Welcome to the third article in our retrospective series, in which we look back at some of the top poker articles we’ve published throughout each year we’ve been online. Our first article covered 2010, while our second article covered 2011. By 2012, Cardplayer Lifestyle was hitting its stride, both in terms of volume and variety of content. It was another year of experimentation, taking some risks, and some meaningful firsts. From proposing the idea of poker being an Olympic sport to publishing our very first player interview, this was when our little poker blog truly began to branch out in tone and topic to become more on an established poker media outlet.
Throughout the year, this site’s articles explored poker’s cultural and global relevance, dabbled in debate, and I also shared some deeply personal moments that connected the game of poker to my own life. Here’s a curated selection of some of the top poker articles from a truly foundational year in Cardplayer Lifestyle’s history.
Poker at the Olympics
With 2012 being an Olympic year (hello, London!), I explored the potential inclusion of poker as an Olympic sport, emphasizing the need for a shift from monetary rewards to a focus on competition and national pride. I proposed a format featuring both individual and team events, with tournaments in various poker disciplines such as H.O.R.S.E., awarding medals to top finishers and overall performers. I posited that showcasing poker on the Olympic stage could enhance its legitimacy and attract global sponsorship, fundamentally transforming the game’s perception and economic landscape. Sadly (or, perhaps, wisely?), the IOC has not taken note of those two articles 😂.
First Poker Player Interview
Over the years, we’ve published a plethora of poker player interviews. Nowadays, conducting a player interview is a cinch, but imagine what it felt like to do that sort of outreach for the very first time! Our first poker interview was with Yuval Bronshtein. I still remember how anxiety-ridden I was contacted him after his 23rd-place finish in the WSOP Main Event, and how proud I felt upon publishing the piece. There’s nothing notably “amazing” about the interview, but the first one always remains special. Moreover, a couple years after that, Yuval was also the first poker pro I got to meet in person in Israel, and I’m happy to still be friends with him nearly 13 years later.
The Felonious Monks
All these years later, I still get a kick out of the title I came up with for this article. I studied English Linguistics and have an inherent love for language. When that mixed with my love for poker and an absolutely crazy story, I just had to write it up. I couldn’t resist waxing poetic on the irony of monks playing poker, juxtaposing their traditional vows of poverty and detachment with the materialistic nature of gambling.
Tipping vs. Not Tipping Poker Dealers
It seems like the debate about tipping dealers in poker will last forever. People will always have their opinions on the matter. This holds true today just as much as it did back in 2012. At the time, I decided to “play both sides” by writing up a pair of top 10 lists that supported each opinion. As expected, the “not tipping” article got tons of heat while the “always tip” article unfortunately only got a fraction of the attention. This despite my very clearly pointing out that I always tip. But people gonna people, I guess. 🤷♂️
First Israel-Oriented Poker Story
Nowadays I’m far more open about my living in Israel. After all, I moved here from Los Angeles right after high school, back in 1998. But I wasn’t always so public about it online. To this day, while there are plenty of people working on the back-end industry side of the poker and gaming worlds living in Israel, it’s not exactly something they shout from the rooftops. We’re sadly all-too-familiar now with the idea of Israel getting attacked by rockets, but back in 2012 was the first time it had happened since I moved here. The industry was affected, as was my life. So, I wrote about it.
The Wonderful Mixture of Poker and Travel
I do a lot of traveling for poker nowadays, but prior to 2016, the opportunities for me to do that were very few and far between. Even so, I did manage to play one poker session in Europe, which apparently made me knowledgeable enough to write this article. Suffice it to say, for someone who had only played poker in the United States (and home games) prior, playing poker in Europe for the first time was a different type of experience. Were I to write this article today, in 2025, let’s just say if would be far more thorough a piece, based on far more poker playing and traveling experience in Europe.
Personal Poker Stories
While Cardplayer Lifestyle has evolved from a simple poker blog to a full-fledged poker media site over the years, there persists the occasional article in which I open up and get very personal about my own cardplayer lifestyle. Back in 2012 I marked the occasion of my father’s 64th birthday with this special tribute about how he imbued in me a love for poker. I also took Scotty Nguyen’s catchphrase and turned that into an article announcing that our third child, Shira, was on the way. You might be interested to know that I founded this site about 1.5 months before my second child, Ami, was born. Naturally, I couldn’t have imagined that one day my oldest, Abby, would end up being our graphic designer.
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