Most beginners focus almost entirely on their own cards. It quickly becomes obvious that a pair of Aces or Kings, and strong combos such as A-K or K-Q, are far better than...
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Stud high-low split pot is a form of seven-card stud. It is often referred to as stud high-low, stud eight or better, or stud/8. The key difference between this game and straight...
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Have you ever bet, hoping your opponent would fold? The percentage of the time they do is your “fold equity.” The idea isn’t new, but the name is. Fold equity comes from...
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In no-limit hold'em the size of your stack of chips and those of your opponents should have a significant impact on how you play a hand. If you’re playing in a $1-$2...
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One of the oldest adages in poker - it’s one you’ve heard repeated time and time again - is that if you can’t spot the fish during your first ten minutes at...
Position refers to the order in which you act in a poker game. Your position in the betting order is critically important in Texas hold’em, and more important in no-limit than in...
Never bluffing in a poker game is resigning yourself to being a lifetime loser. You just can’t win without stealing a few pots every now and then; it’s that simple. But if...
Slow-playing disguises the true strength of your hand to bait a trap for your opponent. Perhaps you think that if you call quietly instead of raise aggressively, he’ll come out betting on...
Even first-time players knows that poker is a game of odds, and while newbies might not be able to figure them, at least they realize that there’s a relationship between the chances...
This lesson assumes that you have a solid grasp of all the fundamental concepts involved in poker. Of these concepts, understanding position is arguably the most important because you are able to...
Implied odds are important when you’re the guy on a draw who’s hoping to run down an opponent with a hand that’s currently better than yours - but only right now, not...
A theme throughout many of our poker lessons is that the actual strength of your cards is one of the last things you should think about when making a decision in poker....
There are many entertaining, wild and unique variations of poker that can be played, beyond whatexist and continue to flourish. It's highly unlikely these hybrid games will be found in a casino...
For those who aren’t very good at it, the ability to put a poker player on a hand is a tough concept to grasp, and when watching it done correctly, it appears...
When you get down to basics, the check raise is simple. You have a good hand with opponents who act after you do - a hand you strongly suspect is better than...
“What you don’t spend, you don’t have to earn,” is an adage as true at the poker table as it is outside of it. Or, to quote the oft-quoted Amarillo Slim Preston,...
Hand values in poker fall into three basic categories, two of which are quite simple to play well. There are the top premium hands, the absolute trash and then everything else in...
Back in the day when new poker players were trying to grasp the intricacies of the game, ‘marginal hands’ was a bad phrase. They were to be avoided at all costs. The...
Razz is a simple game and the objective is to make the best possible low hand. The format of this game is the same as seven-card stud high but in razz only...
Omaha is a board game similar to hold’em in so far as there is a flop, a turn card, and a river card. Learning how to play Omaha is simple if you're...
There was a time when five-card stud reigned supreme and was considered the game, but over the years it has fallen out of favour along with five-card draw for more intricate and...
Seven card stud (also referred to as 7 card stud) is similar to Texas hold’em in so far as you use your best five cards out of a total of seven to...
The key difference between full ring and shorthanded cash games involves the number of poker players. Full ring is essentially a standard poker game where nine or ten players are seated. While some poker...
Far too many players ignore flop texture when playing Texas hold’em. Why so many players ignore texture continues to amaze me. After all, a flop’s texture is free information when you’re trying...
To be a top level poker player, of any game, you must understand the concept of table image – yours and your opponent’s. Then you must learn how to exploit it. Let’s...
In this lesson we're going to focus our attention on how to play against tight poker players. Being tight or loose doesn’t necessarily refer to how somebody plays their hand, but merely...
As the game of poker evolves and educational resources (such as Pokerology) are at everyone’s fingertips, more and more players are learning to adopt an aggressive style at the poker tables. Indeed,...
One could say the turn represents the home stretch and the river the finish line. When you’ve arrived at the finish line your hand is fully realized – there are no more...
Once the flop is delivered you know 71 percent of your final hand. This lesson will focus on the turn, which produces 86 percent of your hand. Many poker pundits express the...
As poker tactics have become more aggressive, the need to adapt your play in order to stay ahead of the curve has increased. While continuation betting is not a new concept, it...
