The February/March 2010 issue currently on sale will be the final print issue published under license from BLUFF magazine in the United States.
"In our experience over the two years spent publishing the print title we have found that the poker world thrives online", comments Tanja Carruthers, publisher at Maverick Publishing Corporation. "With the abundance of information on the web, international poker news and live tournament coverage and updates happening just about every weekend, not to mention all the online tournaments and play - which is what the global industry is built on - we have found that local poker players prefer to get their information from cyberspace."
As such, Maverick Publishing Corporation intends to take the title digital, supported by the well-established BLUFF SA website. "The growth we have seen in the website is testament to the power of online media in this sector", continues Carruthers.
"The popularity of our player rankings, updated on the website after every tournament, the local tournament calendar, local news and content updates, as well as all the breaking international poker news, updated daily means that the BLUFF SA website has become the leading local aggregator of relevant poker info online. We intend to harness this growing online readership to help grow the BLUFF brand in SA, this time in digital format."
Carruthers explains that the popular content previously enjoyed in the magazine will still be available, so players can still see their pictures at recent tournaments, read in-depth articles on strategy, gain valuable insight from the top pros in SA and read interesting international content from BLUFF's parent magazine in the US. "All of this will just be delivered more often, and will be more readily available", she says.
"We are currently in discussions with the US regarding licensing fees for a purely digital version and intend to make a decision by the end of the month regarding the future of the BLUFF brand in SA", states Carruthers.
BLUFF magazine is reputedly the largest poker title in the world, and was launched locally in April 2008, under license, as an alternate monthly title, supported by an online news portal. The BLUFF SA player rankings were introduced in 2009 and proved to be a very popular addition to the poker community, ranking SA's top players according to tournament wins and cashes. The title is also published in the United States, Canada, South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.
