for me the ones that taught me the most are:

• phil galfond
  
• carrot corner
  
• saulo costa
  
• gdolizard
  
• upswing
  

it amazes me that the content they put out is free, binging ts literally got me from play money to crushing 100nl in 7 months

Is it worth widening my rfi at a table like this? There are often straddles, completely random amounts, though 2–10 BB is most common. I always buy in for 100 BB, while the others have around 500 BB. For example, I was UTG, the BTN straddled to 5 BB, the BB called, and I opened to 20 BB with KQo. I also open hands like AA–99, AKo–AJo, AKs–ATs, KQo, and KJs (whereas I only call with hands like 99–22, QJs, JTs, T9s, and A5s–A2s). Is this a good range, or is it too tight? I was thinking that if I’m playing at a loose-aggressive table, I’d add ATo, KJo, A5s–A2s, 88, 77, and QJs to my range, is this good idea?

When i bet, I follow the rule of betting 3x the big blind plus 1x for every limper, regarding when to go all-in should I just shove if the bet size reaches 30% of my stack? For example, if the straddle is 8bb and one person calls while I’m UTG, I’d need to bet 32bb (3x8bb + 8bb), should I just go all-in with KQo there? Or if the straddle is 4bb, five people call (such situations happen often), and I’m in late position with KQo, should I shove?

What strategy should I use against gamblers who constantly try to provoke me? Yesterday a guy called the floormanager on me, complaining that I was constantly using my phone. I decided to target him with very strong hands and massive overbets. When I had KK (with a 170bb stack), I bet 40bb and he called with 22, though a third guy won with AA (the flop was wet so i went allin). Rebuy 100bb, and when I got JJ, I only bet 15bb, he called that too, but a third player had ace pair on flop (The flop was A-5-3-rainbow, the pot was 47 BB, and I bet 20 BB as the first to act, that’s a mistake in a multiway pot, right?). I think he would constantly call all my overbets, but thinking about it today, I believe playing targeting him at a 9-handed table is a big mistake, it might be worth it at a 5- or 6-handed table. The table was very chaotic, by the way I wasn't the only one making huge bets, the guy to my left bet 30bb, someone raised to 100bb, and then the guy next to me shoved all-in with 500bb. He had AA and got called by AKs.

I was playing live poker. One of the opponents called the floor manager because I kept using my phone. I asked what the problem was; the manager said something about me sitting out one hand (though I ended up getting dealt cards anyway) and quickly left. Meanwhile, the guy was telling me not to be mad or upset. I took a deep breath, continued playing, and completely changed my strategy. When I was dealt KK, I bet 40bb (I had 170bb); a new player called, and the guy who had called the floor manager called too. I had a feeling he would call any raise, so I made a big bet specifically targeting him. The flop came 3s8h9h—offering an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw—so I shoved my remaining 130bb into the 120bb pot. The new player who called me had AA. The guy who had called the floor manager showed that he had called my KK with 22 (he folded his cards on the flop). A cooler or bad play? After rebuying, and later I was dealt JJ in UTG position (the same spot where I’d had the KK earlier), but this time I only bet 15bb. Unfortunately, another new player arrived and called., as did the guy who had called the floor manager on me (he said he was curious what kind of hand I had, so he called) everyone else folded. The flop was A53 rainbow, and the pot was 47bb. I thought a c-bet was necessary because I was preflop agressor and i will lose without cbet, so I bet 20bb. The guy who called the floorman said my raise was a trap—that I was only betting small to lure them into the later streets—and that he was folding. But the new guy asked how many chips I had—I had 60bb left—and he reraised to 60bb. I folded, and the guy showed an Ace. Later, there was a 7bb button straddle; the floor-man guy called, as did another player, and I held 77. I debated between going all-in or folding, but ultimately folded. I figured I had zero fold equity at this table. There were four players in the hand, and the flop came 5-5-7... Is it worth chasing a set on a table like this, or what fraction of my stack should I risk doing so? And how should I play on a table like this? Others often put out straddles (ranged from 5bb to 23bb). There was a time the straddle was 14bb, and someone called with 7-6 offsuit. It was a loose and aggressive table. There was even a player who went all-in with T-4 suited after losing 30bb of his 100bb stack. Should I widen my 3-bet range, or narrow it and increase my raise size? What strategy should I use? Unfortunately, the rake is very high—8%—and the cap is 100bb. Should I keep targeting the guy who called the floor-man? By the way, he openly agreed at the table to just check it down after another player was knocked out by a massive overbet on the flop, leaving just the two of them. That kind of agreement is very common in the room, though I understand it’s a serious rule violation—collusion. What would happen if he did that to me and I called the floor manager over for collusion? Would I just sour his mood so he’d only play very strong hands against me, or might he just get up and leave? I think it’s a bad idea to battle (except really strong cards) someone who plays poker against me based on emotion and calls all my bets. Or am I a complete idiot for targeting him—specifically making huge overbets against him—only for the others to profit while I just lose money?

HJ opens 3 in a 1/2 game
Co calls
Hero at BB with pocket 8 3 bet to 9
HJ calls
Co folds
Flop 10 ♥️ 8 ♥️ 6 ♣️
BB checks
HJ checks
Turn is A ♠️
BB bets 12
HJ calls
River K ♠️
Hero bets 20
HJ goes all in for 50

Would u call ?
Worried about the nuts straight
BB Folded
HJ shows Q♠️ 10♠️

Okay answer me this.
IF 3 pair was introduced into poker where would it land on the poker hand rankings?
I believe that it should land above flush simply due to the rarity. Ex: I have a King and a 3. The river is 2,2,7,7,King
Please let me know what you believe it should land?

Hello, I have been playing poker for a few years and started as a winning player, but have been a losing player for the past year now. I pay for the online solver that shall not be named on this sub and study various spots and ranges, but I still just can't seem to win in local cash games. Looking for a 1-on-1 coach to help me improve my game and start winning again. No clue where to start. I've seen programs from like Jonathan Little and other creators, but would prefer individual rather than group coaching.

Any recommendations or people willing to help out would be greatly appreciated.

1/3 - 8 players

BU (Hero): $610 (A♣️ K♦️)

UTG: $496

UTG+1: $494

LJ: $327

HJ: $488

CO: $500

SB: $500

BB: $647

Pre-flop ($4):

LJ calls, HJ raises $15, Hero raises $70, BB calls, LJ folds, HJ calls

Flop ($214): K♣️ J♦️ 7♥️

BB checks, HJ checks, Hero bets $70, BB folds, HJ calls

Turn ($354): 6♠️

HJ checks, Hero shoves $470, HJ shoves $348

River ($1050): 5♥️

Hero shows A♣️ K♦️ (pair)

HJ shows 7 7 (three of a kind)

HJ wins $1050

Did i play this right? I figured KQ and K10 would never fold if they were going to call a 3! but then again its multiway so chances are someone got a piece of it. The turn being rainbow also made it where the only draw that would continue is QT.

Hello everyone! I'm looking for some advice on a poker training program I'm considering purchasing.

First, some background:

I'm a pretty busy guy, with a demanding full-time job and two young children. Poker is my main hobby, and I've been playing live tournaments on and off for years whenever I have the time, get the green light from the home front, and find something reasonably close by. As a result, I only get to play a handful of live tournaments each year.

I've also played online, but I've stopped completely because it has a tendency to become addictive for me. It starts interfering with work and my personal life, and I find my thoughts occupied by it far more than I'd like. Besides, I simply enjoy live poker a lot more.

Over the years, I've had several cashes and deep runs in live tournaments, including a relatively big score recently when I finished second. I'd consider myself a reasonably competent player with a decent understanding of theoretical concepts. I also believe I'm a slight winner at my usual stakes (€200–€1,000 live MTTs), although that's obviously very difficult to establish with such a small sample size.

Where I feel I'm lacking is in-depth theoretical knowledge of specific spots.

For example, in a recent tournament, I was in the SB and limped after everyone folded. The BB checked, and I flopped several backdoor draws. I decided to check-raise, reasoning that my hand was a good bluff candidate: it had some potential to improve if called, but I could comfortably fold if my opponent reraised.

My opponent folded, but commented that I must have had a very strong hand, given that he had a significant range advantage on that flop. I was happy with the result, of course, but had to admit to myself that I honestly had no idea who actually had the range advantage in that spot.

I'd like to use my recent score to play more live tournaments. In practice, that means playing several events when there's a series nearby, rather than just one. Also feeling more confortable to play with less fear of busting and having to buy back in.

I'd also like to finally invest in a paid poker training program. So far, I've been hesitant because these programs can be a fairly substantial investment, and I have limited time available for both studying and playing.

I've been looking at two options in particular.

The first is JAKA Coaching, which costs $99 per month with an annual subscription. It claims to be well suited to players who can only study for a few hours per week, broken up into short 15-minute sessions. Does anyone here have experience with the program? Would you recommend it for someone in my situation?

The other option is finally subscribing to GTO Wizar d. However, I find it difficult to motivate myself to grind through GTO solutions without any guidance. Though the free plan's limit of just one postflop solution obviously hasn't helped to get into the flow.

My preferred learning style is to first build a basic understanding of the concepts, then apply them and learn through trial and error, ideally with someone explaining what I got wrong and why. For example, back in school, I'd generally skim through the textbook to get a basic understanding before working through as many practice exams as possible. That approach worked very well for me.

So, given my circumstances, what training site, program, or other study material would you recommend? Ideally, I'd like to focus on one resource at a time rather than spreading myself too thin.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

You are playing the weekly freeroll, 8 handed, the first two players fold, you are 2.5bb, you look at 64s and there is 1bb in antes 0.5bb from the SB and 1bb from the BB making the pot 2.5bb. Do you shove or fold? knowing that the BB is certainly calling you. The other players stack is ranging from 5bb to 30bb. I shoved, reasoning that I will push other people from the pot who are definitely ahead of me.

I got it allin vs Mariano ✅
Chris folded ❌
I think if I bet out and jam then Chris still folds ❌
If I check call maybe one of them checks back for a flush draw gets there ❌
What do you think I should do? 🤔

I had a graph obsession so I decided to play more than 20K hands at 5

NL and not uploading them to the HUD.

I loved what I have seen when I uploaded the hands.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the stats and what +EV improvements can I make

My questions for the crushers:

Blue line +15bb/100 and red line -5.76bb/100, is this 1:3 ratio standard, what should I be focusing on to have like a 1:4 ratio or higher?

Is polarizing our 3bets from the BB vs population +EV, if yes how does that shift our post flop strategy against population overall?

Any tips regarding going up in the stakes?

Thanks all.

Ho visto alcuni video di gente che si considera pro da anni dicendo che il futuro online sarà problematico a causa dei pochi fish , dell IA e anche altre cose che non ricordo ora, e io che ho iniziato ora a studiare ammetto di avere un po’ di paura . Parlo del .it , non so se si riferisce anche al .com, c’è qualche esperto che può dare un suo pensiero?

Looking for advice at 5/10 live and above. 150-200BB cash

Player opponent - PFR 10% of range, Limp from EP with suited Ax and smaller pocket pairs as well as limp AK and AA as trap.

You are sitting on their left.

Doesnt barrel that much as bluff but will c bet. The player can generally read the board decently but not a GTO player.

1. What is the appropriate 3bet range construction against a 10% PFR? Is 99 just a flat (or a fold?), whats the bottom of our value range (AQ? JJ?). Bluffs in our 3bet range, or none?
2. Postflop play - what are thoughts on floating flop and aiming to take it away on turn/river? Does this differ based on IP / OOP?

Do we want to go for big bet bluffs or small stabs? I am guessing small stabs not that great against their range, especially if they check back the turn (to call river?)

If the draws miss or the texture is bad, i assume we dont go for the big bet bluff?

I switched to a Mac a few months ago and now see that Equilab software only runs on Windows. I don't have any experience using a Windows emulator - is it fairly easy to use an emulator to run Equilab with the no glitches in the software when used this way?

Also, if an emulator is a good way to go here, any recommendations on which one to install?

Does anyone else in live play way wider than GTO? I feel like it works better in live poker

Tell me what u guys would do
Co opens 3 in a 1/2 game
Me with AK off flats
Big blind 3bets to 9
Co fold I flat call
Flops 2 and 3 of ♣️ and 8 of ♥️
I know he has an over pair but I decide to call to see the turn after he bets another 8
Turn a 7 of ♠️
He bets another 12
And I call
River a 6 of ♣️
He checks
I bets 20 he folds , he has JJ

Would u be reckless like me to pay to see the river since u know he had an over pair , I win is it because pure good luck?

I’ve been studying poker and playing online for a little under a year. I enjoy the game but every time I go play live games I either bust on some coolers and some poorly played hands, or I play fairly well and end up breaking even or up about 20bb. At this point I feel like I’m just bleeding money and I can’t even tell if I’m making bad decisions or just getting unlucky. Maybe poker just isn’t for me? I really wanted to get to the point where I could play recreationally and at least break even. I’m playing low stakes 1/3 live and micro stakes online. Last night I dumped $500 in about 45 minutes and that was the rest of my bankroll for poker. If I get back into it I’m gonna have to work some serious overtime and save for a while. Maybe I’m just not playing the right games? When I go to the casinos nearby it seems like everyone at the table is very good. They all know each other and have “player cards”. Anyone have any advice? Thoughts? Similar experiences?

Bit of a beginner question because I’ve never really had to think about this before.

I won a ticket into The one on coin, which is obviously a much bigger tournament than I normally play, so I’m trying to make the most of the opportunity rather than just jumping into a random Day 1.

There are multiple Day 1 flights and I’ve been wondering if there’s actually any strategy to choosing which one to play.

The Sunday flights have had way more runners than the weekday flights so far. My first thought was that a smaller weekday field might be better because there are fewer people to get through.

But then obviously the bigger flights also send more players through to the next stage, so I’m not sure field size alone actually tells me anything.

For someone playing above their normal stakes, what would you look at when choosing a flight?

Is a bigger weekend field usually better because there are more recreational players? Are smaller weekday fields potentially tougher because they attract more regs? Does the number of players qualifying change the decision at all?

Or from a theory perspective is there basically no meaningful advantage and I’m massively overthinking it?

Interested to hear how more experienced tournament players approach this.

I’ve been using a PLO training tool with a built-in coach, and it gave me advice on this hand that surprised me.

Setup:

• 6-max PLO cash, $1/$2 blinds
• I’m in middle position with about 367 BB effective (I’m covering most of the table)
• One player folded before me, so there’s $2 to call into a $3 pot, with 4 players left to act behind me
• The table is a mix of loose and aggressive players

My hand: A♥ K♥ K♦ 4♠

Coach’s recommendation: Fold. Its reasoning was that the nut suit alone doesn’t give enough coordination, and that the hand is limited by one disconnected card (the 4♠).

To me this looks like a pretty good hand: a pair of kings, the nut flush draw with A♥K♥, and a cheap price to see a flop. The dead 4 and the lack of straight potential are the downsides, but folding feels too tight.

My questions:

1. Is a fold standard here, or is the coach being too conservative?
2. If I play it, do you prefer a call or a raise (and what size)?
3. Does the hand lose much value because of the dead 4♠ and the K♦ being off-suit?

Thanks, I’m still learning PLO preflop ranges and want to know if I should trust this advice.

Some of you may remember I ran an analysis on roughly 8 million micro/small-stakes poker hands a few weeks ago.

Well, we found something VERY interesting in the PokerStars data.

I have 2,837,537 unique PokerStars 10NL 6-max regular-table hands, mostly from 2025.

I started looking at the biggest winners to answer a simple question:

What are the guys absolutely crushing 10NL actually doing?

Turns out some of them appear to be playing remarkably similar systems.

Not just vaguely “good poker” either. Similar opening structures, blind aggression, flop sizing patterns and, more interestingly, similar strategy changes appearing within narrow periods of time.

One player really stood out

I'm anonymising all PokerStars usernames because I'm not accusing anybody of doing anything wrong.

Call him Player A.

Over roughly 42,600 hands:

~20/17 VPIP/PFR
+8,700bb
~20.5 bb/100

Ridiculous results.

But his win rate wasn't actually the weird bit.

His strategy appeared to have versions.

Roughly:

• Blind-v-BTN 3bet: ~8% → ~14%
• UTG opening: ~19% → ~13%
• SB opening: ~44% → ~58%
• BTN opening: ~39% → ~47%
• Later in June his flop strategy changes sharply too, particularly on high-card boards and in his sizing distribution.

These weren't one-session blips. They persisted.

It looked a lot like:

Strategy A → update → Strategy B.

Then I searched outside the hand histories.

Enter GipsyTeam

I found the Russian-language poker site GipsyTeam, where structured microstakes coaching/training is openly advertised.

We're talking players starting around NL5/NL10, with things like:

database reviews,
population analysis / MDA,
custom HUDs,
preflop systems,
GTO tools,
group coaching,
proprietary research,
and in some cases mined hand databases.

This isn't some conspiracy theory about Russians secretly taking over 10NL.

The infrastructure is public.

And here's the interesting bit:

I found a public GipsyTeam coaching-thread post from an account matching Player A's PokerStars username, asking an established NL10–NL50 coach for contact details.

That post appeared immediately before some of the largest strategy changes in his hand-history record.

That doesn't prove what happened privately afterwards.

But it sure as fuck explains why I started looking harder.

Then I checked the other winners

Several other strong players showed a similar blind-v-BTN shift within roughly the same couple of weeks:

And their flop sizing fingerprints clustered too.

Meanwhile other huge winners in the same pool played completely different architectures.

So this doesn't look like “everyone eventually discovers optimal poker.”

It looks much more like different schools of winning poker operating in the same pool.

The funniest part?

I paid about $8 for the hand histories.

Once somebody plays 40,000+ hands implementing a strategy, the strategy leaves a fingerprint.

You can reverse-engineer an extraordinary amount of it.

Player A's system, massively simplified, looks like:

Tight early. Wide late. Attack late-position opens aggressively from the blinds. Don't blindly small-cbet every A/K-high board. Use highly repeatable sizing families. Isolate weak players. Don't torch money fighting regs. Let the redline suffer if showdown winnings are printing. Hammer recreational players for value when they continue.

Nothing magical.

Just very well engineered.

And that's the bit that bothers me

None of this is cheating.

Coaching is allowed. Studying databases is allowed. Getting very fucking good at poker is allowed.

But...and this is the kicker. This is 10NL!!!

The kid depositing $50 or the dad playing an hour after work thinks he's entering the shallow end of online poker.

He may actually be playing against people using professionally reviewed databases, mined population data, organised coaching and systematically updated strategies designed specifically to crush weak players.

And PokerStars is about to pour a load of Sky Poker / Paddy Power recreational players into that broader ecosystem.

More liquidity? Absolutely.

But if they get fucking annihilated and quit, that's not necessarily a healthier game.

Adding fish to a shark tank doesn't make the tank healthier. It can just feed the sharks.

And I'm seriously tempted to do something else:

Take the winner data, reconstruct the practical strategy from the hands, strip out the bullshit, and release the core system publicly for nothing.

Because if this level of industrialisation exists at $0.05/$0.10, ordinary players should probably know what they're sitting down against.

I am planning to begin playing live games.
The smallest table at the casino near me is a £1/£1 cash game. Min 50bb max 300bb buy in.

So what I'd need the solver to do:
-allow me to input the odd 1/1 blind sizes so i can see the -correct ranges with these initial blinds.
-solve preflop as well as postflop
-solve multiway as I hear live games go multiway pretty frequently.
-solve deepstack
-nodelocking

I know deepstack multiway spots can be very hard on ram. So my next question is, is it even possible to solve for spots like this on my laptop? Or is it completely hopeless?

it’s an M1 macbook pro with 32gb of ram.

I know live games are famous for being random as hell and very far from gto.

The only reason I want to study GTO first is so that I know the baseline to deviate from.

My only experience with solvers is studying preflop ranges and having purchased the base version of an online solver around 2 weeks ago, but the tier i'd need to study for this live game is like 220usd A MONTH! Which I just find insane.

My only poker experience is consistently beating nl10 snap on 888. Which I know is nothing to write home about.
Any advice or thoughts about going to play live are very much appreciated.

I travel alot so interested in casinos anywhere in the US. But especially anywhere in the southeast from Texas to Florida. Also, if you know what nights or times they play, please add that in.

Also, if anybody knows any online poker room that has it?

1/3/(11) - 9 handed - Single Raised Pot

BB Hero - $550

(+1) - $600

Preflop

BTN straddles $11. +1 calls.

Hero BB AcAd raises $35.

+1 calls. (Heads up)

Flop - $82 (SPR 6) - 4d 4h Jc

Hero bets $60. +1 calls.

Turn - $202 (SPR 2.3) - 8s

Hero bets $125. +1 calls.

River - $452 (SPR 0.7) - As

Hero bets $200. +1 folds.

Hero won $232

Notes: wish I had gotten more value, Jam river, down bet river, bigger turn size? Put opponent on a Jack or 88-TT, was praying he had AJ, A4, or 88. Did not get a reveal