Poker Strategy
FTR will turn you into a winning poker player!
Welcome to FTR’s Poker Strategy section! We currently have 508 free Poker Strategy articles in our ever growing archive.
These strategy articles contain as much information as you would find in multiple poker books – for free! Make sure you take advantage of this free poker strategy and poker training, on all of the topics shown below. Whether you’re a beginner, seasoned professional, cash game grinder, or tournament specialist, there is something to help take your game to the next level.
FTR has been featured by many poker websites and magazines over the years. In Bluff Magazine, Lee Jones mentioned that FlopTurnRiver.com has absolute golden information you can use to improve your game. Poker pro Chris “Wallace” Fox also recommended FlopTurnRiver.com as a free poker training site in Poker Pro Magazine. We also have many reader testimonials from our members saying FTR made them a winning poker player.
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Categories in Poker Strategy
Beginner Poker
112 Articles
Basic strategy concepts to teach new players how to play poker.
Cash Games
58 Articles
When the value of your chips actually means something.
Heads Up
6 Articles
Learn how to battle and beat your opponents, mano y mano.
Limit Hold'em
38 Articles
Strategy articles that help you bet, raise, 3-bet, and cap your bets.
Live Poker
38 Articles
Learn how to transition from online play to your local casino.
MTT
35 Articles
We teach you how to make the final table and lock up a big score.
No Limit Hold'em
182 Articles
What are the two most powerful words in poker? I’m all-in.
Omaha
14 Articles
When two cards just aren’t enough.
Open Face Chinese
4 Articles
Learn how to get those Queens up top for Fantasy Land.
Poker Dictionary
1,236 Articles
Learn the lingo and terms used by poker players.
Poker Psychology
67 Articles
The power of the mind in poker: There is no spade.
Poker Rules
14 Articles
The rules of the road. Learn how to play various forms of poker.
Poker Tools
37 Articles
Improve your game by learning how to use the tools of the trade.
Poker Videos
98 Articles
Watch and learn from the best in the world.
SNG
41 Articles
For the players who only have two decisions, shove or fold.
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Featured Poker Strategy Articles
Taking the Next Step
In poker, it’s important to keep improving your game so that you can move up in stakes. By carefully considering bankroll management, studying the player pool at your new level and approaching the bigger game with the right mindset, you can increase your chances for success.
How, Why and When to Double Barrel in No-Limit Hold’em
In this week’s column, we look at tons of different ideas that govern how, when and why to double barrel on the turn in no-limit hold’em games.
Beating 6 Max No Limit Holdem by Sauce123
Six-max poker tables offer excitement but require a different style of play than full-ring games. You will want to remain reasonable with your opening ranges, but three-bet liberally. You should c-bet a lot, but be more cautious on future streets.
Spenda’s 5 Biggest Leaks of a Losing NL Player – Leak 1
If you’re a losing No Limit Hold’em player, then you probably have big leaks in your game. Always remember to consider the value of position at all times. Another thing that losing players have a problem with is controlling the size of the pot.
The Psychology of Losing
You can’t win every hand or tournament when playing poker. But an extended losing streak can often have severe emotional repercussions that may compound over time, causing you to lose even more. Learn how to break out of the cycle and start winning again.
Bankroll Management 101
Bankroll Management Calculator The above tool will help determine which buy-in level you should be playing at, based on the size of your current bankroll. It will give you 3...
Most Recent Articles in Poker Strategy
Bless the Beats
It’s never easy to shrug off a losing session. We’ve all taken our share of beats, both good (if there is such a thing) and bad. Sometimes, they can effect us so deeply that they permanently alter the way we play. But, even in the midst of these trying ordeals, there are lessons to be learned. Each hand we lose becomes a teaching opportunity, and the careful student of the game will gather up these bits of knowledge like so many invisible chips. Here now are some of the best ways I’ve found to recover from a rough stretch at the tables.
NLHE Foundations #04: Putting Opponents on Pre-Flop Ranges (Part 1)
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 there's private content and...
How to Put Your Opponent on Tilt
These are extraordinary methods, and work best in live games. Getting an opponent on tilt is a lot more rewarding in lives games, too. There's nothing like the grunts, facial ticks, and the defensive "What the hell bro?!" of an on-tilt, chip-bleeding,...
Playing No Limit Hold’em Games with an Ante
One of the recent trends in online poker is the introduction of No Limit Hold’em cash games with an Ante. Major sites such as FullTilt, UB (formerly UltimateBet), and Absolute Poker have added these games to their lobby looking to attract more players. Ante games tend...
Chip Stack/Stacking Poker Tells
There are many tells you can gain on your opponents even before you see them play a pot. How they stack their chips can give you some clues on how they are going to play. If you notice their chips are neatly stacked, and organized, you can probably assume they will be...
Texas Holdem Expected Value Hand Charts – 3 Players
Below is a table of Texas Holdem starting hands, ordered by their Expected Value (EV) in a 3 player holdem game. These statistics were produced by using millions of hand histories to compute the following results....
When the Game is Good……
When things are good at the table, you are winning money hand-over-fist! The key to keeping this rush or lucky streak going is to keep playing for as long as possible! Don’t set an end-time or pre-set a certain amount of winnings that will trigger the end of your session – just keep grinding!
7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Rules
7 Card Stud Hi/Lo is an exciting variant on normal 7 Card Stud play. In this split-pot format, players can win the high half of the pot, the low half of the pot or scoop the entire pot. Beware of getting quartered though! It can be costly.
Making Our Strategies More Robust and Avoiding Auto-Pilot
You shouldn’t play the same way against all opponents. By considering how strong or weak you want your ranges to be in certain poker situations, you can get the best of your adversaries. Learn how to modify your default ranges for increased profits.
No Deposit Poker Bonuses
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...
Exploring Open-Limping Pre-flop
We want to take a deeper look at open-limping pre-flop to see if it’s really as bad as its reputation in no-limit hold’em.
The Math of Poker
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 mathematically, and prove that those people...
soupie’s Win MTT Poker
I recently found this site and thought I would post a few thoughts. I play on Party, Paradise, and Stars in the largest MTT no limit tourneys available after 6:00 pm PST most nights under this name. I especially like the 8:00 pearl and 6:00 R&A on Paradise, the...
No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw Strategy (Part 5): Post-Draw With Draws
Check out all of the factors that go into post-draw play with drawing hands and how they affect range distributions.
Going After Multi Tablers
I wrote an article on FlopTurnRiver a couple of weeks ago about the merits of multi-tabling. I feel that there are deeper strategic consequences behind what was in that article. With poker there is an almost pendulum like motion with regards to what tactics and...