Canadian Poker Player Magazine Goes Under ::Sigh::

I always hate to see a poker publication go under, especially when it’s one I write for, and more importantly—when it’s one that owes me money.

Canadian Poker Player has always been one of my favorite publications, and I’ve been writing for them since Day One. Yesterday, however, I received the following, somewhat terse, announcement as an email:

Attention writers, operators and players:

This statement has been released by Fifth Street Publishers:

"Fifth Street Publishers regrets to announce that because of the decline in advertising for Canadian Poker Player Magazine, and lack of sponsorship for the Canadian Poker Tour which is the sole business model of Fifth Street, both assets have become dormant for the time being."

In other words, Canadian Poker Player is over, done, kaput, finished, finis, finito, gone, dissolved, vanished, on hiatus, canceled, ceased publication, and now residing in what I suppose will be its final, flowery dell—the graveyard of poker magazines that are no longer with us.

I was thinking of making a list, but it would be too long and too boring to read, and besides I can’t remember all the fledging poker mags and rags that for one reason or another, just didn’t make the cut.

I don’t have much hope of getting paid. It just never works out that way, and if you write for small magazines that have a tough time creating the liquidity they need to be viable, it’s simply one of the occupational hazards that comes with the territory once they start slipping.

Although the money would have been nicer in my hands than in the hands of some other creditor of theirs, it’s not enough to make any real difference in my life. But it is frustrating because one develops a personal relationship as well as a working one with small magazines and I like to see a robust publishing community in the poker world, rather than a smaller one.