Venetian to host MUGS and be on their livestream.

They both have more subscribers than me, but don't put out content as regularly. Donkfish gets more views than me with around 7K subscribers, but hasn't put out long-form content in 2 months, seems to mostly do shorts now.

PLO Professor has close to 10K "subscribers" (I'm pretty certain he's bought many of them, back when I had 1700 subscribers after about a year of vlogging every week, his channel went from 3K subs to 7K subs in the span of three days, while his most recent content had under 500 views and he had zero viral content to account for him more than doubling his sub count over 3 days.

Most of his videos get half the views mine do, despite him having 3x my sub count.

There was a guy who went by G-Money Poker that was playing the bigger PLO games here in Austin, but he disappeared, I imagine the deep-pocketed maniacs got him in the end. That 5/10/25 PLO game can get nuts.

There's Joey Pigtails out in Orlando who vlogs pretty regularly, but he's still trying to reach 1,000 subscribers.

And then there's guys like Galfond and Jnandez, but I think most of their content is more geared towards 6-max online PLO games, and I don't really follow them.

Andrew Neeme loves PLO, but gets less views on that content than he does the hold em stuff (oof, 2 card is SO boring).

But no, I wouldn't feel I'm in direct competition with anyone, I know I watch multiple vloggers and I imagine others do as well. I'm a big fan of Frankie C and Brantzen Poker in how they tell their stories, the camera angles, the music, the buildup of tension. That's a shit-ton of work, but they've both done quite well, but are NLH players.
 
Perthmike said:
Using your own name sounds like a good idea. Most of the big channels don't have a schtick..

Trying to name drop pros in your intro is cringe though. Just be yourself and grow it organically off your own content.
Click to expand...

I've been stagnant for years with my videos getting 1500-3K views each. I've been working on improving my thumbnail game which has helped a bit.

But you also have to consider the click-aways at the beginning of a video. You only have a short window to grab someones attention and get them invested in continuing to watch.

So having my intro include me playing against recognizable faces in the industry can help grab new viewers attention and keep them watching was my thought process.
 
Anthony Martino said:
But it does rub certain viewers the wrong way, and there are likely many who don't even click my content because maybe they think it's going to be overly religious or something.

In addition, my humor is typically dark and crude, which can hurt mainstream appeal and the growth of my channel.
Click to expand...
You know I'm always candid with you. You can please some of the people, some of the time... F'ckem it they can't take a joke!

I would scream "SELLOUT!", be yourself, F the man. /raisedFist

Anthony Martino said:
As I look towards the future, I want to grow my channel, I want to appeal to sponsors, have the potential to be picked up as an ambassador for companies in the industry, and the direction I've been going likely hampers that significantly.
Click to expand...

But I also understand growth, professionalism, and a desire to succeed.

I will not tolerate ignorant, pious people berating friends, regardless of your branding.

Pious and ignorant is not something I will suffer; it drives me nuts when people are religious, where poker is the topic. Poker is strictly forbidden within all sects of Christianity and almost exclusively within religion at all. I'm going to leave this right here because there's no need to whip this out.

Clickbait titles and thumbnails will only give you spikes in viewership; in the long term, it's the quality and diversity of your content that matter. I get pissed when it's clickbait and intentionally ignore the creator's other videos.

I wouldn't have made the video private, drama/controversy will bring in views, and anyone with an EQ higher than 9 could see that you were a fan just poking fun.

When / where does it stop? They killed off Sukadealer, your humor, and video of DNegs, and now Poker Jeezus is dead too? Did he die for Martino's alley like return to the tube? Can we at least get a resurrection joke in the rebranding effort?

- Jeezus' fan
Machine
 
Machine said:
You know I'm always candid with you. You can please some of the people, some of the time... F'ckem it they can't take a joke!

I would scream "SELLOUT!", be yourself, F the man. /raisedFist



But I also understand growth, professionalism, and a desire to succeed.

I will not tolerate ignorant, pious people berating friends, regardless of your branding.

Pious and ignorant is not something I will suffer; it drives me nuts when people are religious, where poker is the topic. Poker is strictly forbidden within all sects of Christianity and almost exclusively within religion at all. I'm going to leave this right here because there's no need to whip this out.

Clickbait titles and thumbnails will only give you spikes in viewership; in the long term, it's the quality and diversity of your content that matter. I get pissed when it's clickbait and intentionally ignore the creator's other videos.

I wouldn't have made the video private, drama/controversy will bring in views, and anyone with an EQ higher than 9 could see that you were a fan just poking fun.

When / where does it stop? They killed off Sukadealer, your humor, and video of DNegs, and now Poker Jeezus is dead too? Did he die for Martino's alley like return to the tube? Can we at least get a resurrection joke in the rebranding effort?

- Jeezus' fan
Machine
Click to expand...

I appreciate all the love and support. I look at it this way. The people who are watching my content and taking the time to tell me there are certain things they don't appreciate, care about my content. They enjoy watching me, following along the journey, and are just sharing their feedback.

At the end of the day, I know you can't please everyone everytime, I don't expect to. But after seeing my views per video be stagnant for so long, I need to consider changes to help improve my growth.

I'm likely the most active/posting PLO vlogger out there, there isn't a ton of competition in the PLO space, I'd love to be able to say one day that I'm the top PLO content producer out there. And to do that, I'm going to need to ensure that my channel name and image aren't preventing people from bothering to even check out my content in the first place.


davislane said:
Im curious about all the math of being a pro grinder / youtuber. Have you ever posted your graph / win rate and or your earnings from youtube?
Click to expand...

What are you, the IRS? Years ago I had shared graphs of when I played, but I stopped that at some point. I know a number of vloggers share numbers, but at the end of the day, I don't have any right to know what's in your wallet, and I feel the same about my own.

As far as Youtube goes, I've actually turned off the monetization and wish I had done it sooner. I was making under $100/month putting out a vlog every week, and those ads can cause people to click away from your content, which hurts your channels growth.
 
Appreciate you! Love the PLO and hands, I like the rebrand.

DNegs video was slop but good try, I'm not one for random clip videos though. I'll keep watching and supporting, I don't envy your position.
 
Anthony Martino said:
As far as Youtube goes, I've actually turned off the monetization and wish I had done it sooner. I was making under $100/month putting out a vlog every week, and those ads can cause people to click away from your content, which hurts your channels growth.
Click to expand...
Interesting. So how does everyone make money off streaming / content, I assumed monetization was #1. Is it seeking out and establishing your own sponsors the best way to make the big money?
 
doublebooyah85 said:
Interesting. So how does everyone make money off streaming / content, I assumed monetization was #1. Is it seeking out and establishing your own sponsors the best way to make the big money?
Click to expand...

Rampage showed that he was on track to make $180,000 via youtube ad revenue back when he had 100K subscribers on his channel. And I know Wolfgang figured out the shorts algorithm and through sheer volume was bringing in big bucks as well.

Unfortunately PLO is a niche within a niche, so the traffic isn't like the hold em players get.

Even then, selling your own ads within the content is far more lucrative than relying on Youtube and having them get their cut.

Dnegs was pushing Zbiotics pretty hard in a few recent vlogs. Rampage and Mariano had their Splash Squad on ClubGG that brought them in ridiculous sums of money (Rampage didn't go from playing 1/3 NLH to million dollar buyin games off his skill as a player or his youtube ad revenue, that's for sure)
 
Anthony Martino said:
There aren't really a ton of people putting out PLO content.

PLO Professor and DonkFish Poker are both PLO/Big-O vloggers that teamed up and got an arrangement with Venetian to host MUGS and be on their livestream.

They both have more subscribers than me, but don't put out content as regularly. Donkfish gets more views than me with around 7K subscribers, but hasn't put out long-form content in 2 months, seems to mostly do shorts now.

PLO Professor has close to 10K "subscribers" (I'm pretty certain he's bought many of them, back when I had 1700 subscribers after about a year of vlogging every week, his channel went from 3K subs to 7K subs in the span of three days, while his most recent content had under 500 views and he had zero viral content to account for him more than doubling his sub count over 3 days.

Most of his videos get half the views mine do, despite him having 3x my sub count.

There was a guy who went by G-Money Poker that was playing the bigger PLO games here in Austin, but he disappeared, I imagine the deep-pocketed maniacs got him in the end. That 5/10/25 PLO game can get nuts.

There's Joey Pigtails out in Orlando who vlogs pretty regularly, but he's still trying to reach 1,000 subscribers.

And then there's guys like Galfond and Jnandez, but I think most of their content is more geared towards 6-max online PLO games, and I don't really follow them.

Andrew Neeme loves PLO, but gets less views on that content than he does the hold em stuff (oof, 2 card is SO boring).

But no, I wouldn't feel I'm in direct competition with anyone, I know I watch multiple vloggers and I imagine others do as well. I'm a big fan of Frankie C and Brantzen Poker in how they tell their stories, the camera angles, the music, the buildup of tension. That's a shit-ton of work, but they've both done quite well, but are NLH players.
Click to expand...
I met PLO Professor last week - one of his stable was the guy i ended up heads up with in the BigO MGM event last week and he was on the rail for the end.
 
MrCatPants said:
I met PLO Professor last week - one of his stable was the guy i ended up heads up with in the BigO MGM event last week and he was on the rail for the end.
Click to expand...

He's a character for sure. I just never got into his content, I remember he was doing a video about Big O strategy and in a hand he played he's in there with a bunch of middle cards, like a 98765 type rundown or some garbage, pretty much one of the worst hands you can play in Big O.

But he justified it because he made a straight flush with his hand, so results-oriented.

I should love his content, you want people learning to play all middle cards in Big O, but I just can't do it, as good as that'd be for the game lol
 
sick jim carrey GIF
 
Anthony Martino said:
He's a character for sure. I just never got into his content, I remember he was doing a video about Big O strategy and in a hand he played he's in there with a bunch of middle cards, like a 98765 type rundown or some garbage, pretty much one of the worst hands you can play in Big O.

But he justified it because he made a straight flush with his hand, so results-oriented.

I should love his content, you want people learning to play all middle cards in Big O, but I just can't do it, as good as that'd be for the game lol
Click to expand...
I had a similar take.
 
Anthony Martino said:
He's a character for sure. I just never got into his content, I remember he was doing a video about Big O strategy and in a hand he played he's in there with a bunch of middle cards, like a 98765 type rundown or some garbage, pretty much one of the worst hands you can play in Big O.

But he justified it because he made a straight flush with his hand, so results-oriented.

I should love his content, you want people learning to play all middle cards in Big O, but I just can't do it, as good as that'd be for the game lol
Click to expand...
So I just clicked on PLO Professor ….. and was giddy with excitement when I saw this:
IMG_2148.jpeg


Then realized the first frame was click bait when the next picture was this…… flipping internet. I am out!

IMG_2149.jpeg
 
Ok so I lied, I kept watching………. Not that I really wanted to see this guy climb into the tub. Boy am I glad I kept watching. This guy is funny!

Rule 2, should be rule 1……anyone who watches this video will never pay off @MatB again. I love how he gets close to the camera to make sure everyone is listening. @Anthony Martino take notes brother. This is how you make video!
IMG_2150.jpeg
 
Anthony Martino said:
What are you, the IRS? Years ago I had shared graphs of when I played, but I stopped that at some point. I know a number of vloggers share numbers, but at the end of the day, I don't have any right to know what's in your wallet, and I feel the same about my own.
Click to expand...
Might help people watching to know if you are any good or not. Just a thought.
 
Anthony Martino said:
As far as Youtube goes, I've actually turned off the monetization and wish I had done it sooner. I was making under $100/month putting out a vlog every week, and those ads can cause people to click away from your content, which hurts your channels growth.
Click to expand...
This is what I was curious about, but not Aussie enough to ask.

I've noticed that a good chunk of content creators are inserting ads or "are sponsored by" now. It's not natural, but I get it. I used to listen to Paul Harvey (good day) back in the late 80s and eventually quit because he was just a *ucking shill. I "right arrow" DNegs vlogs when he gets on a T-shirt rant or a Pre-drink kick. Buddy, have more than 2 glasses of wine before you herocize how effective this junk is. Let's see you after a bourbon sponsored meet-up where you wake up and count the money in your wallet to figure out if you had a good night.

I don't blame anyone from turning a buck. There are a *uckton of sheeple that want you to tell them he to live, even if you don't (and would never) actually live that way.

So knowing that a modest channel makes <$100/month tells me I'm not going to invest in equipment to stream anytime soon. I've got some good comedy lined up for my retirement years, but that will remain unshared with the world because the cost > the rewards.
 
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