PokerStrategy.com Announces Partnership With +EV Comics [Interview]
PokerStrategy.com are proud to announce a partnership with +EV Comics. You can now expect a daily comic strip from the hilarious poker comic series translated into 19 different languages. We caught up with the creator to learn more about +EV Comics.
"We get so obsessed we see poker everywhere"
PokerStrategy.com: How did +EV start? What came first, poker or comics for you?
Bobby Crosby: I started playing poker in 2005 and I quickly fell in love with the game. After a year of playing poker about 12 hours per day, I started up "+EV" in August of 2006.
There weren't any successful comics about poker at the time and I decided I should give it a shot, since I had been writing comics for several years and I had encountered so many funny things already in the world of poker.
PokerStrategy.com: Do you draw them yourself?
Bobby Crosby: No. I work with an artist who goes by the unusual name of Tiger Claw. He created the looks of the characters and we've been having fun making the comics for the past seven years.
PokerStrategy.com: You seem to have captured the ‘sick degenerate’ personality of poker players perfectly – what is it about them that's so funny?
Bobby Crosby: For me, a lot of the humor comes from how we get so obsessed with poker that we see the game everywhere. We see poker hands in license plates and we see purchases in terms of how many big blinds or buy-ins they are.
Degenerates can find ways to justify any decision, which can be sad and hilarious at the same time. And even if we haven't personally done some of the sicker things they have, we can imagine doing such things when we're on tilt.
"Some of the stories come from a Vegas dealer friend of mine"
PokerStrategy.com: Was +EV born slightly out of the fact you and your poker friends were saying and doing these funny things?
Bobby Crosby: Yeah, definitely. Shortly after I started playing, I joined poker forums online and I made friends from all over the world. One friend, who goes by the nickname Donk Donk, deals poker in Vegas, and a lot of the early comics came from his crazy stories.
I used to dream about poker almost every night, which led to a series of comics about disturbing poker dreams, like one where I dreamed I was Daniel Negreanu and I shot Mike Matusow because he owed me money.
PokerStrategy.com: How surprised have you been with the response for +EV? Did you think the poker market was big enough for a satirical comic?
Bobby Crosby: The first "+EV" comic was posted online the same day that Jamie Gold won the WSOP Main Event for $12 million, so yeah, I thought there were enough poker players out there to give the comic a chance.
I didn't think it would grow so popular so fast, though. It had 10,000 daily readers within a month, which was a pleasant surprise. I think the poker market is big enough right now to sustain several popular comics about the game.
"Life with Face Cards is hilarious"
PokerStrategy.com: Are you a fan of some of the other ‘funny poker’ offerings, like Srsly Sirius
and Life With Face Cards?
Bobby Crosby: "Life With Face Cards" is absolutely hilarious. That's my favorite funny poker site by far.
PokerStrategy.com: Although it seems to be poker players in general you send up, have you ever offended anyone with your comics?
Bobby Crosby: It happens from time to time. One comic made fun of Annie Duke and that didn't go over too well with some overly sensitive people. After I made that comic, I was seated with Annie at an Omaha Hi-Lo WSOP event and she was so nice to me that I actually removed the comic from my site.
"I'm just a break even player who enjoys the game"
PokerStrategy.com: What else do you do in poker and/or comics outside of +EV?
Bobby Crosby: In poker, I'm just a break even player who enjoys the game, mostly heads-up SNGs and big MTTs. In comics, I've written several graphic novels based on my movie ideas, and a couple of them have been picked up by production companies.
One of them, a vampire/zombie story called "Last Blood," is about to be made as a feature film for a Halloween 2014 release.
PokerStrategy.com: Do you expect to make your offerings for PokerStrategy.com a little bit more tailored towards our Euro-centric community?
Bobby Crosby: A little more, yes, but I think poker is very universal. "+EV" has had a huge foreign audience from the start, and I love that everyone will get the chance now through PokerStrategy.com to enjoy the comic in their own language.
I can't thank PokerStrategy.com enough for this opportunity.
PokerStrategy.com: Thank you Bobby, we look forward to seeing more from +EV Comics.
Stay tuned to PokerStrategy.com for the first +EV Comic later on today.
