In this episode, Andrew Neeme, a professional poker player and popular vlogger, talks about how he started vlogging and shares the valuable lessons he learned along the way. Jeff and Andrew discuss how to balance time between marriage, vlogging, studying, and playing, and they speculate on developments in poker legislation. Listen in to hear Andrew share tips to follow when sharing your own content – and get some insight on what he wishes he would’ve done from the get-go.
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:00 – Introducing Andrew and his journey 01:30 – He went to Michigan State University and did an internship with a music production company in London and moved back to LA 02:50 – 2004-2008 he dabbled in online poker; around 2008 he started playing full-time poker 04:20 – He moved to Las Vegas almost 10 years ago 04:50 – Andrew’s popular Vlog 05:15 – He understood and enjoyed the video medium for poker; he liked that he could connect directly to the audience and do creative storytelling 07:00 – He started Vlogging in October of 2016 08:24 – Advice for vloggers 08:40 – You can film from your cell phone, and the hard part is the editing; he had no idea how long it would take at first 10:20 – He suggests hiring someone to do the editing from the get-go; personality goes into the editing, which is hard for him to let go of now 12:45 – How Andrew manages his time 13:25 – He films and edits all his videos; he doesn’t have a science behind his social media strategy and just posts when he wants to 17:25 – Social media apps can easily take time away from productivity 19:15 – Developments in online poker legislation 19:45 – Everything happens slowly but he feels there is still hope and possibility; people can gamble online easily if they want to whether it’s regulated or not 22:21 – He’d love to road trip around Michigan and livestream 23:05 – Andrew’s position on team Run It Up 25:28 – They help with management, messaging, and branding 28:00 – The Vlogger in Paradise Challenge and the Andrew’s biggest tournament 28:30 – They got submissions from around the world; the quality of the videos and personalities were amazing 31:13 – It’s the biggest tournament he’s ever played; there are giveaway winners and professionals playing side by side 33:41 – Tournaments always have variance; the key is not to get too carried away, it’s 2.5 times bigger than the biggest buy-in he had ever played 40:20 – Andrew’s relationship with his wife, Busi; they met at a friend’s gathering in Las Vegas and the rest is history 45:00 – Stake Kings is like crowdfunding for poker players; Andrew is there 47:50 – The other games Andrew plays 48:00 – He loves PLO, 1-2-5, and 2-5-10 game in Vegas; he also likes the short-deck he played at Run It Up Reno 50:00 – He hasn’t gotten into mixed games 52:40 – What Andrew does to decompress and what content he consumes 52:50 – Most videos are long format; he follows a few vloggers and doesn’t watch TV 55:50 – His main goal this year is to focus on being more present; when you make videos you’re always looking ahead 57:20 – At the time of the recording, he has 150 vlogs 58:30 – Andrew’s meet-up games and Twitch streams 58:40 – They aren’t planned in advance and it’s an approachable game for most people; they’re every man’s stakes and it’s more of a social game 01:00:45 – They had their first meet up game tournament in Austin; it’s nice to get face-to-face with people 01:02:05 – He’s done about 10 livestreams and can do it simultaneously through YouTube and Twitch; Twitch is more lenient about background music 01:05:15 – Andrew’s future plans 01:05:30 – He started the videos over a year ago; he says it’s hard to say how he’ll be making a living years from now but maybe the content will change 01:07:50 – He doesn’t know what the future of poker holds; he said it’ll be hard to replicate the boom of years ago but regulations would be great for poker 01:10:20 - People recognize Andrew in the poker scene and sometimes outside of the poker room; the work he’s done is like his resume and can be done in any industry 01:14:50 – Advice for new vloggers 15:00:00 – Uploading earlier in the week at a reasonable hour is better than uploading on the weekend; as far as length, he takes as long as needed to tell the story 01:21:05 – An unpleasant experience at the table 01:21:30 – He’s never seen any fistfights; Jeff saw someone take $2,500 worth of chips 01:22:40 – Poker seems to be pretty chill overall 01:23:00 – Poker or content creation? 01:23:30 – Vlogging is more exciting, but poker is the income source; the YouTube revenue is helpful and pays some bills and he tries to balance all channels 01:24:15 – It would be daunting to create content about another subject that he doesn’t know as well as poker 01:25:10 – Kids and doppelgangers 01:25:20 – Yes, someday, and yes, he knows he looks like Aaron Rodgers and the Verizon guy 01:29:30 – Income streams through social media and weed 01:30:00 – Merchandise, YouTube income, and partnerships provide for income streams; he smokes weed very rarely 01:31:25 – Impacts to Andrew’s relationship due to his celebrity 01:31:40 – The biggest downside is that everything takes a lot of time; he has to balance his relationship with everything else 01:32:25 – He and his wife started a podcast called the Tells Podcast; they talk about life, poker, YouTube, pop culture, and relationships 01:35:58 – His family likes to see what he’s up to on YouTube; he recommends people show their family the professionalism and passion they have for the industry 01:37:40 – Busi plays the markets and poker is similar, so they understood each other from the get-go 01:38:45 – Andrew’s thoughts on staking 01:38:57 – He sees it as a natural part of the poker experience and helps people move up in poker stakes; just like in other businesses, people get outside investors 01:39:39 – You can sell a piece of yourself to friends, colleagues, or other poker players while you get used to new poker stakes; he doesn’t have a lot of experience in that 01:40:24 – Ask each other as many questions as possible and sign a document hashing out all scenarios 01:41:50 – Money management 01:42:19 – When he first moved to Vegas he spent too much, now he manages his money better and isn’t into material possessions 01:46:10 – Poker as a zero sum game 01:46:20 – He looks at poker like a sport like golf; there’s tours, sponsorships, and it’s a spectator sport 01:46:55 – If you’re doing something that makes you happy, you’ll share that happiness with the world 3 Key Points
If you want to be a vlogger, hire an editor early on, refine as you go, and just do it! There are so many ways to make a living now; there’s no telling what could be possible just a few years from now. Staking is like a business seeking outside investors; it’s great as long as there’s good communication between the investor and the investee. Contact/Resources
Partner - Party Poker Jeff’s Website – Jeff Gross Poker Andrew’s Vlog - YouTube Run It Up - Website Stake Kings - Website Andrew’s Website Andrew’s Twitch Andrew and Busi’s Podcast
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