Bad Beat Clothing logo(credit: BadBeatClothing.com)
Joe Newman and his brother-in-law John Doran are the brawn and brains behind Bad Beat Clothing, a relatively new clothing line that brings comfort and fashion to the poker table. The company, which recently became an official sponsor of the Twitter Poker Tour, is currently working on a ladies' line (hurry up, guys!?!). Bad Beat shirts have been worn by many players including 2007 WSOP Main Event champ Jerry Yang and author/poker player Frank Wiese.
Newman is also quite the card shark and has a TPT title and a World Blogger Championship of Online Poker preliminary event cash to his online credits. Check out his Q&A with our editor, Deanna Goodson, now:
TourneyBlog: Joe, thanks for taking the time to chat with Tourneyblog about your latest endeavor, Bad Beat Clothing. Would you mind telling my readers how Bad Beat got started?
Joe Newman: Bad Beat Clothing is the brain child of my brother-in-law, John Doran. John is one of those guys who sees every angle and who is always coming up with new ideas for
business ventures. He saw how successful Affliction was with fans of the UFC and thought something similar for poker players would be well-received. The thing is, when you dress to go play poker in a casino, you throw on a t-shirt or a hoodie and concentrate more on comfort than fashion.
Why not give poker players a line of super comfortable t-shirts and thermals that are stylish enough to wear into a club after they're done at the tables?
TB: Sounds like a killer idea. So, what types of apparel does Bad Beat clothing sell? What kinds of additions are in the works for the line?
JN: Right now, our line includes t-shirts, thermals, hats and hooded t-shirts. We're not a big company. We're really more of an independent, underground label. It's basically John and my sister, Judy, selling the shirts out of a small office in New Jersey. I handle marketing for them
on the side. So, we can't bring on all the product lines we want, right away.
With that said, we'd like to add a couple choices for women and a zippered hoodie at some point in the near future. We've also got a few more t-shirt designs coming out that are really hot.
TB: I bet y'all do. What's on your site badbeaclothing.com is awesome! Who has worn Bad Beat Clothing - any pros, I mean? What do poker players say about your gear?
JN: We're literally less than three months old so we haven't struck any deals with pros to wear our shirts. In fact, I'm not sure that's the route we want to go right away. There's a book called the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell that looked at how huge fashion trends start,
and what it found is these trends often begin at the grass-roots level with a few people who really like your product talking it up with their friends. That's where we're at now.
Look, if you're wearing one of our shirts, you're probably the only person in your card room or home game wearing one. To me that's when I want to wear something because it hasn't become a fashion cliché. You know - where you walk into a club and everyone's got the same t-shirt on.
Still, we do want pros to wear our shirts. Jerry Yang, the 2007 World Series of Poker main event champion, wears our shirt. Frank Wiese, who is working on the poker book, Eat Professional Poker Players Alive! , gave one of our shirts to Jerry and Jerry loved it. We also just sent some shirts out to Allen Kessler, who just made a final table at the WSOP
circuit event at Lake Tahoe and who has more than $1 million in earnings on the pro circuit.
We've also got a couple other pros that we're talking to about wearing our shirts. And I can't go into the details but we're in discussions with the producer of a reality TV show about
supplying t-shirts to some of the show's participants.
We're hoping to make an announcement soon.
TB: How long have you been playing poker? What got you started playing the game and what role does it currently play in your life, etc.?
JN: I'm one of the guys who came into poker after Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker. My roommate and I started a home game in Orlando that used to draw 50 players a week. We used to run the games in a big shed in our backyard. It was hot and humid; the cards stuck together from the sweat and spilled beer. It was wonderful. We called it "Shed Poker" and it was absolutely, the best time I've had playing cards in my life. I made a lot of good friends in that game, including three of my very best friends.
I also played a lot of cash games around town and had some success and built a reputation among Orlando's rounders. Then I made the mistake a lot of good local players make. I thought I was good enough to do it full time. I quit my job, cleaned out my 401K and moved to Atlantic City. I'm glad I can laugh about it now but after grinding it out at the Borgata and Taj for a year, I was flat broke and had to get a real job again.
I don't play as much poker these days, except small stakes online and low-limit home games. It's not because I don't want to play but more of the reality of having to play within one's bankroll. I learned that lesson the hard way. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to build my
bankroll up to make another run.
TB: Thanks for the lesson. So many players don't learn from their bankroll mistakes. We appreciate your sharing that with our readers. Now let's take a bit of break for the Tourneyblog 'lightning round'. This is where I ask you some quick questions. I'd like you to answer with the first word or thought that comes to mind, okay?
Do you prefer..
Tournaments or ring games?
JN: Tournaments
TB: Live action or online poker?
JN: Live action
TB: Hold'em or Stud?
JN: Hold 'em
TB: Limit or no-limit?
JN: No-limit tournaments. Limit ring games.
TB: Texas or Omaha Hold'em?
JN: Texas.
TB: Low or high-stakes games?
JN: The highest I can comfortably afford. Right now, that's low.
TB: Tight or loose games?
JN: I like playing tight in a loose game.
TB: Aggressive or passive play?
JN: Mostly aggressive, though I let the table and opponents dictate my style.
TB: Live action or online play?
JN: Live action if and when I can.
TB: Tilted or unemotional?
JN: Stone-cold, baby. No emotion.
TB: Great answers, Joe. On to another topic - so, who is your favorite poker player - live or online - and why?
JN: Phil Ivey. He's the man. One, he's from Atlantic City. Two, he's a degenerate gambler (and I mean that as a major compliment), but he also comes across as just a real solid, stand-up guy. He's not one of these dudes that gets in your face or talks crazy smack. Phil, if you're
reading this, I want to send you some shirts, dude.
TB: Phil Ivey is definitely the man, and, to mirror your sentiment, Mr. Ivey, if you're reading this (OMG) - we'd love to interview you ;). Now, Joe, what are your poker playing goals these days? Do you still aspire to be pro?
JN: I'd like to make enough money in the t-shirt business so that I can play three or four big tournaments a year, including the WSOP.
TB: I notice you have a MySpace account, a blog and hang out on Twitter. What role do you think social networking plays in your marketing efforts? Any advice for poker players/small business owners who might be reading this?
JN: It's all about social networking. If you're a business person, and you don't understand the power and reach of social media, you're completely missing out. If you're a poker player, social media is probably less important in terms of helping your game but more of a way
to connect with other players on a social level.
TB: Now, we heard that Bad Beat Clothing is sponsoring the Twitter Poker Tour. How did that come about? Are there any special activities you have going on with the TPT?
JN: I came across the TPT as soon as I got on Twitter. I thought it was a brilliant idea for a tournament -- using social media to connect online poker players. Hats off to Geoff (Manning) and Trevor (Holewinski) for getting the TPT off the ground. The online atmosphere reminds me a lot of my days playing Shed Poker.
As business people, the TPT is a great way for us to get our name out there because a lot of people drawn to the TPT are bloggers. We'd like to help the TPT grow and, hopefully, the relationship will be mutually beneficial.
TB: The Twitter Poker Tour is a great and I enjoy playing it every week myself. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss that we may have missed?
JN: If you're online, join Twitter and chat with me.
Joe gave us a great interview and we encourage you to check out badbeatclothing.com for some after-Xmas gifts for yourselves.