Learn Poker Strategy

40 Free Poker Strategy Lessons, Each One A Complete Answer To A Single Question With The Chart Or Table On The Page. Nothing Is Behind A Sign In: Read The Answer First, Then Practise It In The Matching Training Game.

The Preflop Charts Come From The Smarter.Poker Preflop Reference, An Authored Teaching Reference For Six Handed Cash At One Hundred Big Blinds, Not A Solver Export. Every Other Number Is Worked Out On The Page.

Preflop

Opening Ranges By Seat, Big Blind Defence And Three Bets, With Every Chart As A Table.

  • Preflop Opening Ranges By PositionIn 6 Max Cash At 100 Big Blinds, Opening Ranges Widen As The Seat Moves Toward The Button: In The Smarter.Poker Reference The Under The Gun Seat Opens 8.4% Of Hands By Frequency And The Button Opens 25.2%.
  • UTG Opening Range In 6 Max CashIn The Smarter.Poker 6 Max Cash Reference At 100 Big Blinds, The Under The Gun Seat Opens 8.4% Of All Starting Hands By Frequency And Plays 13.6% Of Them At Least Some Of The Time, With The Full Chart Below.
  • Middle Position Opening Range, 6 MaxIn The Smarter.Poker 6 Max Cash Reference At 100 Big Blinds, The Middle Position Seat Opens 10.9% Of All Starting Hands By Frequency And Plays 17.3% Of Them At Least Some Of The Time, With The Full Chart Below.
  • Hijack Opening Range In 6 Max CashIn The Smarter.Poker 6 Max Cash Reference At 100 Big Blinds, The Hijack Opens 13.2% Of All Starting Hands By Frequency And Plays 20.5% Of Them At Least Some Of The Time, With The Full Chart Below.
  • Cutoff Opening Range In 6 Max CashIn The Smarter.Poker 6 Max Cash Reference At 100 Big Blinds, The Cutoff Opens 16.8% Of All Starting Hands By Frequency And Plays 24.9% Of Them At Least Some Of The Time, With The Full Chart Below.
  • Button Opening Range In 6 Max CashIn The Smarter.Poker 6 Max Cash Reference At 100 Big Blinds, The Button Opens 25.2% Of All Starting Hands By Frequency And Plays 40% Of Them At Least Some Of The Time, With The Full Chart Below.
  • Small Blind Opening Range, 6 MaxIn The Smarter.Poker 6 Max Cash Reference At 100 Big Blinds, The Small Blind Opens 20.7% Of All Starting Hands By Frequency And Plays 33% Of Them At Least Some Of The Time, With The Full Chart Below.
  • How To Defend The Big BlindAgainst A 2.5 Big Blind Button Open The Big Blind Needs Only 27.3% Equity To Call, And The Smarter.Poker Reference Defends By Three Betting 7.2% Of Hands And Calling 11.2%, With The Full Chart Below.
  • What To Do When You Face A 3-BetFacing A Three Bet After Opening, Most Of An Opening Range Folds: In The Smarter.Poker Reference A Button Opener Four Bets 4.1% Of All Starting Hands And Calls 3.2%, And An Under The Gun Opener Four Bets 2.9% And Calls 1.6%.
  • 3-Bet Sizing In Position And OutA Common Guideline Is To Three Bet To About Three Times The Open When You Will Have Position After The Flop And About Four Times When You Will Not, Because The Player Out Of Position Needs A Bigger Pot To Make Up For Acting First.
  • Opening Ranges With 20 Big BlindsWith 20 Big Blinds The Smarter.Poker Reference Opens The Button With 21.4% Of Hands By Frequency, Against 25.2% At 100 Big Blinds, And The Chart Below Shows Every Hand.

Postflop

Continuation Bets, Check-Raises, Board Texture And Stack To Pot Ratio.

  • Continuation Betting: When To C-BetA Continuation Bet Is A Bet On The Flop By The Player Who Raised Before It, And It Works Best On Boards That Favour The Raiser's Range: A One Third Pot C-Bet Needs To Win The Pot Only 25% Of The Time To Profit As A Pure Bluff.
  • How To Check-Raise In PokerA Check-Raise Is Checking And Then Raising When Your Opponent Bets, And It Is One Of The Most Powerful Lines Available To The Player Out Of Position: Raising A One Third Pot Bet To 110 Into 100 Needs To Work 45.3% Of The Time As A Pure Bluff.
  • How To Read Board TextureBoard Texture Describes How Connected And Suited The Community Cards Are, And It Decides Which Ranges The Flop Favours: A Dry Board Such As K 7 2 Of Three Suits Changes Little From Street To Street, While A Monotone Flop Already Gives 45 Of The 1176 Possible Two Card Hands A Made Flush.
  • Stack To Pot Ratio (SPR) ExplainedStack To Pot Ratio Is The Effective Stack Behind Divided By The Pot On The Flop, And It Tells You How Committed A Hand Is: At 100 Big Blinds A Single Raised Pot Starts The Flop Near An SPR Of 17.7, A Three Bet Pot Near 5.6 And A Four Bet Pot Near 1.9.

Math

Pot Odds, Defence Frequencies, Outs, Combinations And Expected Value, Worked Out.

  • Pot Odds: How To Know If A Call PaysPot Odds Compare The Price Of A Call With What It Can Win: Facing A Half Pot Bet You Must Put In One Unit To Win Three, So A Call Needs 25% Equity To Break Even.
  • Minimum Defense Frequency (MDF)Minimum Defense Frequency Is The Share Of Your Range You Must Continue With So A Bluff Cannot Profit Automatically: Against A Pot Sized Bet It Is 50%, And Against A Half Pot Bet It Is 66.7%.
  • How Often A Bluff Must WorkA Pure Bluff Breaks Even When It Works As Often As The Bet Divided By The Pot Plus The Bet: A Half Pot Bluff Needs 33.3% Folds And A Pot Sized Bluff Needs 50%.
  • Counting Outs And The Rule Of 2 And 4An Out Is A Card That Improves Your Hand To The Likely Winner; From The Flop, 9 Outs Hit By The River 35% Of The Time, And The Rule Of 4 Estimates That As 36%.
  • Counting Poker Hand CombinationsEvery Pocket Pair Has 6 Combinations, Every Suited Hand 4 And Every Offsuit Hand 12, For 1326 Starting Hands In All, And Cards You Can See Remove Combinations From Your Opponent's Range.
  • Expected Value (EV) In PokerExpected Value Is The Average Result Of A Decision If You Could Repeat It Forever: Calling 50 To Win 150 With 30% Equity Is Worth 10 Chips A Time On Average, Even Though It Loses Most Of The Times You Make It.
  • Implied Odds: When A Draw Can CallImplied Odds Are The Chips You Expect To Win On Later Streets When Your Draw Hits: A Flush Draw On The Turn Facing A Half Pot Bet Needs About 56 More Chips From Later Betting, Per 100 In The Pot, To Make The Call Break Even.

Tournaments

ICM, The Bubble, Final Tables, Short Stacks, Bounties And Satellites.

  • ICM Basics: Chips Are Not MoneyThe Independent Chip Model Converts Tournament Chips Into Shares Of The Prize Pool, And It Shows That Chips Are Not Worth Their Face Value: With Half The Chips In Play And Three Players Left, A 50/30/20 Payout Gives The Chip Leader 38.39% Of The Prize Pool, Not 50%.
  • Bubble Play In Poker TournamentsOn The Bubble, Calling An All In Needs Much More Than 50% Equity Because Busting Costs Your Whole Prize Equity: In The Worked Example Below A Player With 3000 Chips Needs 72.9% Equity To Call The Chip Leader's Shove.
  • Final Table ICM StrategyAt A Final Table Every Pay Jump Turns Chips Into Money Unevenly: In The Six Handed Example Below The Chip Leader Holds 40% Of The Chips But 24.45% Of The Prize Money Left, And The Shortest Stack Holds 4% Of The Chips And 10.99% Of The Money.
  • M Ratio And Short Stack PlayM Measures How Many Orbits A Stack Can Survive Without Playing A Hand: A Stack Of 12,000 With Blinds Of 400 And 800 And An 800 Big Blind Ante Has An M Of 6, Which Is 15 Big Blinds And Short Enough To Play Push Or Fold.
  • Bounty And PKO Tournament StrategyA Bounty Lowers The Equity You Need To Call An All In, Because Busting The Player Wins You The Bounty As Well As The Pot: Calling 20 Big Blinds Into 21.5 Needs 48.2% Equity Alone, And 38.8% If You Value The Bounty At 10 Big Blinds.
  • Satellite Tournament StrategyIn A Satellite Every Seat Pays The Same, So Once You Have Enough Chips Extra Chips Are Worth Almost Nothing: In The Example Below The Chip Leader Already Has A 98.8% Chance Of A Seat And Would Need 78.6% Equity To Call An All In From The Third Stack.

Cash

Rake And Straddles, And What They Do To Your Strategy.

  • How Rake Affects Your Win RateRake Is The Fee A Cash Game Takes From Each Pot, And Because It Is Capped It Costs Small Pots The Most: In An Example Structure Of 5% Capped At 3 Big Blinds, A 10 Big Blind Pot Pays 0.5 Big Blinds And A 100 Big Blind Pot Pays Only 3, Which Is 3%.
  • How To Play In Straddle GamesA Straddle Is A Voluntary Blind Raise Before The Cards Are Dealt, Usually Twice The Big Blind, And It Makes Every Stack Effectively Shallower: 100 Big Blinds Facing A 2 Big Blind Straddle Is Only 50 Straddles Deep.

Bankroll

Buy In Guidelines For Each Format And The Risk Of Ruin Behind Them.

  • Bankroll Rules For Cash GamesA Common Guideline For No Limit Cash Games Is To Keep 20 To 50 Buy Ins For The Stake You Play, Because Even A Winning Player Can Lose Many Buy Ins In A Row: At The Example Win Rate Below, 20 Buy Ins Still Carries A 13.5% Risk Of Going Broke.
  • Bankroll Rules For TournamentsA Common Guideline For Multi Table Tournaments Is To Keep At Least 100 Buy Ins, And More For Large Fields, Because Most Entries Finish Outside The Money And A Winning Player Can Go Hundreds Of Tournaments Without A Big Score.
  • Bankroll Rules For Sit And Goes, SpinsA Common Guideline For Single Table Sit And Goes Is 50 To 100 Buy Ins, And For Lottery Style Spin Games With Random Prize Multipliers Many Players Keep 100 Or More, Because A Large Share Of The Prize Money Sits In Multipliers That Come Up Rarely.
  • Risk Of Ruin: How Much Bankroll Is EnoughRisk Of Ruin Is The Chance Of Losing A Whole Bankroll Before Your Edge Shows, And It Falls Fast As The Bankroll Grows: At The Example Win Rate And Standard Deviation Below It Is 13.5% With 20 Buy Ins And 0.67% With 50.

Mental Game

Tilt, Variance And Judging Decisions Instead Of Results.

  • How To Control Tilt At The Poker TableTilt Is Any Emotional State That Makes You Play Worse Than You Know How To, And The Most Reliable Control Is A Plan Decided Before The Session: Warning Signs You Watch For, A Break You Take When They Appear, And A Stop Rule You Do Not Argue With.
  • Poker Variance And How To Survive ItVariance Is The Gap Between What Your Decisions Earn On Average And What Actually Happens, And It Is Large: At The Example Win Rate Below, A Winning Player Still Finishes 10,000 Hands Behind About 31% Of The Time.
  • Results Oriented Thinking In PokerResults Oriented Thinking Is Judging A Decision By How The Hand Turned Out Rather Than By Whether It Was Right, And It Teaches Bad Lessons: A Player Who Gets All In With 80% Equity Still Loses 20% Of The Time And Should Make That Play Every Time.

Theory

Game Theory, Mixed Strategies And Blockers.

  • GTO Versus Exploitative PokerA Game Theory Optimal Strategy Is One No Opponent Can Beat In The Long Run, And An Exploitative Strategy Deliberately Departs From It To Win More Against A Specific Opponent's Mistakes; Strong Players Learn The First As A Baseline And Use The Second In Practice.
  • Mixed Strategies And FrequenciesA Mixed Strategy Plays The Same Hand In More Than One Way At Set Frequencies, So That Opponents Cannot Tell Which Action A Hand Will Take: In The Smarter.Poker Preflop Reference, For Example, A5s Is Opened From Under The Gun 52% Of The Time And Folded The Rest.
  • Blockers: How Your Cards Change TheirsA Blocker Is A Card In Your Hand That Makes Certain Hands Impossible Or Less Likely For Your Opponent: Holding One Ace Cuts Your Opponent's Ace King Combinations From 16 To 12, Which Makes Some Bluffs And Calls Better Than They Look.

Free To Play. 18+. No Real Money Gambling. Chips And Diamonds Have No Cash Value.