Poker player's Black Friday shopping guide
Poker player's Black Friday shopping guide
The term 'Black Friday' brings up bad memories for poker players, other than when it is at the end of November.
The term 'Black Friday' brings up bad memories for poker players, other than when it is at the end of November.

The worst thing you can do is to throw yourself into the shopping vortex, just because it's Black Friday or Cyber Monday. It's only a saving if you were planning on buying the product anyway, if you impulse buy on Black Friday you are losing money.
Plan in advance what you want to purchase as well as what price you are willing to pay (and what the price is normally).
It sounds obvious, but we all sometimes are tempted by special offers and discounts. If your plan for the next year is to move up from NL5 to NL25 or NL50, you will find it more useful to buy a poker tracker, than a PLO GTO solver. Even if the discount for the last one is 80%, you will lose money by buying it.
On Black Friday and Cyber Monday you'll find discounts on virtually everything. Like most of us, you are probably not a High Roller baller and have a limited budget. Start your poker purchases with buying the products that will bring you the biggest ROI improvements. Start with poker software and training packages - thanks to these products, your $/hour will improve. Of course, the comfort of the game is important too and perhaps your setup needs some improvements. If so, start by buying products such as a larger monitor (better visibility and more tables), and leave buying products such as a mechanical keyboard or an ergonomic chair for later.
If you have ever used the trial version of a poker software, or had a monthly package that has already expired, there is a good chance that you will find a Black Friday offer from a developer in the mailbox for which you have registered an account.
Remember to check your spam folder as well. Often emails with offers can be found there (but make sure it's really from them and not a scammer).
Now it's time to be active. Check directly on the websites of software developers and on their social media sites (Facebook, Twitter), if there is any discount planned for this weekend. You may be pleasantly surprised, especially on the sites of independent and small software developers (in the poker industry small software developers are often "one man" businesses).
We have already written how to consider your goals for the coming year and adjust your purchases for this. You must consider another thing too, when you're thinking about the the long term - check your mailbox to how often and how regularly you receive promotional offers from a given developer. If you can find promotions with the same discount level on average once every three months, you don't have to worry about missing this Black Friday.
Poker players are targeted by cyber criminals, so watch out for emails with "special discount offers". Check if the link in the email is a proper link to the developer site, or is it misspelled or otherwise altered (for example have they used a big "i" instead of "L"). The login and shopping page should be secured with a green padlock.