Free Poker Strategy Articles
Our Coaches regularly submit Free Poker Strategy Articles for your reading pleasure.
Select the subject you are interested in below:
General Poker Strategy - General strategy articles dealing with the online poker industry in general. Topics include chatting at the table, problems with playing on larger sites, and more.
- The Secret Way to Beat Online Poker - Everybody is looking for that secret that will turn them into the next Phil Ivey. However, there really is a secret, and we would like to let you know what it is. There is a very simple adjustment you can make to the way you play poker that could dramatically change your results at the tables.
- Do NOT Chat at the Tables - In this article we build a case for why you should never chat at the table. There are many types of information you inadvertently give away, and this article will provide you with a comprehensive list.
- You've Found a Donkey - Now What? - This article looks into strategy adjustments needed to deal with bad players. It also covers strategy adjustments that are not needed, but a lot of players make as soon as they find a bad player.
- Multitabling - This article discusses the issues of playing multiple online poker tables. This article builds a case for why you should always play at least four tables. It also discusses a number of strategies that can help you to maximize your profits while multitabling.
- Your Opponents Know How Much You've Won or Lost - If this is news to you then this article is a must read. There are so many websites dealing with online poker, and some of them are very important to know about. You have to know what you are up against, and this article will help you to get you started.
- Switching From Live Poker To Online Poker - This article will help you adjust to online poker if you primarily play live poker. A lot of people are blown away about how different online poker is from live poker. It is very important to understand the differences between live poker and online poker in order to maximize your profitability at the online poker tables.
Basic Strategies - These strategy articles cover basic topics such as position and getting good reads at the online poker tables. We strongly recommend starting with these articles, even if you think you are advanced. If they are too basic for you then you can always move on to our advanced strategy articles
- Do you Focus Enough on your Position? - While this article appears in basic strategies it includes a reminder that almost all players badly need - stay in position. We also explain some of the mistakes players at all levels make while playing online poker. A must read for a player of any skill level.
- Tight, Loose, Passive, and Aggressive - There are four basic styles that every poker player should be familiar with: Tight Aggressive, Tight Passive, Loose Aggressive, and Loose Passive. You have to be able to categorize your opponents into these styles in order to exploit them at the tables. This article will help you learn to read your opponents well, so that you can exploit their mistakes.
- Getting Reads in Online Poker - This article offers a basic strategy for learning to get good reads in online poker. It can be tough at first to develop your online reading abilities, and this article will point you in the right direction.
- Avoiding Trouble Hands - This strategy article introduces the trouble hands - A9, KJ,QT,and others. Trouble hands are dangerous because you often catch enough of the flop that you can't fold, but not enough that you can protect your hand. The article will look into the times that trouble hands are playable, and the times you should just muck them.
- Preflop Mistakes - This article looks into the different mistakes players make preflop. The problem with preflop mistakes is that you get more opportunities to make mistakes preflop than any other street. This is because every single hand goes to the preflop round, while less hands make it to each following round. Preflop, therefore, is the most important street to be profitable at, and this strategy article will help you to plug any leaks you may have in your preflop game.
- Are You Playing Poker To Win? - This article looks into some of the plays I see on a regular basis from online poker players. It's no secret, online poker players make plays that no live player would ever make. I think the primary reason for this is that in an anonymous environment like the Internet, players are free to make whatever stupid play they want, with no consequence of being laughed off the casino floor. This article will look into some of the plays that are for the most part unique to online poker.
Intermediate Strategies - Our Intermediate strategy articles are an excellent place to start if you are looking to bring your online poker game to the next level. Topics include how to win at poker, playing aggressively, tightening your calling requirements, and a friendly reminder to stop giving your opponents free cards.
- How do I Win at Poker? - This article looks into the edges that your opponents are exploiting at the tables one by one. It's tough work to be a consistent winning online poker player. This article will look into the things that anybody who plays online poker full time does to earn a consistent living off of the game.
- Playing Aggressive Poker - All of the poker books preach an aggressive style of play. There has never been a poker book that preached a passive playing style. What does playing aggressively mean? This article will discuss the elements of an aggressive style, and the benefits you will get from switching to aggressive poker.
- Tighten Your Preflop Calling and Raising Requirements - This strategy article makes a case for why you should call less. It was originally designed as a part two for playing aggressive poker. That is, raising more than you call is the definition of aggressive poker. If you find yourself facing difficult decisions after the flop then this article will be well worth your time. By favoring pots where you have the lead in betting, and avoiding those where you are calling somebody elses raises, you will be playing solid aggressive poker, and you will win more money playing poker because you will be using a winning poker strategy.
- Don't Give your Opponents Free Cards - Giving free cards is rarely the correct play. This article presents four strategies to avoid giving free cards at the poker tables. There are four simple changes that you must make to your game to cut down the number of free cards you give your opponents. All players need the occassional reminder why they don't free cards, so that when they are in the trenches they will make the correct play.
- Bluffing - Everybody loves pulling off a good bluff. This article introduces the common bluffing techniques that are used at the poker tables. We also introduce the concept of fold equity, and show the relationship between fold equity and bluffing.
- Poker is About Small Edges - Developing a winning poker strategy takes many small adjustments. When you make an adjustment to your game, and consistently use it while you play, you will collect extra bets over time. The more profitable adjustments you make, the more money you will win at poker. This article will introduce some of the small edges players overlook at the poker tables.
- Using Fold Equity - This strategy article looks into the concept of fold equity. This article looks at the factors that have to be considered in order to judge your fold equity. These factors include your opponents playing style, the texture of the flop, the number of players in the hand, and the story you have told so far in the hand. When you consider these four factors you will find that your continuation bets and bluffs are successful much more often. You will also stop yourself from making a continuation bet or bluff when these factors are against you, which will save you a lot of bets at the poker table.
Advanced Strategies - Our Advanced strategy articles deal with the more complicated strategies that you can use to make more money at online poker. Some of the strategies in this section are very difficult to execute profitably. If you are currently struggling to break-even at the online poker tables we strongly recommend that you work through our Intermediate section. If you feel comfortable with the terminology used in those articles then you are likely ready to try some advanced moves.
- Be Invisible - This article makes a case for staying under the radar while you are playing. When people notice you, they make adjustments. For a lot of players, the longer they stay at a table, or poker site, the lower their hourly wage will go. This is because people collect more and more hands on you using statistical tracking software, and are able to adjust their strategy to counteract your style of play.
- Use A Hand Replayer - One of the greatest tools available to an online poker player is a hand replayer. Using a hand replayer you are able to review the way you play, and can learn how you actually apply the poker theory you have learned when you are in the poker trenches. This article builds a case for using a hand replayer regularly, and gives you some tips on what to watch for while you are watching yourself play.
- Bet Timing - One of the few tells available to an online poker player is bet timing. Bet timing is somewhat of a science. However, sometimes what we think is a tell is actually just an opponent being delayed because their cat knocked over their beer. This strategy article will look into both the limitations of bet timing as well as some situations where a players bet timing is a dead giveaway of their hand. Special treatment is also given to multitable players who have more than eight tables open.
Cash Games - These articles deal with ring games, and include example hands played by our coaches, or players we have coached in the past. If you play mostly cash games then this is an excellent place to start.
- Full Ring vs Short-handed Cash Games - Short-handed games are taking the online poker world by storm. I've seen a few games where there are more short-handed tables than full ring tables. However, of the players that play short-handed games very few make the required adjustments to play them profitably. In full ring games, a lot of players make adjustments that would work in short-handed games, but really have no benefits in a full-ring game. This article will help you make profitable adjustments to deal with either style.
Sit n Gos - Our coaches love Sit and Go's, as does almost any profitable online player. They provide an atmosphere where players who have the patience to deal with constant bad beats have a huge edge. The reason is that Sit and Go's are full of coolers and bad beats - moreso than cash games. The poor players go on tilt and give away their money to the more experienced poker players who understand that bad beats are part of the game. Our Sit and Go strategy articles will help you dominate online Sit and Go's.
- Six Max Turbo Sit n Go Strategies - Turbo Six-Max Sit and Gos are one of the most profitable games you can play online. There are so many players making horrendous mistakes in these. Players either under-compensate or over-compensate for the shorthanded turbo structure. This article provides a start-to-finish strategy for beating Turbo Six Max Sit and Gos. A must read for any avid Sit and Go player.
- Common Mistakes in Sit and Go's - There are seven common mistakes Sit and Go players make that cause them to lose Sit n Go's. This article will introduce these seven mistakes. They include: giving up the chip lead, trying to use fold equity to early in the game, not switching gears in time, not reading your opponents well near the end, not practicing your heads-up game enough, and not watching stack sizes as the bubble approaches.
- Keeping Your Chip Lead in Sit and Go's - This article looks into the reasons why chipleaders are constantly losing their chipleads. We have identified two main factors that cause a chipleader to bleed chips. One reason is the diminishing value of money. That is, the more money you have, the less you value each dollar. The second reason is that everybody has read somewhere that a chipleader is supposed to be a bully. While this is true, the conditions of the game can make this advice incorrect.
- Playing Sit and Go's Professionally - This article presents a strategy for playing Sit and Go's professionally on a shoestring budget. The goal is to help the average unfocused online poker player to focus their skills on beating low limit Sit and Go's, and then gradually raising the buy-in at carefully planned times. Playing Sit and Go's professionally is one of the easier ways to go pro compared to the alternatives of cash games and multi table tournaments. However, Sit and Go's are also very frustrating because you are constantly being knocked out by bad beats. If you are interested in quitting your job and playing Sit and Go's seriously then this strategy article is a must read.
Multi-Table Tournaments - Our Multi-Table Tournament articles will help you to learn how to choose the right tournament, deal with bubble play, adjust for the caliber of players in your tournament, and more. Read through our Multi-Table Tournament articles, and bring your game to the next level. Remember, avoiding one mistake in an MTT can mean the difference between going on to win that $100,000 prize for first, and being sent to the rail.
- Reducing Variance In Multi-Table Tournaments - Picking the right tournaments is an important skill, but most players don't know what to look for. This article will help you to recognize the subtle differences between different tournaments, and select tournaments that favor your style of play. This article will also help you to avoid tournaments that do not match well with your style of play.
- Heads Up - Heads Up poker is one of the most lucrative forms of poker online. With more poker sites providing heads-up tables than ever more and more people are trying their hand at heads up cash games. We also cover heads up Sit and Go's and the heads up portion of tournaments. Our Heads-Up strategy articles provide strategies for any form of heads up match you could imagine.
Psychology - Our Psychology strategy section looks into what goes on in both your head, and your opponents heads, while playing poker. Learn to control your emotions AND deceive your opponents using psychological strategies designed to add an edge to your poker game.
- Handling Bad Beats - "IT'S RIGGED!!!!!!!!" - Quoted From: Some Donkey. This article looks into the effect that bad beats have on our game. Even players who think they handle bad beats well could benefit from this article. It introduces the concept that anger causes a lack of patience, and patience as we all know, is one of the most important skills a poker player can have.
- The Winning Mindset - The winning mindset is a way of thinking that causes you to make good decisions at the poker table. This article recommends pausing before you make a call, and asking yourself whether the top 15% of the players at your limit would make that call. If the answer is no, you should fold - or you are not playing with a winning mindset. This article also discusses the difference between reading poker books, and forming good habits at the poker table.
- Grade Your Self at the Poker Tables - This strategy article is designed to make you think objectively about each session. Think back to the school teacher you had who was the hardest on you. If you handed your last poker session into them would they give you an A+, or would you fail your poker session? If you find that you sometimes have great nights, while other times you just can't seem to win, this article may give you the tools you need to objectively analyze how well you are playing.
- Play Poker With An Edge - A winning poker player is a player who wins more than they lose. However, there are a lot of times when even a winning player shouldn't be playing. Sometimes this happens when they are too tired or angry, and shouldn't be sitting down in the first place. More often, a player will sit down in the right frame of mind, but their ability to win money will gradually deteriorate during the session due to bad beats, chatting with other players, or for some other reason. This strategy article looks into the different factors that can cause you to play without the edge that you've developed so carefully.
- Stay Calm - This article looks into one of the most important qualities a poker player needs to have - patience. However, this is not a starting hand guide recommending playing tight. Instead, this article looks at the less obvious times where poker players just throw patience out the window. For example, you are dealt AA. Most players get so excited to see Aces that they forget that their stack is about to go into the middle 9 out of 10 times. You have to slow down when you get a big hand, and play twice as cautious. This strategy article will help you do just that.
Bankroll Management - Bankroll Management can be summed up in a few simple rules, but we are going to have to dedicate a whole section to it because so many players have no idea how to build their poker bankroll. The worse part is that most of these same players long for a bankroll that is immune to bad beats and tough sessions, but they don't take the basic steps to build one. These articles will help you to identify your most profitable games, to find games that you can afford to play, and to grind a small deposit into a bankroll that can survive the highest limits.
- Building A Bankroll - This article will help you build a bankroll out of a deposit of $50-$200. This is the average deposit size for most players. However, most player's make deposits of this amount 10-20 times before they ever come close to building a bankroll that gives them some flexibility. This article will present a strategy for building a small deposit into a big bankroll, and will help you to avoid some of the pitfalls most players fall into.
- Focus on ONE game, and Beat it - This article will help you discover your most profitable games. It will also help you to find your least profitable games - the games you play to the death, but end up just frustrating yourself night after night. We also look into the phenomenon that causes a winning $5/$10 player to lose consistently at lower limit games like $1/$2. Surely among all the games you play there must be one in which you fair better than the rest? This article will help you find those games.
- Poker Glossary - Our Poker Glossary defines every online poker term you could need to know, from Action to Wrap. If you need any clarification on any of the terms we use throughout our free poker strategy articles please feel free to pop over to our glossary to bring yourself up to speed on the definition. With hundreds of millions of poker players hitting the table every day poker language is evolving fast.
Tip: The Internet provides an unlimited source of Free Poker Strategy Articles. Your Poker education is never complete. Never stop learning.