Not long ago we released a list of the Top 10 Poker WordPress Themes.

We restricted the list to strictly poker-specific themes and many of our readers suggested that by limiting our scope we were missing out on some great non-poker themes that would work equally well as poker blogs.

In light of this we've decided to take another look, and not just at poker themes.

First we'll give you a quick intro to setting up a WordPress blog and then we'll look at five of our favorite themes.

There are a sick amount of themes out there but if you want to skip the searching and get right to the blogging, any of the following themes will give you a clean-cut and professional looking site.

Blog WordPress Setup

To set up your own poker blog follow these instructions:

• Register a domain name (check out GoDaddy, HostGator or Bluehost).
• In connection to the domain registration, set up a hosting account. Confirm that the hosting provider offers automated installation of WordPress (otherwise you'll have to do it manually, which is easy, but takes a bit more time).
• Have a look at the available premium and free WordPress themes listed below. Choose one, download it and upload it to the folder: http://yourpokerblog.com/wp-content/themes. Activate it and you're good to go.

It's important to determine what you want from your blog and pick the theme best suited to your needs.

To give you an idea of what we mean we contacted one well known poker blogger. His name is Bill, he runs Billrini.com, all on one of the WordPress themes listed below.

"Thesis was my choice for a WordPress theme because it separated presentation from functionality," Bill explains. 

"I can go in there and write my own customizations and they're kept separate from the core files that are upgraded in each update."

1. Spades Poker Theme

Spades Poker Theme is a premium theme by ModThemes. It goes for for $70 and is one of the better poker-specific themes on the market.

With a rotating slider for featured content, integrated social media buttons, a twitter feed, and a poker room promotion section, it's very clear that this homepage has been crafted with the poker blogger in mind.

• Live Demo
• Theme page

2. Thesis

Like Bill Rini pointed out, Thesis is the complete theme, frontend to back. It will cost you the initial purchase price of $87 but you get a lot more than a basic blog theme.

Thesis will give you the freedom to do everything you want and it'll look good doing it.

• See tutorials
• Theme page

3. The Journal

When it comes to news/editorial themes, few can top The Journal from Woothemes.

Just like Thesis, The Journal comes with an extensive theme settings section that handles design and functionality.

It is a few years old, one of Woothemes early creations, but it's compatible with the latest WordPress version and still looks more modern than most themes hitting the market today.

• Live Demo
• Theme page

4. Arthemia Premium

Colorlabs Project released Arthemia a while back and got instant recognition and praise.

The success of Arthemia Premium was like hitting the jackpot the first day in Vegas. There's not much to do after that.

And this theme is indeed a jackpot, with a featured slider section, colorful and customizable category spoilers on homepage and in sidebar, and much more.

• Live Demo
• Theme page

5. The Platformate

Colorlabs Project followed up the success of Arthemia with two more themes, one of them being The Platformate.

Much like Arthemia, The Platformate comes with an extensive theme setting section to control design and functions.

Where The Platformate differs, however, is in its appearance. With no featured slider and a cleaner overall look it reminds us more of a news theme than its magazine sibling.

• Live Demo
• Theme page

Extra! Some Cool Poker WordPress Plugins

-          http://pokerwordpressplugins.com/

-          Wordpress Hand History Replayer Plugin - http://www.pokeraffiliateprograms.com/forums/poker-affiliate-exchange/19286-wordpress-hand-replayer-plugin.html

-          http://www.silverspider.com/2004/poker-plugins/