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Since 2003, FTR’s goal has been to build a friendly online community where people love to discuss poker. Our timeless poker strategy articles will help you take the next step in becoming a winning poker player.

Welcome to Flop Turn River!

It’s our mission to turn you into a winning poker player. Over the years, we’ve been adding timeless strategy articles to help you learn poker. We’ve also done the research across hundreds of online sites to recommend only the best places to play poker. And finally, we offer a free and friendly forum where you can discuss poker with thousands of other poker players.

Learn Poker

If you’re new to the game of poker, this is where you should start. Our poker strategy articles will give you enough knowledge to build a solid foundation. Poker is easy to learn, but difficult to master, and with our tools, your studies will make a significant positive change to your game, and of course, your bankroll.

Play Poker

There are hundreds of online poker websites. It can all seem very overwhelming. Where can you find the best bonuses? Which sites have the most players? Which rooms offer a mobile app? We’ve gone through them all and offer only the best of the best. Our 20+ years of experience will save you a lot of time.

Discuss Poker

The FTR poker forum opened for registration in 2003. Since then, we’ve had over 130,000 members sign up to discuss poker with over 1.2 million posts. Don’t worry if you’re completely new, we pride ourselves on being kind to all players as we know that everyone was once a noob. Join today and take your game to the next level.

Featured Poker Strategy Articles

Our curated collection of the best strategy articles from top FTR members!

soupie’s Win MTT Poker Chapter 1

insights on winning multi-table tournaments (MTTs) in poker, emphasizing the importance of patience, pacing, and various strategies like tight play in the early stages, emotional control, and playing within one’s financial and emotional means

No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw Strategy (Part 1): The Basics

If you like game theory or just learning to read opponents well, then no-limit 2-7 single draw is a game that you will absolutely love.

Running it Twice: The Ultimate Guide

Looking for information on running it twice in poker? In our ultimate guide we explain what it is, show examples, and give our advice on when you should and shouldn’t run it twice, and more.

ISF – Forming Ranges

delves into the concept of forming hand ranges in poker, explaining that understanding the rationale behind your hand choices can help you self-repair leaks in your game

Chardrian’s Guide to Live Small Stakes Limit Poker (Part 1)

first part of a guide to playing live small stakes limit poker, sharing the author’s personal journey from law school to becoming a full-time poker player

Bankroll Management 101

Our bankroll management calculator will tell you what buy-in level for cash games, SNGs, & MTTs you should play with your current bankroll!

Latest Poker Strategy Articles

Learn from fellow FTR members!

[FTR Quick Tip 008] Slowplaying Flopped Monsters

[FTR Quick Tip 008] Slowplaying Flopped Monsters

the strategic value of slowplaying strong hands in no-limit Hold'em cash games, highlighting that while it can maximize value from concealed monster hands, inappropriate slowplaying can be costly, and players should recognize the right situations to deploy this tactic effectively
ISF – Forming Ranges: Part 2

ISF – Forming Ranges: Part 2

the complexities of forming postflop hand ranges, emphasizing the importance of strategically grouping hands to maximize profitability, understanding the interplay between hands within a range, and making informed decisions based on the strength and potential of hands relative to an opponent's range
The ABC’s of Continuation Betting

The ABC’s of Continuation Betting

C-betting is something you should routinely be doing when the flop misses you. You need to take into account your position, the number of opponents on the flop, your hand and other factors when deciding whether or not to make a continuation bet.
No Limit Texas Hold’em Rules

No Limit Texas Hold’em Rules

a guide to the rules of No-Limit Texas Hold'em, covering the game's structure, betting rounds, and special scenarios like "going all-in" and "side pots," while also highlighting key differences between online and live poker
FTR SNG Strategy: Maximizing value in HU situations Part 3

FTR SNG Strategy: Maximizing value in HU situations Part 3

Heads-up play in a Sit and Go tournament is different from normal play at a larger table. Your ranges will need to be very wide. By winning more than your fair share of HU duels, you'll be able to increase your ROI and profits in any SNG especially multi-table SNGs.
Order of Winning Poker Hands – Razz

Order of Winning Poker Hands – Razz

In Razz Poker, also known as Bizarro Stud, players aim to make the lowest possible hand to win, with the best hand being the Wheel (Ace-to-Five straight) and suits being irrelevant
While Waiting Poker Tells

While Waiting Poker Tells

insights into reading opponents' body language and actions when it's your turn to act in a poker game, covering topics like identifying potential openers, raisers, and bluffers, as well as understanding subtle cues that can indicate a player's intentions
Double or Nothing SNG Advanced Strategy – Early Stages

Double or Nothing SNG Advanced Strategy – Early Stages

early-stage strategies for Double or Nothing Sit & Go poker tournaments, emphasizing the importance of tight pre-flop card selection, understanding the implications of the Independent Chip Model (ICM) when considering all-in confrontations, and the challenges of playing small to medium pocket pairs due to the tight nature of general DON players
Building Your Bankroll

Building Your Bankroll

Even if you’re an experienced player, you should still give some thought to how you can build your bankroll so you can move up in stakes and increase your winnings. From avoiding tilt to taking advantage of bonuses and rakeback, this article gives meaningful advice about building your bankroll.
Radashack’s MTT Tournament Advice Part 2

Radashack’s MTT Tournament Advice Part 2

the psychological and strategic aspects of multi-table poker tournaments, emphasizing the significance of understanding one's motivation, mastering the art of misdirection, recognizing signs of strength and weakness, overcoming various forms of fear, and the importance of consistent aggression
FTR SNG Strategy: Navigating the bubble Part 3

FTR SNG Strategy: Navigating the bubble Part 3

Bubble play in multi-table SNGs is often fraught with peril. If you play either too loose or too tight, you're throwing away equity. You need to think carefully to identify who you can exploit and how to avoid being exploited by others.
Salsa4evers PLO Hand of the Day

Salsa4evers PLO Hand of the Day

detailed analysis of a Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo hand played by Salsa4ever, discussing the strategic decisions made at each stage of the hand, from pre-flop to the river, with insights on betting patterns, hand strengths, and the implications of board texture
Tilt and Why

Tilt and Why

the psychological aspects of tilt in poker, highlighting how humans inherently link failure with self-worth, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and managing these emotions in real-time during poker games to prevent irrational decisions and maintain optimal gameplay
Heads-Up: The Ultimate Art

Heads-Up: The Ultimate Art

Heads-up is, without a doubt, my favorite way to play. It's a true test of your poker skills, and the best way to improve your game. While it may be nearly impossible to find a one-on-one table in a brick and mortar card room, online clients offer it as a regular staple.
Bless the Beats

Bless the Beats

how to handle and recover from poker losses, emphasizing the importance of taking breaks, reflecting on gameplay decisions, avoiding sharing bad beat stories, maintaining a positive attitude, and the significance of resilience and returning to the game with renewed focus

Poker Charts & Poker Odds Articles

Understand poker math.

Calculating Pot Odds in Texas Holdem

Calculating Pot Odds in Texas Holdem

Pot odds are something that every poker player must become familiar with. You need to learn how to use the size of the pot, the size of the bet facing you and the number of outs you have to determine if you can profitably call. After you've mastered pot odds, move on to implied odds.

Poker Editorials About Whatever

Just for fun!

The $6,000,000 Poker Player

The $6,000,000 Poker Player

by combining the skills and attributes of various top players, one can conceptualize the ultimate poker player, with attributes such as the fundamentals of Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, the aggression of Phil Ivey, the creativity of Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, and the hand-reading abilities of Phil Galfond

What is FTR?

Online since 2003!

Hi, I’m Tyler and welcome to FTR! If you’re new to FTR, this is what we’re all about in a nutshell – to help the average Joe become a winning, profitable Texas Holdem poker player and to provide an active, friendly, and intelligent online poker community.

Flop Turn River.com has been around since 2003, when I started to seriously learn and play online Texas Holdem. My real education began in 2003 (even though I had played poker and holdem casually for many years), studying poker books, reading whatever online materials I could find, and eventually, joining and playing at an online poker room. My online poker adventure would begin on an impulse late one Saturday evening, after seeing a random Paradise Poker commercial on TV. I opened an account, deposited some money, and began to play Texas Holdem online for the first time. It was absolute thrilling! At Paradise Poker, I started playing the $.50-$1.00 Limit Texas Holdem poker game.

As a brand new player to the online poker world, I was a pretty easy target. A “fish” you could say. A student of Sklansky’s books, my poker education started and developed in the low stakes Limit Texas Holdem ring game where I eventually developed into a break-even player …after dropping a bankroll of $700.

But then I began experimenting with other variations of Texas Hold’em. I moved from the low stakes Limit Texas Holdem ring game to Limit Texas Holdem tournaments at Paradise Poker. I played $10 Limit Sit-n-Go Tournaments (10 player tournaments), and started having a lot more fun playing Texas Holdem, but was still just a break-even poker player, even in this form of Texas Hold’em.

I then switched from Limit Sit-n-Go’s to the No Limit Sit-n-Go Tournaments, where I enjoyed greater success, graduating to a slightly winning poker player. I started to develop a No Limit Texas Holdem strategy that was working for me. I moved my game to UltimateBet (remember these assholes?!), to take advantage of the new user bonus, and here I finally migrated my poker game to the No-Limit Texas Holdem ring game variation. I practiced my no limit texas holdem strategies at UltimateBet’s low stakes $.10-$.25 tables, while earning some free bonus dollars.

While figuring out No Limit Texas Holdem was the game for me and developing that strategy, I also learned that earning free money through initial deposit bonuses offered by the poker rooms was an easy way to pad my beginner’s bankroll. I would take my game to Party Poker, followed by Empire Poker, then ACR Poker, and would eventually join every other major online poker room in existence, taking advantage of new player bonus dollars wherever possible.

I also put in a lot of hours earning the big bonus at Bovada, where I worked off the $600 welcome bonus grinding out low stakes no limit Texas Holdem. The poker bonuses helped me stay afloat during this early period of playing.

Anyway, I would find my greatest success, and profits, playing this form of Texas Hold’em – No Limit ring games. Needless to say, by the latter end of 2003, I was a consistently profitable online Texas Holdem poker player, more than recouping my initial losses, and I’ve been tacking on poker profits ever since. I’ve been a profitable online poker player since September of 2003, and had a stretch of 18 profitable months in a row. These days I’ll play any No Limit Holdem table with buy-in’s up to about $1,000, and when playing online I prefer to multi-table four tables at a time.

Becoming a winning poker player, in my opinion, was not that difficult. It took some time, it took the right variation of Holdem poker that I was most competent, and over a $700 bankroll in my case, but at the end of the learning experience, I developed a No Limit Texas Holdem strategy that would prove to give back so much more. Eric helped me publish the little poker knowledge I had to share with other players, and so begain our little online Texas Holdem strategy website. Solid and useful no limit holdem strategies and discussions were hard to come by back then, so we delivered our own, and if you’re a losing poker player, the strategies on this website will undoubtedly help you.

FTR has become so much more than my personal no limit Texas Holdem strategy site since then – FTR is now a strategy and discussion site for all forms of Texas Holdem. In fact, FTR is anything and everything about poker. Strategies, tips, advice, and tactics were the foundations of FTR, but you can find good reads on a wide range of other poker subjects – especially in the depths of our very active and exciting Poker Forum.

First off, if you are new to FlopTurnRiver.com, be sure to visit our Beginner Poker section to help get you acquainted with FTR, Texas Hold’em, and poker in general. Then browse around our articles, study are Poker Strategy essays, become a part of our friendly Poker Community. And then play some poker. Nothing beats experience when it comes to developing your poker game. Visit our Poker Room Reviews, utilize our great poker bonus codes. Drop by our Poker Forums and let us know your progress – we are always willing to talk shop and help players out. The members here range from beginner players brand new to poker all the way up to seasoned professionals, so no matter what level you’re at, you can feel right at home.

Online poker is a profitable pastime. And so much fun!

Our goal is to help expedite your holdem strategy development by offering our strategies and advice…for free. All it takes is the right learning materials, the right feedback, and accumulating experience by playing hands and hands of poker. Now go study, play some poker, and make some money. Thanks for visiting FTR, and we’ll see you at the tables!

– Tyler “Tatonka” D.