After enjoying some playing cards in New Orleans within the fall of 2022, Alexander ‘Wolfgang’ Seibt deliberate on touring to Florida however obtained a textual content from a pal to as an alternative head north to Baton Rouge to participate in two of his passions – poker and faculty soccer. Seibt, the person behind the Wolfgang Poker YouTube channel, would get an opportunity to play at a fraternity dwelling sport and watch the LSU Tigers sq. off towards the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The away staff got here out on prime and Wolfgang determined to sneak onto the sector throughout their celebration. The subsequent day introduced much more enjoyable, this time on the frat home for some $1-$2 no-limit. Seibt recorded every little thing.
The final video of the experience featured Wolfgang breaking down the motion, providing poker ideas, and even dragging a stable $1,400 pot. The 29-year-old vlogger ended the night time with a revenue of $1,387.
“Really cool people, really cool vibes,” he stated on digital camera of the expertise.
Cool vibes appear to be heading Seibt’s method typically since beginning his Wolfgang Poker account again in October 2019. As he nears a million subscribers, he’s rocketed to the highest spot amongst YouTube poker vloggers and has turned his love of the sport and movies into fairly the profitable enterprise.
The Chicago native now lives in Dallas and has a eager eye for poker and bringing in viewers. His everyman strategy, battling it out in low-stakes video games and being sincere in regards to the outcomes, has earned him loads of followers.
Some could be skeptical of a pal or member of the family venturing off to supply YouTube movies full time, however Seibt obtained loads of assist.
“Some people were like, ‘Yeah, it sounds like you have a gambling problem,’” he says of initially launching into YouTube and enjoying playing cards full time. “Honestly, I was like, ‘I see that perspective, but I’m going to bet on myself.”
That turned out to be a successful wager. Wolfgang just lately spoke with Card Player about his life in poker, vlogging, and constructing a enterprise and model.
Smoothie Bar To YouTube Star
Poker got here at an early age for Seibt. The poker vlogging sensation started enjoying for small stakes with buddies at age 12 and expanded that to tribal casinos in California whereas in faculty at Pepperdine University. Wolfgang and another college students additionally gathered for twice-monthly video games, regardless of the spiritual college being made up of “a lot of people who were against gambling,” he says.
Right after commencement, he landed a job as a video editor for a Russian prankster named “VitalyzdTv,” who has 10 million subscribers. The gig gave Seibt some perception into what it takes to grow to be a profitable YouTuber. He would work at a smoothie bar in Malibu through the day, modifying movies on his breaks.
Some nights, he’d additionally play poker across the Los Angeles space. Merging these two worlds of poker and video appealed to the brand new graduate as an alternative of heading out for a “regular job.”
“I stepped away from video editing and went all in on making my own videos, because in my opinion, the biggest barrier to entry to making videos is knowing how to edit,” he says. “Editing is just so hard. So once I already knew how to do that, because I was doing it for over a year with Vitaly, it was a no-brainer. I just had to start my own thing.”
Seibt’s center title, Wolfgang, sounded loads higher for branding functions on this regard.
“Alexander Poker” simply didn’t have fairly the correct ring to it – so Wolfgang Poker was born. Seeing his pal Mariano Grandoli discover success along with his personal channel solely confirmed to Seibt that he might appeal to an viewers as effectively. He undoubtedly did. Wolfgang Poker’s 837,000 subscribers are greater than YouTube heavyweights akin to Daniel Negreanu (782,000) and Brad Owen (697,000) to take the highest spot among the many ranks of poker vlogs.
Seibt credit a background in analytics realized from his earlier modifying work, specializing in smaller stakes to attach with “Average Joe” gamers, and stable modifying with serving to develop his platform.
“I think it’s multifaceted, but one reason would definitely be that I’m a genuine person, and people can relate,” he says of the expansion. “I don’t forget about what got me to this point. People in the middle of Arkansas and Louisiana don’t really want to watch $25-$50 (cash games) every single video. They want to see things that they can relate to and put in their game, so they can beat their local games. And some of the moves and playing at $25-$50 aren’t applicable in $1-$2.”
“I realized about a year ago that it isn’t sustainable just posting the huge videos. I’ve got to throw in a vlog every week or every two weeks of me playing the $1-$2 and $2-$5, because that’s what people want to see. So, I post a lot of those and people like that because I’m very relatable in that aspect.”
Of course, each poker content material creator has their very own model. Daniel Negreanu vlogs daily of the WSOP, whereas WPT model ambassadors Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme journey from room to room documenting their stand up in stakes. There are high-stakes vloggers like Mariano and Rampage, and over on TikTookay, the NextGen Poker boys have discovered a system for capturing the eye of younger gamers. And in fact, dozens and dozens of prime gamers will typically stream their play on Twitch.
The key to Wolfgang’s speedy rise, nonetheless, has been his use of YouTube Shorts, that are movies that verify in at lower than a minute. Seibt tries to remain present with developments amongst YouTube viewers and what catches their eyes.
For instance, his top short reveals him raking in a pot value simply $906 with pocket kings whereas enjoying in a Dallas cardroom. The motion is minimize collectively fast and to the purpose with on-screen graphics simply permitting viewers to observe the motion.
“In the last year, YouTube has been rewarding people for posting shorts because everyone’s attention span has unfortunately gone down because of the amount of things you can consume,” he says. “So, one-minute videos have become the next wave and I was a pioneer in that aspect.”
Building A Business
The numbers are exceptional, particularly within the poker house. Wolfgang has posted 443 movies thus far, with greater than 460 million views. But it’s the shorts that pay the payments. His hottest full vlog has been seen practically 250,000 occasions, however his most considered quick just lately handed the 81 million mark! In reality, he has greater than 80 quick movies which have been seen greater than one million occasions.
And none of this accounts for TikTookay, the place he has racked up one other 150 million views.
Wolfgang Poker now posts shorts not less than 5 occasions every week. That “short strategy” strategy ballooned his channel from about 60,000 subscriptions about 9 months in the past to the highest spot amongst poker vloggers. The endeavor has grow to be a full-time job, and he even needed to rent his personal editor devoted simply to producing shorts.
“Now with shorts becoming such a high priority because they’re working, I have to dedicate one to two days a week just to film shorts. And sometimes that’s good because the short videos are amazing and I’ll get like aces and kings in it’ll get like a few million views, which is insane.”
His rise to the highest has helped Seibt construct fairly the enterprise. Beyond advert income generated on his channel, cardrooms additionally pay him to come back go to their institutions.
“I’ve seen it firsthand,” he says. “I’ll walk into a cardroom and someone will come up to me and be like, ‘I’ve never heard about this room until I saw your short.’ Every short I post has at least 500,000 views.”
Several Texas poker rooms have gotten in on the motion, bringing the YouTuber in to supply some movies on the money sport tables. He additionally collects funds for his personal advertisements and a few sponsorships. But getting thus far comes with loads of hours and energy. He makes use of two telephones and a pleasant digital camera to movie his play. He even has a drone for outdoor pictures.
“It’s almost as if you’re making a documentary every time you play,” he says. “The regular player just goes to the casino, pulls out their chips, puts them on the table, and just plays. But for me, there are so many extra steps.”
Seibt additionally takes notes whereas enjoying to doc a giant hand correctly for the video. Meanwhile, the motion by no means stops. Along with filming his play, and worrying about enjoying effectively, the video-producing rounder additionally has to movie intros, outros, and get B-roll footage.
“These are things that are going through my head while I’m playing like $12,000 pots,” he says. “And in the back of my head, I’m like ‘Okay, what haven’t I done yet to complete the vlog?’”
Once the in-casino motion is full, Seibt then sends all his footage to his full-time salaried editor Lucas who places all of it collectively. Once that’s full, Seibt opinions the ultimate product and provides in voice-over and sound results. Creating a thumbnail picture (for non-shorts) can be a key a part of the method. He says that is crucial to reaching an excellent click-through price and getting views. The title can be uber-important in reaching viewers and his staff could bounce concepts round for a half hour or so earlier than discovering simply the correct wording.
Even after the video is posted, the job isn’t over. Seibt then tries to answer feedback on the video as effectively to maintain subscribers and engaged. Wolfgang Poker manufacturing runs seven days every week, posting two to a few full vlogs and not less than 5 shorts every week.
“I enjoy what I do and it’s all relative, right?” he says. “Someone that’s working 60 hours a week on an oil rig, they’d laugh at me, right? But for me, it’s a lot of work. I enjoy it and I put myself in this situation, but it’s not easy by any means.”
Hard Work Brings Fringe Benefits
What precisely makes somebody resolve to place themselves on the market in public and depend on YouTube as a sole supply of earnings? For Seibt, it’s a lot the identical as what many enterprise house owners may say – freedom. He loves enjoying poker and the Wolfgang Poker channel offers him that.
Along with being his personal boss and being self-reliant, the distinctive job brings some good extras within the course of. Seibt likes that his work will be carried out from anyplace on the earth. If a sure space or the nation piques his curiosity, he’ll head off for some exploration whereas additionally making a poker video on the native on line casino or perhaps a dwelling sport. That manufacturing will assist pay for the journey, combining some enterprise and trip pleasure within the course of.
He’s additionally a giant faculty soccer fan and a few of his journeys contain not simply enjoying poker, however taking in an fascinating matchup. Last yr he went to 6 video games together with the Tennessee-Alabama matchup and has already visited Ole Miss this yr for a field-storming victory towards LSU. He’s hoping so as to add some NFL video games, music festivals, and extra.
Initially, Seibt’s purpose with the vlog was merely to make $300 per video to freeroll his $1-$2 money sport buy-in at his native on line casino, Agua Caliente.
“That didn’t really happen in the first two years because it was such a slow ascension to make ad revenue,” he says. “But after those first few years, that started to become a thing and it was pretty cool to see. The money mixed with the freedom mixed with me not having to work a normal job is always enticing.”
While Wolfgang wouldn’t share how a lot he’s bringing in, he did observe that he makes about $10 for each thousand views. His platform has attracted some advertisers as effectively, paying a pleasant chunk of change to be a part of the Wolfgang model. He says a lot of his earnings now comes from these forms of offers and having a number of streams of income, not even together with any poker winnings. He did handle a deep run and a mincash on this yr’s record-breaking WSOP important occasion.
“You don’t have to do any of that,” he says. “You can start a YouTube channel and not monetize it and not do all this stuff and not reach out to casinos – just make money from the YouTube side, but it’s really not that much. Real money comes from how much work you do on the outside, and how many companies are responding to your emails and who you’re reaching out to. If you work hard, you can make a lot that way. So I actually make more money outside of YouTube.”
Some of that success has left Seibt with a dilemma felt by many enterprise house owners and full-time poker gamers as effectively. He finds himself feeling responsible at occasions when attending a sporting occasion or hanging out with buddies. He is aware of what his hourly price is on and off the felt, and infrequently looks like he’s lacking out on earnings potentialities by not being in entrance of the digital camera.
“It’s easy to compare yourself to others for not working hard enough,” he says. “But you have to put it in perspective and be like, ‘Okay, things are going well.’ I need to have a balance so I don’t get burned out. At times, I’m like, ‘I’m in this peak window right now where I should just be going balls to the wall. So sometimes I get on myself.”
His recognition has led to enjoying with a number of acquainted faces. Seibt has squared off with Andrew Neeme, whom he calls an idol and inspiration for beginning his channel, and even embellished his fellow vlogger with considered one of his standard ‘BANG’ stickers after successful a large pot. He additionally performed towards 1998 World Series of Poker important occasion champion Scotty Nguyen at a dwell streamed sport in Toledo, Ohio.
“That was really cool,” Seibt says. “I ended up turning a flush. He had top set and we played like a $13,000 pot and I put a ‘BANG’ sticker on him. So now I tell everyone that I banged Scotty Nguyen and they laugh. But he was a class act, I really liked him.”
Another poker invitation just lately took him to play in a house sport in Monterey, Mexico. During faculty, a pal had a favourite quote that caught with him: “Say yes more.” That motto has caught with him and carried over to his YouTube enterprise.
“In a lot of situations people find a way not to do something, and by saying yes more you’re putting yourself in uncomfortable situations,” he says. “Or times where you just want to watch Netflix, but you get hit up by a friend to go to a private game 20 minutes away. I’ll say no, but when I remind myself of that quote, I’m like ‘Why am I making excuses right now not to do something. Let me say yes and go put myself out there.’ More times than not, when I do something that I wasn’t going to do originally, it always turns out to be a memorable moment.”