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POCKET ACES

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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Oct 14, 2006

Talk Radio on the Net

Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. -- Samuel Johnson

Remember when the only way to get your poker news was to seek out the freebie publications offered by your local cardroom?

Sure, there exists some indication that folks might want to read about poker before the game became a pastime for civilized people. You did have Poker Chips: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Stories of the Great American Game published in

1896. (Once again, thanks to Rich McCombs for his bibliography at www.holdemsecrets.com/books.htm. for that piece of history.)

All in all, those of us who fell in love with the game of poker were hard-pressed to find information. Poker Player (the tabloid) did a terrific job of circulating news about games, players and rooms but the tabloid was basically west coast and eventually faded away. (Itšs been resurrected in both print format and on the web at www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/.) That was followed almost immediately by Card Player magazine, another free publication that concentrated heavily on Nevada and California poker in the beginning.

By and large, however, poker was the stepchild of gambling, receiving minimal coverage at best.

That, of course, was before the Internet. With the electronic phenomenon call the World Wide Web, game players now had a way to communicate, interact and exchange information about poker.

First you had the newsgroups for discussions and poker IRC where players could play real-time (sort of) poker via dial-up modems. Then you had web pages and electronic newsletters by groups and individuals where you could find real articles by real players who understood the need to educate new players.

Spurred by the expanding popularity of poker, the gamešs friends were quick to jump on the new ways to communicate with blogs and podcasts (By the way, this is a good spot to say thanks to Phil Gordon for his terrific podcasting stuff from the 2006 World Series of Poker.) and even live video on the web.

All this leads us to the present dayšs status of poker information an element that also will likely be dated by the time this article becomes part of an archive. Since things change so rapidly, itšs a good idea to take stock of whatšs currently available for those who find the preponderance of information too overwhelming to filter.

My favorite way to find out about poker is www.holdemradio.com/. Wade Andrews came up with this concept of broadcasting live poker talk via the net in early 2005. Featuring poker champs and authors as hosts, Wadešs broadcasts cover a very wide range of poker information and listeners can call the show during air time to discuss just about any facet of poker they want to discuss. And the subjects can get heated!

Recent broadcasts included interviews with Greg Raymer and Jamie Gold (just days after his Worlds Series finish). There are regular spots hosted by the team of Lou Krieger and Amy Calistri, by Wade, and by other players.

Besides the daily and archived schedules, the web site also has a nice listing of RSS feeds, some pertinent news links and, unfortunately because I find them very annoying, blinking banners that connect to advertisers. (I know, they support Wadešs effort but I just wish theyšd stop with that infernal flashing!)

Eventually, I suppose, even this format will be run-of-the-mill and dated but for now (and I hope for a long time), tune into this format if you need an authentic, true, viable poker fix.