Meet Wolfgang: The $1-$2 Poker Vlogger With More Subscribers Than Daniel NegreanuAlexander ‘Wolfgang’ Seibt Finds Huge Audience For Poker On YouTube |
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After playing some cards in New Orleans in the fall of 2022, Alexander ‘Wolfgang’ Seibt planned on traveling to Florida but received a text from a friend to instead head north to Baton Rouge to take part in two of his passions – poker and college football. Seibt, the man behind the Wolfgang Poker YouTube channel, would get a chance to play at a fraternity home game and watch the LSU Tigers square off against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The away team came out on top and Wolfgang decided to sneak onto the field during their celebration. The next day brought even more fun, this time at the frat house for some $1-$2 no-limit. Seibt recorded everything.
The final video of the experience featured Wolfgang breaking down the action, offering poker tips, and even dragging a solid $1,400 pot. The 29-year-old vlogger ended the night with a profit of $1,387.
“Really cool people, really cool vibes,” he said on camera of the experience.
Cool vibes seem to be heading Seibt’s way often since starting his Wolfgang Poker account back in October 2019. As he nears one million subscribers, he’s rocketed to the top spot among YouTube poker vloggers and has turned his love of the game and videos into quite the successful enterprise.
The Chicago native now lives in Dallas and has a keen eye for poker and bringing in viewers. His everyman approach, battling it out in low-stakes games and being honest about the results, has earned him plenty of fans.
Some might be skeptical of a friend or family member venturing off to produce YouTube videos full time, but Seibt received plenty of support.
“Some people were like, ‘Yeah, it sounds like you have a gambling problem,’” he says of initially launching into YouTube and 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 winning wager. Wolfgang recently spoke with Card Player about his life in poker, vlogging, and building a business and brand.
Smoothie Bar To YouTube Star
Poker came at an early age for Seibt. The poker vlogging sensation began playing for small stakes with friends at age 12 and expanded that to tribal casinos in California while in college at Pepperdine University. Wolfgang and some other students also gathered for twice-monthly games, despite the religious school being made up of “a lot of people who were against gambling,” he says.
Right after graduation, he landed a job as a video editor for a Russian prankster named “VitalyzdTv,” who has 10 million subscribers. The gig gave Seibt some insight into what it takes to become a successful YouTuber. He would work at a smoothie bar in Malibu during the day, editing videos on his breaks.
Some nights, he’d also play poker around the Los Angeles area. Merging those two worlds of poker and video appealed to the new graduate instead 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 middle name, Wolfgang, sounded a lot better for branding purposes in this regard.
“Alexander Poker” just didn’t have quite the right ring to it – so Wolfgang Poker was born. Seeing his friend Mariano Grandoli find success with his own channel only confirmed to Seibt that he could attract an audience as well. He definitely did. Wolfgang Poker’s 837,000 subscribers are more than YouTube heavyweights such as Daniel Negreanu (782,000) and Brad Owen (697,000) to take the top spot among the ranks of poker vlogs.
Seibt credits a background in analytics learned from his previous editing work, focusing on smaller stakes to connect with “Average Joe” players, and solid editing with helping grow 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 growth. “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, every poker content creator has their own style. Daniel Negreanu vlogs every day of the WSOP, while WPT brand ambassadors Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme travel from room to room documenting their rise up in stakes. There are high-stakes vloggers like Mariano and Rampage, and over on TikTok, the NextGen Poker boys have found a formula for capturing the attention of young players. And of course, dozens and dozens of top players will often stream their play on Twitch.
The key to Wolfgang’s rapid rise, however, has been his use of YouTube Shorts, which are videos that check in at less than a minute. Seibt tries to stay current with trends among YouTube viewers and what catches their eyes.
For example, his top short shows him raking in a pot worth just $906 with pocket kings while playing in a Dallas cardroom. The action is cut together quick and to the point with on-screen graphics easily allowing viewers to follow the action.
“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 remarkable, especially in the poker space. Wolfgang has posted 443 videos to date, with more than 460 million views. But it’s the shorts that pay the bills. His most popular full vlog has been seen nearly 250,000 times, but his most viewed short recently passed the 81 million mark! In fact, he has more than 80 short videos that have been seen more than a million times.
And none of this accounts for TikTok, where he has racked up another 150 million views.
Wolfgang Poker now posts shorts at least five times a week. That “short strategy” approach ballooned his channel from about 60,000 subscriptions about nine months ago to the top spot among poker vloggers. The endeavor has become a full-time job, and he even had to hire his own editor devoted just 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 top has helped Seibt build quite the business. Beyond ad revenue generated on his channel, cardrooms also pay him to come visit their establishments.
“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 action, bringing the YouTuber in to produce some videos at the cash game tables. He also collects funds for his own ads and some sponsorships. But getting to this point comes with plenty of hours and effort. He utilizes two phones and a nice camera to film his play. He even has a drone for outside shots.
“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 also takes notes while playing to document a big hand properly for the video. Meanwhile, the action never stops. Along with filming his play, and worrying about playing well, the video-producing rounder also has to film 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 action is complete, Seibt then sends all his footage to his full-time salaried editor Lucas who puts it all together. Once that’s complete, Seibt reviews the final product and adds in voice-over and sound effects. Creating a thumbnail image (for non-shorts) is also a key part of the process. He says this is critical to reaching a good click-through rate and getting views. The title is also uber-important in reaching viewers and his team may bounce ideas around for a half hour or so before finding just the right wording.
Even after the video is posted, the job isn’t over. Seibt then tries to respond to comments on the video as well to keep subscribers interested and engaged. Wolfgang Poker production runs seven days a week, posting two to three full vlogs and at least five shorts a 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 exactly makes someone decide to put themselves out there in public and rely on YouTube as a sole source of income? For Seibt, it’s much the same as what many business owners might say – freedom. He loves playing poker and the Wolfgang Poker channel gives him that.
Along with being his own boss and being self-reliant, the unique job brings some nice extras in the process. Seibt likes that his work can be performed from anywhere in the world. If a certain area or the country piques his interest, he’ll head off for some exploration while also making a poker video at the local casino or even a home game. That production will help pay for the trip, combining some business and vacation pleasure in the process.
He’s also a big college football fan and some of his trips involve not just playing poker, but taking in an interesting matchup. Last year he went to six games including the Tennessee-Alabama matchup and has already visited Ole Miss this year for a field-storming victory against LSU. He’s hoping to add some NFL games, music festivals, and more.
Initially, Seibt’s goal with the vlog was simply to make $300 per video to freeroll his $1-$2 cash game buy-in at his local 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 much he’s bringing in, he did note that he makes about $10 for every thousand views. His platform has attracted some advertisers as well, paying a nice chunk of change to be part of the Wolfgang brand. He says much of his income now comes from those types of deals and having multiple streams of revenue, not even including any poker winnings. He did manage a deep run and a mincash in this year’s record-breaking WSOP main event.
“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 business owners and full-time poker players as well. He finds himself feeling guilty at times when attending a sporting event or hanging out with friends. He knows what his hourly rate is on and off the felt, and often feels like he’s missing out on income possibilities by not being in front of the 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 popularity has led to playing with a few familiar faces. Seibt has squared off with Andrew Neeme, whom he calls an idol and inspiration for starting his channel, and even decorated his fellow vlogger with one of his popular ‘BANG’ stickers after winning a sizable pot. He also played against 1998 World Series of Poker main event champion Scotty Nguyen at a live streamed game 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 recently took him to play in a home game in Monterey, Mexico. During college, a friend had a favorite quote that stuck with him: “Say yes more.” That motto has stuck 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.”
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