Card Player magazine is an industry publication and web portal specializing in poker media, poker strategy

Poker strategy

Poker is a popular card game that combines elements of chance and strategy. There are various styles of poker, all of which share an objective of presenting the least probable or highest-scoring hand. A poker hand is a configuration of five cards, either held entirely by a player or drawn partly...

 and poker tournament

Poker tournament

A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table , and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables...

 coverage. The magazine was founded in 1988 by June Field. In 1998 it was bought by Barry Shulman

Barry Shulman

Barry Shulman is an American poker player who has enjoyed success in competitive poker tournaments over the past 15 years, and is the CEO of CardPlayer Magazine.-Life and career:...

, who is the current publisher and CEO. Jeff Shulman

Jeff Shulman

Jeff Shulman is the editor of Card Player Magazine, and an American poker player with a record of success in tournament play, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the son of Jan Shulman and Barry Shulman...

 is the President.

The publication's umbrella company, Card Player Media, LLC, also publishes Card Player Europe. The magazines have a combined monthly circulation of approximately 300,000.

Card Player releases a new issue every two weeks. An issue typically consists of feature articles, tournament reports, and columns. Feature articles are usually in-depth profiles of prominent players on the tournament circuit. Tournament reports are on-location reports of the richest and most prestigious poker tournaments. Each issue also has a large number of strategy columns, coming from a stable of acclaimed poker players and authors which includes three former world champions.

Card Player Media has content licensing agreements with media partners CardPlayer Bulgaria (Magazine and website), Card Player Polska (Poland), Card Player Italia (Italy), Pokerilehti (Finland & Estonia), Poker (Card Player France), CardPlayer Deutsch (Germany), Poker Magazine (Sweden), CardPlayer.fi (Finland website), CardPlayer South Africa (South Africa), CardPlayer Espana (Spain), CardPlayer Brasil (Brazil) and CardPlayer Latin America, which publishes CardPlayer Argentina+Uruguay.

Player of the Year Award

Card Player is also well known for its Player of the Year Award. Started in 1997, it goes to the player who has the most outstanding tournament results throughout the year. Players are awarded points for final-table finishes in major tournaments. Points that can be earned in a given tournament are adjusted based on the buy-in

Buying in (poker)

In poker and gaming "buying in" is the process of entering a tournament that requires an up-front payment. The size of the payment, otherwise known as the "buy In", determines the total winning prize pool and also contains a fee, otherwise known as the rake, that is paid to the house.For example, a...

, as well as the number of entrants. The player who has accumulated the most points at the end of the year receives the prestigious award.

Online Player of the Year Award

Starting in 2007, Card Player began awarding its Online Player of the Year Award. The player who accumulates the most points from online tournaments at specified poker websites for a calendar year is recognized as the Online Player of the Year. Currently the specified poker websites are Absolute Poker, Bodog

Bodog

Bodog is an online entertainment brand launched in 1994 by Calvin Ayre.Originally the company traded at but the brand was later divested and intellectual property rights were assigned to and consolidated in BodogBrand.com...

, Cake Poker, Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker is an online poker card room that opened in June 2004 with the involvement of poker professionals Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson...

, PokerStars

PokerStars

PokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, Chris Moneymaker. 1983 champion Tom McEvoy, 2005 champion Joe Hachem, 2009 champion Joe Cada and 2010 champion Jonathan Duhamel and others also represent...

, and Ultimate Bet. Points are awarded based on the player's tournament finish, the amount of the tournament buy-in and total number of entrants.

SpadeClub

In February, 2008, Card Player Media launched SpadeClub.com, an online poker website. Unlike traditional poker websites, SpadeClub is operated as a sweepstakes and is therefore legal in at least 36 states of the U.S. as well as some other countries. Members of SpadeClub pay a monthly subscription fee and are able to enter into a variety of free poker tournaments. The prize pools vary depending upon the number of subscribers. On September 15, 2010, Spadeclub ceased operations and migrated all users into Zen gaming.