let's talk about what a poker vlog is what it could be and what I feel it
should be the original idea of a poker vlog is an individual recording his
journey through a cash game or poker tournament it should be natural
unscripted and rudimentary it should be a person with a camera phone and basic
editing software for me all I used was my iPhone and the free iMovie app I
never had any classes or training and video production or editing when you
bring in $1000 cameras drones and professional editing equipment I feel
that it takes away from the rawness and legitimacy of a poker vlog some have
gone as far as hiring a film crew to follow them around and document
everything with ten thousand dollar cameras in full-time video editors I'm a
feeling like I'm a fella like I'll be feeling like this goes against the
vision of the intimate poker vlog it should be you and your audience one on
one a poker vlog should be a one-man show of course with expensive equipment
and production crews and professional editing you'll get a more polished and
visually pleasing product for the viewer I feel that it takes away from the
original vision much like Bitcoin cast trying to steal the market share from
Bitcoin by lies and deception never hide a single sock puppet some may say that I
am mad because I don't want to pay thousands of dollars for drones and
cameras you may also call me lazy for only using iMovie on my phone to edit
and upload my vlogs you might think that I just don't want to learn how to use
Final Cut Pro or Premiere to incorporate better editing I have the money and
ability to do these things but I choose not to over 250 vlogs I've put out and I
still use my iPhone and iMovie editing software I feel that way is the best way
to keep it real I don't use scripts or rarely write down
hand histories it is all from memory when I bust a live tournament I'm
talking in my iPhone within 60 seconds to convey my emotions in the moment I
will never fake it to I make it many have done the research as to what gets
the most views or subscribers and they have implemented that persona that is
the happy-go-lucky positive outlook at whatever happens be overly enthusiastic
oh five dollars cash ten dollars cash the best chest and keep it exciting to
captivate the viewer after all it is entertainment let's go let's fucking go
let's fucking go let's go many were turned off by my vlogs in the beginning
due to my deep monotone voice many did not pick up or appreciate my dry humor
today I hear all the time that I am the funniest poker vlogger I don't try to be
funny that is just my personality and outlook
on situations thirty to fifty five year old Asian male wasn't planned but every
day I hear people love how I put that situation out there and how true it is I
always try to keep my vlogs creative and never repetitive or redundant I don't
want the viewer to find the content mundane or the outcome predictable join
me in rewatching my first vlog from almost two years ago while I provide
some commentary on what I was thinking let's play a tournament at the Venetian
I started off with a visit to the HCM and showing the plethora of 20's needed
to enter this $400 tournament at the Venetian a little driving scene to show
the journey and then the close-up talking to the camera
destination and intention sequence as you can tell by the black bars on the
side I'm shooting this in world star hiphop for because most uneducated film
viewers don't know that you got to turn the phone landscape wise not like this
you do it like this in order to get the best picture that's gonna fit the
YouTube viewing screen so I do the extremely fast time-lapse of walking
through the Venetian probably too fast and you know do the obligatory chip
stack and put my face into the camera not sure to what I was doing there but
you know a picture of the chip stack and just figuring out how to use the iMovie
app was the coolest thing to meet that it was so easy without reading any
instructions and just kind of figuring out you know how to put scenes together
how to just tell a story by what you what you film I think that was the part
that really intrigued me because I really don't like reading instruction
manuals I'd like to just dig right into it and just you know have a go at it and
try to figure stuff out myself of course we have the bathroom selfie got a lot of
hate on that one but I thought it was just a good part to throw in the vlog
and of course the up clothes for head and eye discussion about my chip stack
in hand history's really made people not enjoyed what I was doing but it was raw
it was unplanned and this is the first term and I did it for and it kind of
gave me intention or drive a desire to do well because I'm documenting it kind
of like someone was looking over me to make sure I did good and not mess up of
course a lot of that's out of your hands and tournament poker but I think I made
the best of the situation and it was a fun little side project to take away
from the monotony of just random $400 term at the Venetian
nice chip porn pic stack is growing things are going well a lot of 1k chips
nice towers the Ken Burns effect I found on the iMovie where it shows the screen
as it moves back to the super up-close one on one pic of me just discussing you
know what happened in the day how the chips went in big hands big lay downs
big flips you gotta win you know maybe declaring my intention for how much I'm
gonna bag up and I'm providing relevant info you know blind levels how long till
the end of the day to really take you along on the journey with me now we're
going up and down different Ken Burns and Wow now we got a huge stack now
we're really doing it I know I still remember that tournament is battling
with another pro I got him to fold jacks when I had Kings in a real big pot and
now the drive home this is pretty dangerous I would recommend this I added
the police sirens in there and I'm actually holding the phone while I'm
driving I didn't have a mount on my dashboard wish I did later get for the
iPhone which I've now upgraded to the little sticky mount for my GoPro 4 which
is the only equipment I've ever bought to try to make it a better viewing
experience mainly just for the drive of shame or the drive of inspiration to the
poker room here's the home game wrap-up I may or may not be sitting on my toilet
right now as I tell you about this hand no comment but it just felt right it
felt natural it's probably midnight I'm pumped up and we're coming back for day
2 so first vlog is off to a great success
I think we're just before the money and here's the drive to day 2 while trying
to keep the iPhone balanced and with the full time-lapse feature on the iPhone
only know how to really speed stuff up with
iMovie yet and of course there's the scene transitions where it's the gradual
or the automatic I'm using all a gradual like slow shift we kind of see the
remnants the last scene as it goes to the next one and right at the casino I'm
in the parking lot trying to pump myself up trying to do well considering it's my
first vlog tournament there's the bag I'm about to rip open and stack up a lot
of people are nervous coming to day twos and you know they don't want a bus right
away so pretty sure I kept the pressure on early and really chipped up nicely
before the money bubble hit a lot of things got to go right in the tournament
in order to win and everything was going right in this and dealing with adversity
is definitely one of the biggest things that can really make or break a
tournament the thing I have a problem with is you know I got some terms you
could just never win you're gonna get aces someone's gonna get Kings and
they're gonna have you covered and you're gonna lose you're just never
gonna fold that you're gonna get set over set gonna get flushed over flush
you can just lose three flips you can lose one flip unavoidable or you just
get blinded out people say oh I was waiting for premiums I'll wait for good
spots guess what antes and blinds will just take your stack down to nothing
under 10 blinds and you're forced to jam it in and pray now we've made the final
table really excited now pay jumps are a big thing I see em matters so you want
to be cognizant of little chip stacks I still remember that dinner at the
Venetian food court chicken tikka masala - spicy was really
burned my stomach when he came back with that believer nine handed at that point
I made a real ballsy call a three-bet eights and then called a jam and I put
him on a skin he did have a king and my aides hold so now we're four handed I'm
tied with the other short stack and there's two huge stacks a huge chip
disparity unfortunately I bussed to the other
small stack and I think we get eleven thousand five hundred dollars so all in
all turned four hundred into eleven thousand five hundred is great I don't
think I swapped any action maybe ten percent
oh yeah maybe ten percent of the Blake but it was a great experience and gave
me real momentum to go on a sick sick heater if you want to watch all my
numbered poker vlogs one through say six you'll see me play a lot of tournaments
at the win especially the 225 rebuy feel free to go through those and relive all
those great memories and see the progression of my editing prowess and my
overall feel for what it is to make a poker vlog I always read all every
single comment I try to respond to as many as I could and took constructive
criticism and you know tried to make the vlog better every time without going too
far this is what real raw vlogging is all about you can do it too even if you
don't want to put it on YouTube you know you want to show something to your wife
or husband or kids about your trip to the casino the progression of the night
even if you're playing a cash game show you the chip stacks varying you know
sneak a little peek at the hands and you can put a little movie together for free
if you have an iPhone I movies already on there or you can download it for free
and you just put all the scenes together boom boom boom
add some music you know cut them down make them longer slobo it's not it's not
difficult at all don't be scared you can do it too
doesn't have to be poker related document your adventure and that way
it's a memory that you can will last forever so many people come up to me
when I play live or at the tables on a CR saying pretty much verbatim the same
exact thing boesky love the vlog and that means a lot to me thanks a lot for
listening guys I'm glad you enjoy the free entertainment like subscribe alerts
and comment below see you guys next time