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My Journey As A Professional Poker Player (45 Viewers)

My creative juices are flowing and I'm planning something I think has the potential to be big. Because I've promoted sites like Coin Poker and ClubGG on my existing youtube page, I've noticed that youtube sometimes hits me with age-restrictions on my content. Actual strikes against my channel have come before, but disappeared when I appealed so there's that.

But overall I've noticed youtube pushing my content significantly less than it did a year ago. And I'm working on a solution.

I have a pretty solid "radio voice" and was secured a new youtube channel I'm calling "Golden Voice Gaming" which will be at @GoldenVoiceLive on youtube. To avoid the strikes I wouldn't be pushing the ClubGG stuff like I do on my current channel, it would be like a fresh start.

I'd film a bunch of content in advance so I have material to build for a consistent upload schedule. A lot of poker vloggers that play higher stakes often do "challenge" videos where they're trying to win $10,000 or to win enough to buy a new Rolex, etc. But I think some of them play for such high stakes that it's unrelatable to the masses.

My concept would be doing more relatable challenges as well as some outlandish ones:


- GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE

I'm trying to upgrade my 5 year old graphics card with a new Nvidia 5080 (maybe I don't reach the goal and have to settle for a 5070 Ti)

- GIFT FOR WIFE

My wife LOVES Hello Kitty. She has shelves and shelves of plushies and other stuff. I show an empty shelf and I'm trying to win enough to fill the shelf. Maybe in the end I only win $5 so we show the shelf and it's empty except for a tiny keychain plushie

- MY CAR

I got a parking ticket and I need to win enough to pay it off or it's getting towed!

I need to replace all four tires

Can I win enough to afford a tank of gas?

- A HORSE

I want to buy an actual horse (in the end I don't win enough and you see a video of me riding one of those mechanical horses you put change into in front of a grocery store instead)

- RANSOM

Ninjas kidnapped my wife and I need to pay for kung-fu lessons to get her back!

International Terrorists kidnapped my wife and want 3 grand. In the end I don't win enough and I'm looking devastated I'll never see her again. Then the phone rings and you only hear my side of the conversation

"Hello? ......What do you mean I have to take her back???!!!! She's on her period! Well no, I don't want her like that, can't you guys keep her and I'll pick her up in 7 days?.....You'll pay ME $3,000???.............make it 5......"

- MY CAT

Will I win enough to feed him this week or is he going back to the shelter?



I figure it provides a level of relatability to "the masses" they don't get with the higher stakes players, and allows for some funny narratives at the same time. It also allows the content to bleed into demographics that might not normally watch a poker video. Hello Kitty enthusiasts are INSANE with their love of that mouthless demon kitty. I could put a tracker on the right of the screen that rises while I play and win money, and new hello kitty plushes "pop" onto the screen near the tracker to indicate how well we're doing, and then if I lose a big pot it drops down and a bunch of them pop out, etc.

I'd film sessions in advance and know what ones fit specific narratives, and then attach them. So I'd never actually lose my cat, I'd assign that narrative to a winning session and show video of him happily eating in the end.

I'm also working on making some graphical/layout changes to my design to look more clear for viewers, especially on mobile. Still a work in progress but I've attached a still so you can see the concept.

Anyway, I think this pivot to a new channel could blow up a lot better than my existing channel if done right, and I'm pretty excited for it. Also, by using "Golden Voice Gaming" I lean into my narration but I also am open-ended with "gaming" so I can pivot into video games, casino games, etc. and not just be pigeonholed with poker or PLO.

idea.webp
 
Anthony Martino said:
My creative juices are flowing and I'm planning something I think has the potential to be big. Because I've promoted sites like Coin Poker and ClubGG on my existing youtube page, I've noticed that youtube sometimes hits me with age-restrictions on my content. Actual strikes against my channel have come before, but disappeared when I appealed so there's that.

But overall I've noticed youtube pushing my content significantly less than it did a year ago. And I'm working on a solution.

I have a pretty solid "radio voice" and was secured a new youtube channel I'm calling "Golden Voice Gaming" which will be at @GoldenVoiceLive on youtube. To avoid the strikes I wouldn't be pushing the ClubGG stuff like I do on my current channel, it would be like a fresh start.

I'd film a bunch of content in advance so I have material to build for a consistent upload schedule. A lot of poker vloggers that play higher stakes often do "challenge" videos where they're trying to win $10,000 or to win enough to buy a new Rolex, etc. But I think some of them play for such high stakes that it's unrelatable to the masses.

My concept would be doing more relatable challenges as well as some outlandish ones:


- GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE

I'm trying to upgrade my 5 year old graphics card with a new Nvidia 5080 (maybe I don't reach the goal and have to settle for a 5070 Ti)

- GIFT FOR WIFE

My wife LOVES Hello Kitty. She has shelves and shelves of plushies and other stuff. I show an empty shelf and I'm trying to win enough to fill the shelf. Maybe in the end I only win $5 so we show the shelf and it's empty except for a tiny keychain plushie

- MY CAR

I got a parking ticket and I need to win enough to pay it off or it's getting towed!

I need to replace all four tires

Can I win enough to afford a tank of gas?

- A HORSE

I want to buy an actual horse (in the end I don't win enough and you see a video of me riding one of those mechanical horses you put change into in front of a grocery store instead)

- RANSOM

Ninjas kidnapped my wife and I need to pay for kung-fu lessons to get her back!

International Terrorists kidnapped my wife and want 3 grand. In the end I don't win enough and I'm looking devastated I'll never see her again. Then the phone rings and you only hear my side of the conversation

"Hello? ......What do you mean I have to take her back???!!!! She's on her period! Well no, I don't want her like that, can't you guys keep her and I'll pick her up in 7 days?.....You'll pay ME $3,000???.............make it 5......"

- MY CAT

Will I win enough to feed him this week or is he going back to the shelter?



I figure it provides a level of relatability to "the masses" they don't get with the higher stakes players, and allows for some funny narratives at the same time. It also allows the content to bleed into demographics that might not normally watch a poker video. Hello Kitty enthusiasts are INSANE with their love of that mouthless demon kitty. I could put a tracker on the right of the screen that rises while I play and win money, and new hello kitty plushes "pop" onto the screen near the tracker to indicate how well we're doing, and then if I lose a big pot it drops down and a bunch of them pop out, etc.

I'd film sessions in advance and know what ones fit specific narratives, and then attach them. So I'd never actually lose my cat, I'd assign that narrative to a winning session and show video of him happily eating in the end.

I'm also working on making some graphical/layout changes to my design to look more clear for viewers, especially on mobile. Still a work in progress but I've attached a still so you can see the concept.

Anyway, I think this pivot to a new channel could blow up a lot better than my existing channel if done right, and I'm pretty excited for it. Also, by using "Golden Voice Gaming" I lean into my narration but I also am open-ended with "gaming" so I can pivot into video games, casino games, etc. and not just be pigeonholed with poker or PLO.

View attachment 1644483
Click to expand...

Get suggestions from viewers for your challenges.
Make a "wheel of destiny" and spin it to determine the challenge. It could be as little as 4 challenges.
 
Last edited:
Playing with some other card back designs to lean into the branding, but need to make sure they appear on mobile. Not sure I'm sold on either but I think the microphone one will show up better on mobile from what I see on my own phone

layout.webp




And then I've got logos and banners for the new social media channels:

logo.webp


test.webp


banner_no_transparency.webp
 
I've got the graphic hud closer to the center so I can easily crop it to a 1:1 aspect ratio and make shorts that link back to a full vlog as well as use them on insta, facebook, X, etc.

But, I may play around with shifting that layout to the left because it'll look nicer on the 1080p vlogs and see if I can still crop it into a short with it shifted that way.
 
Here's what it looks like for longform horizontal view if I shift the layout to the left

left_layout_test.webp


This is what a short would look like cropped from that left shifted layout


cropped_short.webp


Here is the layout with the design centered

layout.webp


And this is what the short looks like with the current "centered" version.


cropped_short_centered.webp




I'm leaning towards shifting the HUD to the left, I think it allows the center action of the cards, chips, etc. to stand out a lot better and I can still make shorts out of it at 1:1 aspect ratio.

The Golden Voice Gaming label on the card backs isn't going to look great on mobile devices, which leans me towards the golden microphone. Although there's the risk it makes people think of something phallic, so not sold on it either.
 
I can’t give any advice to a professional poker player but something I can add my two cents into is getting the 5070ti over the 5080 for now because they have the same amount of vram (16gb of GDDR7) just something to look at. Not sure when the 5080 super or TI will come out. I have the 5070ti and I like it a lot. Maybe when prices eventually (hopefully) come down on RAM due to the RAM “shortage” the 5080 will be more “affordable” than even now. Although if it’s crowdfunded 5080 would be 😎.
 
OGsandals said:
I can’t give any advice to a professional poker player but something I can add my two cents into is getting the 5070ti over the 5080 for now because they have the same amount of vram (16gb of GDDR7) just something to look at. Not sure when the 5080 super or TI will come out. I have the 5070ti and I like it a lot. Maybe when prices eventually (hopefully) come down on RAM due to the RAM “shortage” the 5080 will be more “affordable” than even now. Although if it’s crowdfunded 5080 would be 😎.
Click to expand...

I'm on an 8GB RTX 3070. It's definitely starting to have its issues from time to time with sounding loud and overheating.

My challenge goals aren't going to necessarily be my own real goals, but designed for the audience in a lot of ways. I'm not going into a session with a specific goal in mind. I play sessions and record them, and know the results, THEN I attach the "challenge" that fits.

So if I'm trying to feed my cat this week or he has to go back to the shelter, obviously I pick a winning session so I never get rid of him.

If I'm trying to win enough money to buy a horse, that isn't happening, so I select a session and only win enough for me to pop some quarters in one of those mechanical horses kids ride in front of a grocery store.

With the graphics card thing, I don't win enough to get the 5080, but I do win enough to get a 5070, as a for instance. These are all just working ideas, nothing set in stone.

As far as graphics cards go, the 5070 Ti would likely be the one I'd go with anyway. The prices are ridiculous for graphics cards nowadays, and I might even settle for a 12GB 5070. For the moment I'm trying to keep the existing card running, it does everything I need it to do. And we are getting a Micro Center in Austin sometime mid or late 2026 so hopefully I can hold out until it's in town, never been but always heard tales of it being "The Mecca"
 
Anthony Martino said:
I'm on an 8GB RTX 3070. It's definitely starting to have its issues from time to time with sounding loud and overheating.

My challenge goals aren't going to necessarily be my own real goals, but designed for the audience in a lot of ways. I'm not going into a session with a specific goal in mind. I play sessions and record them, and know the results, THEN I attach the "challenge" that fits.

So if I'm trying to feed my cat this week or he has to go back to the shelter, obviously I pick a winning session so I never get rid of him.

If I'm trying to win enough money to buy a horse, that isn't happening, so I select a session and only win enough for me to pop some quarters in one of those mechanical horses kids ride in front of a grocery store.

With the graphics card thing, I don't win enough to get the 5080, but I do win enough to get a 5070, as a for instance. These are all just working ideas, nothing set in stone.

As far as graphics cards go, the 5070 Ti would likely be the one I'd go with anyway. The prices are ridiculous for graphics cards nowadays, and I might even settle for a 12GB 5070. For the moment I'm trying to keep the existing card running, it does everything I need it to do. And we are getting a Micro Center in Austin sometime mid or late 2026 so hopefully I can hold out until it's in town, never been but always heard tales of it being "The Mecca"
Click to expand...
Makes sense to me, I like that idea. I’ll tell you if you’re a computer guy or a tech guy micro center is ALMOST just as dangerous as PCF stay away. We had a charlotte location open and I can’t resist. you’ve been warned. 🤣🤣🤣
 
Alright, some comparison shots of my current layout (centered on screen, less information, smaller graphics) and how I envision the new channel (graphics shifted to the left, added info for viewers and larger graphics for those on mobile devices)

comparison.webp



left_layout_test.webp
 
That is a super long clip. Not curated much if at all. I wish it were condensed into a relatively few hands with analysis and commentary. I can't find a reason to watch three hours worth of nearly live content.

Or in our parlance, TLDW -=- DrStrange
 
DrStrange said:
That is a super long clip. Not curated much if at all. I wish it were condensed into a relatively few hands with analysis and commentary. I can't find a reason to watch three hours worth of nearly live content.

Or in our parlance, TLDW -=- DrStrange
Click to expand...
these lodge games aren’t clips it’s a full blown production.
 
DrStrange said:
That is a super long clip. Not curated much if at all. I wish it were condensed into a relatively few hands with analysis and commentary. I can't find a reason to watch three hours worth of nearly live content.

Or in our parlance, TLDW -=- DrStrange
Click to expand...

It's a 3 hour livestream production. There are links in the description to some key hands as well as the final results
 
I thought about dipping my toes into PLO at Lodge or TCH, but the 1/2/5 with match the stack buyins is a bit large for me. Have you tried the 2/2 PLO tables? How's that play? It's 300 max at Lodge and 500 max at TCH.

The ROE 1/2 NL and 2/2 PLO sounds interesting too.
 
toothpic said:
I thought about dipping my toes into PLO at Lodge or TCH, but the 1/2/5 with match the stack buyins is a bit large for me. Have you tried the 2/2 PLO tables? How's that play? It's 300 max at Lodge and 500 max at TCH.

The ROE 1/2 NL and 2/2 PLO sounds interesting too.
Click to expand...

I'm VERY happy that the 2/2 PLO has legs and runs regularly and I'm playing that nowadays. The cap of $300 on the buyin is a huge help. They still allow up to two straddles so it can be 2/2/5/10 which I think is still a bad decision, BUT, at least they're moving in the right direction with capped buyins and not unlimited straddles.

The $10 rarely gets put on, but the $5 can be seen more frequently. You also sometimes get the 1/2/5 and higher guys who don't have one of their stakes running sitting in the 2/2. If two of them are on opposite ends of the table you can expect them to try getting people flipping for $300 over and over and over.

This fortunately doesn't seem to happen often either, but something to be aware of.

I only played the ROE for a few hours before the stream. Nobody seemed to care for the Hold Em rotation and it tended to go pretty quick.
 
@Anthony Martino I am guessing maybe there wasn't much of a list for the stream and that's why there were so many dealers seated in the game? Good quality stream and nice run up by you! Are you planning to try to get into it next week?
 
extreme517 said:
@Anthony Martino I am guessing maybe there wasn't much of a list for the stream and that's why there were so many dealers seated in the game? Good quality stream and nice run up by you! Are you planning to try to get into it next week?
Click to expand...

They had been doing a 1/2/5 PLO stream initially, but it was usually the same players

Only recently they switched to the 2/2 and I was told they try to let newer players on the stream to be fair rather than the same players all the time

I will try to get back on, but no idea when I'll be selected again
 
Making progress on the new channel. I still want to have 3-4 full weekly vlogs and accompanying shorts ready before I launch it.

My first episode is likely to be a challenge where I'm trying to win enough to upgrade my 6 year old graphics card in my system. Given my channel will be brand new, I expect that it will reach more than just a poker audience, especially when the challenge involves pc gaming tech.

As such, I was planning to have a quick explanation video near the beginning (while also mentioning to skip ahead 30 seconds to get straight into the action if you don't need the explanation) to help non-poker audiences understand the very basics.

My first attempt I felt was overly long and didn't quite pop:


Here is my 2nd version which I think is a lot better:

 
Come on man, you’re on a poker chip forum and your thumbnail has those chips?

Good luck with the channel! I don’t watch a lot of PLO vids but I’ll add it to the queue once you get up and running.
 
Anthony Martino said:
Making progress on the new channel. I still want to have 3-4 full weekly vlogs and accompanying shorts ready before I launch it.

My first episode is likely to be a challenge where I'm trying to win enough to upgrade my 6 year old graphics card in my system. Given my channel will be brand new, I expect that it will reach more than just a poker audience, especially when the challenge involves pc gaming tech.

As such, I was planning to have a quick explanation video near the beginning (while also mentioning to skip ahead 30 seconds to get straight into the action if you don't need the explanation) to help non-poker audiences understand the very basics.

My first attempt I felt was overly long and didn't quite pop:


Here is my 2nd version which I think is a lot better:

Click to expand...

i agree the second one is much better, but if the segment is meant for complete newbies, i think you should still touch on the no‑limit vs. pot‑limit difference too.
 
btbmason said:
Come on man, you’re on a poker chip forum and your thumbnail has those chips?

Good luck with the channel! I don’t watch a lot of PLO vids but I’ll add it to the queue once you get up and running.
Click to expand...

That was a youtube generated thumbnail AND it's a private video that you need the link to see. It's not meant to be a standalone clip, the thumbnails for my vlogs wouldn't be related to this short instructional video, but on the topic or challenge of the video instead (i.e. trying to upgrade my graphics card by winning enough at the tables, etc)


raynmanas said:
i agree the second one is much better, but if the segment is meant for complete newbies, i think you should still touch on the no‑limit vs. pot‑limit difference too.
Click to expand...

I want to, but this part is already almost 30 seconds, any longer and I risk viewers clicking away, which will kill youtube pushing the content out to more eyeballs.

Plus, there's a sneaky secondary aspect of it. By not explaining everything, there's potential for newcomers to engage by asking questions in the comments. I wanted to balance giving just enough info so their eyes don't roll into the back of their heads trying to understand what's going on, but not too much that I discourage comments/questions.
 

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