by FTR Poker Admin | Aug 3, 2022 | Beginner Poker
In last week’s edition, we looked at some very simple basics for 3-bet bluffing before the flop. We focused primarily on how new players could start to open up their 3-betting without feeling like they were getting in over their heads. We’re going to...
by FTR Poker Admin | Aug 2, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Featured Beginner Poker, Featured Poker Psychology, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
chardrian’s Beginner’s List of Poker Leaks I have decided to use my power as god of this section to stickify myself. I wrote this post as somewhat of a checklist to keep in mind when playing MTTs, but the majority of the points can be used in any game. Ok,...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 31, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
I just went through a maddening circle that wasted 3 weeks of my hard work, and nearly washed my entire bankroll down the drain… Hopefully I can give a little insight to prevent someone from going through the same thing… Just a side note, I play the 6 max...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 30, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
Imagine yourself sitting at a crowded poker table, blinded down to your last few chips, all-in on a near unbeatable hand. “Two more,” you think, “two more double-ups and I’ll be back to even.” Then, on the the river, your opponent nails a...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 30, 2022 | Beginner Poker
One of the problems with studying poker as a whole is that different poker games have different ways of dealing the cards across multiple streets. If you want to study poker on its own, then you need to have some sort of standardized model for dealing with ranges. It...
by givememyleg | Jul 30, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
The downswing, it’s inevitable, right? Well, it’s inevitable that you can’t win every hand and when you lose more hands than you should over a sample of, say 10,000 hands, the downswing is born. Here is a picture of a downswing. Notice the up, up and...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 30, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
Introduction This is part four in the NLHE Foundations Series. I’ve designed this series to give players a clear path from the beginner to intermediate levels in no-limit hold’em. There’s a lot more to this series than these posts because...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 29, 2022 | Beginner Poker
Introduction This is the sixth part of the free NLHE Foundations Series that I’m running here on FTR. This series is designed to give you a very clear set of tools that will teach you how to study what will really make you a better NLHE poker player. If you want...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 27, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
In one of the very first editions of this weekly strategy column, I discussed the importance of being able to break down situations to a basic level to look at how they work. We’ve looked at a lot of theory-heavy material since then, and as I mentioned in last...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 27, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
In last week’s article, we looked at the basic ideas that govern game theory in poker on a conceptual level. This week, we’re going to start to look at practical applications of game theory in ways that you can apply to your game right away. To make this...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 27, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
It’s one of the scariest feelings in poker – You’ve just lost a huge pot to a three-to-one underdog and given up most of your stack. As you watch the opponent sort your chips and integrate them into his pile, a sickening realization creeps up on you…...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 26, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
This is the third installment in the No-Limit Hold’em Foundations Course. Before you read this lesson, you should have completed lesson 1 and lesson 2, and this includes doing the exercises and posting them in the forum threads for each lesson. Also make sure to...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 26, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
In Razz Poker, sometimes also known as Bizarro Stud, it can be confusing to the beginner to know what beats what. Unlike standard poker in which the best hand usually forms something nice, like two cards of the same rank together with 3 cards of the same rank to form...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 26, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, Limit Hold’em, Poker Strategy
One of the hallmarks of a good solid reg is the ability to be precise with bluffing at all stages of the hand. In heads up and three way situations precise bluffing can significantly add to a player’s bottom line. You need to be on the lookout for opportunities...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 26, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
If you were to ask this question to any player who is a successful multi-tabler, then they would probably laugh you out of the room. Anyone who successfully plays multiple tables and plays them very well without making stupendously dumb plays and who makes good money...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 24, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
There are many things you can do to increase your poker skill and you should do them. However, it is unlikely that you will do anything between now and your next poker session that will dramatically increase your skill. Reading the right books, studying some articles,...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 24, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
The Most Important Series I’ve Ever Written Back in late 2013, I wrote a five-part series that did something that I still think is pretty incredible: I taught a process for doing complex expected value (EV) calculations without requiring any kind of advanced...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 24, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
Most players who are new to online poker will start at the lowest stakes possible, commonly known as “Microstakes”. In general, microstakes are considered to be any poker stakes up to $0.10/$0.25 blinds in NL and $0.50/$1.00 in Limit games. The concept of...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 23, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
In Part 1 of this series we looked at the more popular non-Hold’em games including Omaha and the Stud variations. In Part 2 we looked into draw games which are in fact more popular in live settings than they are online. There are a few more games to touch on...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 23, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Featured No Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
I feel like tons of the noobies in the BC have serious misconceptions about microstakes poker. Here are a few I’ve seen lately. 1. The micros are just too fishy to be beat for any decent win rate. 2. The micros are too hard to be beat since UIGEA. 3. The FTR...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 23, 2022 | Beginner Poker
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at an introduction to game theory in poker with a special emphasis on avoiding math. We have been looking extensively at a very specific type of situation over the past couple of weeks where a player bets all-in on the...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 23, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Omaha, Poker Strategy
As the No-Limit Texas Hold’em games continue to get harder post-UIGEA it is only natural for players to branch out into other forms of poker looking for softer tables. In the past, online poker sites just offered Hold’em and Omaha; however, there are now a...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 23, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
The Fundamentals Poker players have a really bad habit of getting seduced by what appear to be fancy tactics like over-the-top bluffs, laying down big hands and making huge calls with weak hands. In an effort to emulate the professionals who they see making these big...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 21, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy, SNG
This is the fifth part of a series of tutorials teaching people how to perform expected value calculations with a minimum amount of math. Please read through the first four parts of this series before you start into this segment on tournament calculations. While the...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 21, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
We’ve all been there – short stacked and blinded half into oblivion with nothing but cold cards coming our way. Then, suddenly, we look down to see queen-jack unsuited. “A monster,” we muse, and limp into the first pot we’ve played in a half hour. But when...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 21, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
Practice makes Perfect. It’s something we’ve all heard a million times. It’s meaning is obvious! What could I possibly have to add to this catchy, well-informed nugget!? Well, I have a secret: Practice does not make Perfect. Rather, Perfect practice...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 20, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games
Introduction For a long time, most strategy for beginning and intermediate players for online poker has centered around taking advantage of loose and/or passive opponents. That’s a thought process that’s modeled after the older style of “fish,”...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 20, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, Featured Beginner Poker, Featured Cash Games, Featured No Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
One seemingly simple concept in No-Limit Texas Hold’em which tends to get a large amount of discussion is continuation betting. For those unfamiliar with the term a continuation bet (c-bet) is a bet by the pre-flop raiser on the flop. The term refers to this...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 20, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
Introduction I’ve been doing the free NLHE Foundations Course here on FlopTurnRiver to give players a straight-forward path to go from the beginner levels to the intermediate levels with a mind towards being able to systematically improve over time. If you want...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 20, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
Over the past twelve months, I have been observing the lower stakes no-limit games and playing in them quite extensively including around 100k hands at NL50. I have been observing the games on Pokerloco recently which is a site that is situated on Ongame. I have been...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 19, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
Wherever you go these days, be it on poker forums, poker websites or poker magazines, you will be confronted by a myriad of information concerning how to play certain hands in certain situations. Now before I go any further, there is absolutely nothing wrong with...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 19, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
One of the biggest mistakes players make when signing up for a new poker site is failing to take advantage of bonus offers. Every site offers some sort of initial deposit bonus to new clientèle, and for those new to the game it can make the difference in having to...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 19, 2022 | Beginner Poker
Practical Play After part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series, you’ve probably seen that we’re working a lot more within the realm of what’s practical than trying to get into heavy, mathematical explanations and range analysis. This is mostly out of...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 19, 2022 | Beginner Poker
This is the first in a series of articles about building a practical understanding of game theory regarding poker. Game theory is a branch of mathematics that can be used to model and evaluate certain types of games. Poker is a natural target for this kind of thing,...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 18, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
Most of my recent blogs have been geared toward live poker. However, since we’re in an online environment, I felt that it was high time that I gave some tips and tricks to help you in the internet age. We’ve all fallen prey to the common ills of online...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 17, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
When is a good time to start Multi-Tabling? Playing multiple tables has pretty much become the norm for online poker players. Actually, it’s a necessity for serious players looking to build up a bankroll or wanting to earn some regular extra spending cash. This...
by givememyleg | Jul 17, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
In today’s world of online poker, it is extremely easy to build up a sizable cash position without ever having to make a single deposit. This proves to be an increasingly attractive alternative as many credit card companies and banks (especially in the US)...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 17, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
I have to admit, most of my articles give advice that is hard to understand. When you don’t understand preliminary concepts to the ideas of talking about, it’s almost impossible to truly understand anything I or high stakes players talk about. In later articles I’m...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 16, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
“Don’t be a Poker Pansy.” Apparently you can’t make a post in the Beginner’s Forum without attaching some cheesy phrase to it. That’s probably because most beginners are slow thinkers and incapable of comprehending anything beyond...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 16, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Live Poker, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
For many U.S. players, Black Friday has meant the end of playing poker online. For those players, the only way to currently play poker without the worry of legality or cashouts is to go to a brick and mortar cardroom and play honest to god live poker. I happen to be...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 16, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
euphoricism recently made a post entitled The biggest money-making secret in poker. https://www.flopturnriver.com/poker-strategy/biggest-money-making-secret-in-poker-19084 I’m not going to rehash it here (read it if you haven’t already – it’s...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 15, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
(This is a post I wrote a while back which I hope will be useful for newcomers to micro-stakes NL. It should be useful up to 25NL, but it’s specifically aimed at the player of a few weeks’ experience, who understands the basics, but doesn’t know much...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 15, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
A few years ago I wrote an article for a poker magazine called “coming in under the radar”. In that article I mentioned playing lower stakes games than you normally would and taking advantage of weaker players. In essence, online poker has grown up an awful lot since...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 14, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
In Part 1 of this series we looked at the more common non-Hold’em games like Omaha and the Stud variations. Now it’s time to dive into some of the more obscure games, including all of the draw variations like 2-7 Triple Draw, 2-7 Single Draw, Badugi, and...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 14, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Featured Beginner Poker, Featured Poker Psychology, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
Whether you are a cash game, tournament, or SNG grinder, putting in time at the tables is a big key to becoming a winning player. It takes hundreds of thousands of hands to become proficient at any of the poker disciplines and to do so you will have to grind. Some...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 14, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
I think that the concept of bankrolls in poker is something that is misunderstood by the vast majority of poker players. In fact I have read more opinions and articles on the subject of bankroll management and earn rates than I can remember. I find most of the...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 13, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy, Poker Tools
Poker is easy to play, difficult to win at, and downright tricky to turn a profit at. For those players looking to go from amateur to profitable, it is hard to know where to start. Well, that’s just what this list is for! Below are the top six best poker training...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 12, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
I’ve often said it myself – When given the choice, I’d rather play at the tables with seasoned veterans, or at least with players who have a good grasp of the basic game. Low-limit, people say, is too difficult, because novice players will move all-in at...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 12, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
A lot of time is spent discussing proper bankroll management. While this is an important fundamental everyone must conquer, players must also learn how to build their roll to move up in stakes. Between good play, cashing in on bonuses, promotions, and/or rakeback, and...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 11, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
I’ve been through all the ups and downs of poker. I just thought I’d share some things with some of the beginners to help them not make mistakes early on. We all make mistakes starting out and I was making the same mistakes over and over and for far too...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 11, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, Live Poker, Poker Strategy
There is a growing debate in today’s poker world over who is the best player around. Many names get offered as the best of the best but there is truly no way to know who the best Texas Hold’em player in the world is. As the game of poker has grown...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 11, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
Introduction A lot of my more recent editions of this strategy column have been centered around what could be considered somewhat advanced concepts. Ideas like exploiting opponents and handling ranges can seem out of reach when you’re just starting out in...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 11, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
I have been thinking a lot lately on self-analysis and focusing on what I need to do to become a better, more profitable player. Tournament play is a very results oriented business and the internet ranking systems and idolization that follows from it make this...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 11, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
Anosmic’s Year One post inspired me to do something for my first FTRnniversary. It’s been a great year for me, poker-wise. I started last February playing $10 SNGs and 25NL ring with a $300 bankroll and am now playing 200NL with a $8k bankroll. I’ve...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 10, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em
NLHE Foundations Course This is the first lesson in the free No-Limit Hold’em Foundations course that I’m running here on FlopTurnRiver. There’s a lot more to these lessons than what you see here. If you would like to take part in this, all you have...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 10, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
One of the biggest problems new poker players have is that they play too many hands. A simple but effective first step for new players is to learn the 19 hand strategy. This simple strategy forces the new player to exercise discipline and learn a tight game. Aokrongly...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 10, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Featured Strategy
The Fundamental Problem If you’re looking to win in poker in today’s games with the state of the industry being what it is, then you’re going to have to be on another level when compared to the competition. The only way to do this is to seek out as...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 9, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Featured Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
In a recent thread on the forums, I asked what people would like to see in this strategy column. Of the responses I received, a number of them required a basic understanding of game theory as regards poker to be able to get into. This post is going to be a jumping off...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 9, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
I’m going to try to tie this in as much as possible the points I made in my post on blind stealing, Blind Stealing 101. I think that for the people who don’t already raise behind limpers often, it will be best if they think of it as an extension of blind...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 8, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy, Poker Tools
This article is a part of a series on performance psychology regarding poker. In this week’s edition, we are going to look at some basic science behind classic conditioning and how it can be applied to your bottom line in the poker world. We’re also going...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 8, 2022 | Beginner Poker
A Critical Warning You can find part 1 and part 2 of this series in these links. Make sure you read those before you continue with part 3 here for this week which is the final edition of this column for 2014. Before you start with this week’s column on balance,...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 8, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Featured SNG, MTT, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy, SNG
I haven’t made a long post for a while, so I’ll write something down now. This post is primarily aimed at beginners, but it wouldn’t hurt for some of the veterans to read it. So, you’ve just discovered Texas Hold’em. You start playing and...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 8, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
In a post from a few weeks back, I outlined six items that I feel like cover most of the principles of performance as regards poker. In this week’s discussion, I’m going to look at the connection between points three and five on that list. We’re...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 8, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy
As you can see from my blog roll, not all of my titles are original or catchy, but I do strive for them to be accurate, and this one is most certainly accurate. We all know about this term “bankroll management”, and if you don’t, allow me to give you a brief idea of...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 8, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
This month at 100nl on PokerStars I’ve paid $0.056/hand in rake after a sample of ~50k hands. Since I get about 750 hands/hour, this amounts to about $42/hour. This is also 2.8 ptbb/100. To make sure the peoples of the Beginner’s Circle understand this...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 7, 2022 | Beginner Poker
Introduction Whether you want to call it “playing on feel” or whatever else, the fact of the matter is that practical play on a strong level is based around a higher level of abstract thought. The reason for this is simple: Poker is a very complicated...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 7, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
A lot of people get caught up thinking about what cards are going to come after the flop when they are considering a continuation bet. However, it’s usually more important to think about betting and position. When you’re considering making a continuation...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 6, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
Almost every poker site going offers some form of meaty deposit bonus. Invest a chunk of money into a site and they’ll give you the chance to earn some extra cash. However, budding players with small bankrolls may feel that they can’t take full advantage of these...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 6, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
We’ve all run across players who refuse to put their money in the pot without the benefit of premium cards. Indeed, players who wait on suited connectors, pocket pairs, or high face cards are practicing sound poker strategy, and will almost always make deep runs...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 5, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
Recently the world’s largest poker site, PokerStars, announced the way they were handling the minimum/maximum buy-in amounts at their cash game tables. This mainly affects NL/PL Hold’em as well as Pot-Limit Omaha games as shallow/deep stacks in limit games...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 4, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
I have just read a thread in which people said “poker is not all about maths,” “luck is a factor in poker,” “it is not always right to take +$EV decisions.” I am now going to show that everything in poker can be expressed...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 4, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Psychology, Poker Strategy, Poker Tools
How I used problem-solving theory to study cbets and villain profiles The problem is I suck at poker. But I’m reasonably good at problem solving. George Polya’s quintessential research studied great problem-solvers and suggested this simple format:...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 4, 2022 | Beginner Poker
A lot of my recent columns have been geared towards the intermediate crowd, and so this week we’re going to take a step back and look at a topic that a lot of beginner players have trouble with: 3-bet bluffing pre-flop. This is a critical part of today’s...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 4, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
Poker has almost as many constants as it does variables, and that is part of what makes it such an interesting game. You expect that if you play in a tight, solid fashion, the money will eventually flow to you. It may take awhile, and you may run very hot or very...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 4, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Cash Games, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
Beginners generally have trouble knowing how much to bet when they hit a hand. For the most part they know to “take away the other guy’s pot odds,” but there’s more to betting than that. Because… tell me if this happens to you… You...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 3, 2022 | Beginner Poker
Introduction During December 2014, I ran a series of articles in this column about the study of tactics vs. strategy in poker. While that series got a lot of attention from intermediate players, it left out a lot of people who weren’t really established with a...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 2, 2022 | Beginner Poker, No Limit Hold'em, Poker Strategy
The semi-bluff: know it, use it, love it. To be a poker rock star (i.e. you turn a profit!), it is necessary to have in your arsenal of moves. David Slansky defines the semi-bluff as “a bet with a hand which, if called, does not figure to be the best hand at the...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jul 2, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Poker Strategy
It’s common knowledge that the games of 2010 are much different than the pre-legislation games back in 2006. When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed nearly four years ago the games online were booming. Full of fish and with plenty of money...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jun 30, 2022 | Beginner Poker
This is the second in a series for beginning and intermediate players on building a practical understanding of game theory as regards poker. In our first edition of this series (link), we looked at how attack and defense correspond to exploitation and protecting...
by FTR Poker Admin | Jun 30, 2022 | Beginner Poker, Omaha, Poker Strategy
Pot-Limit Omaha is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of poker in the world. The game offers recreational players a lot of opportunity to gamble and gives the most experienced professional quite a big advantage in the long run. Understanding Omaha poker...
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