Poker Player - Barry Shulman
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Barry Shulman is famous in the world of poker, not only for being a player of exceptional skill, but also for being a tour de force poker authority and the owner and publisher of Card Player Magazine. Card Player Magazine is an accepted “bible in the poker industry” according to many of the professional players, but this was not always so.
Card Player Magazine was launched in 1987, and for many years remained a handout in poker rooms, with a target audience of advanced or professional players who wanted to read articles about how to increase their hourly rate, or discuss complex strategy. In 1998, Barry bought the magazine for a million dollars, and a dream to expand the potential of the publication, to not only reach a wider audience of card players at all levels, but also to turn it into a respected magazine and poker playing resource. His son Jeff Shulman came on board to turn to the magazine around and their joint efforts have placed Card Player Magazine where it is today. Jeff Shulman described the magazine’s new approach saying “It will be a cross between People, Sports Illustrated and Card Player Magazine. In the past, the typical article was about how to increase your hourly earnings. In the future, we’ll show what the best players do outside of poker. We want someone who has played only one of two times to read it all the way through. There is no better story than someone who invests $20 and walks away with $1 million.”
Barry Shulman bought the magazine with his retirement money, and though he has retired from real estate, it’s clear that he is a long way off retiring from poker. In fact he claims to be working harder now than he has ever worked in his life, but is also having the most fun. Barry runs the umbrella company Card Player Media, which incorporates Card Player Magazine, Card Player College and Card Player Europe, creating a circulation of 500,000 periodicals each month to a worldwide market. He is a well respected businessman with a reputation in business circles as well as just within the poker industry. He has said that increase in interest for poker is largely due to the levels of exposure that the game now receives. The World Poker Tour has brought the game to a level of sport, and into the homes of millions of viewers.
In addition, the surge in people playing online poker is also helping the industry because players are feeling more relaxed about trying to play competitively for the first time. Barry Shulman, in an interview with Businessweek highlighted how young people are more technologically in touch, and find the internet and online play a far more approachable way of starting out because there is less intimidation involved than walking into a traditional poker room. Online and televised play can only do good things for the poker industry, and as an industry leader, Barry Shulman can only be pleased with the growth that poker as a game and as a sport is currently undergoing.
As a poker player, Barry Shulman also has his own list of achievements. He has a World Series of Poker bracelet and 8 first place finishes, not to mention over $1,313,898 cash winnings from live tournament play. His favourite game is Omaha 8B and still has an ambition to win the World Series of Poker Main Event.
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