Announcing Another New and Improved CardPlayer.com

Internet years come and go faster than dog years, and poker popularity is certainly moving at a similar pace. Regular readers know that for 18 years, Card Player has been the world's number one poker magazine, constantly upgrading after regular critical self-analysis.

With the Internet, the job has been tougher. In this arena we started behind, but we had a goal to be the most popular poker content site, and we set about doing that by developing the most comprehensive content as well as state-of-the-art technology. So, this month we have an entirely new look and feel. As we have done previously, we are sticking to our economic model of being totally free to our users. The only items anyone is charged for will continue to be things like subscriptions, DVDs, books, and other merchandise. And even those are free, sometimes.

Customized Content – CardPlayer.com will become a member site. Because we now have so many poker information modules, you will be able to pick and choose which ones show up on your CardPlayer.com home page. All data will be available to all members, and you can customize how it looks, if you so choose.

Web Mail – Everyone can have an e-mail address, on us. You will be yourname@CardPlayer.com, and will be able to send or receive e-mail on any computer in the world that's connected to the Internet.

Record Keeping and Analysis – A new and improved free version of our well-known proprietary software, Card Player Analyst (CPA), will be available for you to keep and analyze your results. Once again, you can gain access on any computer in the world that's connected to the Internet. Of course, the e-mail and CPA are not only password protected, but are extremely private and secure.

Online Tournaments – Visit our new online tournament module, where you will find, at a glance, the special tournaments that appeal to you. Some have huge guarantees; others, large buy-ins; and even others, small buy-ins but huge return possibilities.

Freeroll Tournament – Each month, CardPlayerPoker hosts a freeroll no-limit hold'em tournament with a $1,500 prize pool. The top 100 players during the year will compete for a grand prize in 2005 that will be announced soon.

Within the next few months, we will be expanding and adding many items, including the following:

Card Player TV – You will be able to watch CardPlayer.com TV-type programs on the Internet.

Major Tournament Reporting – Watch for CardPlayer.com to provide significant real-time reporting at major tournaments during the year.

Player Profiles and Gallery – Shortly, we will have information, photos, and data on dozens and then hundreds of players.

Card Player School – You will be able to learn to play poker online at CardPlayer.com with state-of-the-art Internet interacting software.

Blogs – Write your own, or read poker blogs written by your friends and poker celebrities.

Women's Area – You can visit a special area that discusses only women's poker issues.

Expanded Content – We will be greatly expanding both the amount and quality of content in the areas of the World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker, amateur poker, and tournament results.

Just two years ago, about 3,000 people visited our site daily, and viewed about five pages each. That visitation number tripled during 2003 and then tripled again during 2004. Now, 25,000-30,000 people visit our site daily, and view nine pages, on average, during each visit.

Two years ago, 3,000 people asked to receive our newsletter; now, 125,000 receive it.

Starting from behind to become number one was extremely rewarding but very difficult. This year, it will be even tougher to stay number one, let alone triple our business for the third year in a row.