Advanced Poker Strategy Articles
Popular Advanced Articles
Building Bluffing Ranges Like the Pros: A Guide to Smarter 3-Bets
Today, solid preflop strategies are part of the tournament poker zeitgeist. (Don’t worry—set-mining doesn’t make you a fish.) That said,…
How to Play Flush Turns After Check-Raising (Advanced Strategy)
As you probably know, having a well-balanced check-raising range makes you a really tough opponent to play against. The reason…
5 Advanced Poker Strategies & Tips To Supercharge Your Poker Wins
Ready for some advanced nuggets of poker wisdom that will help your game? For today’s article, I dug through Upswing’s…
All Advanced Poker Articles
ICM vs Chip Leader: How Dylan Weisman Navigates a Tough PLO Final Table Spot
In this preview from his upcoming Crushing PLO Tournaments course on Upswing, Dylan Weisman walks through a hand from a…
Play More Hands, Win More Pots: 5 Tips for PLO MTT Success
Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) tournaments are a completely different animal from No-Limit Hold’em. If you try to carry over your standard…
How Double Board Bomb Pots Actually Work (And Why Most Players Get Them Wrong)
Bomb pots have become a staple in modern poker. Whether you’re playing in private games, apps, or live settings, you’re…
Inside a $30K CGWC Pot: TaxHere vs Jasamgale Hand Analysis
The 2025 Cash Game World Championship (CGWC) has provided us with many jaw-dropping hands, with players taking lines with hands…
5 Things You Should Be Doing BvB (But Probably Aren’t)
In poker, particularly online, where blind-versus-blind (BVB) situations arise frequently, developing a strong BVB strategy is essential to maintaining a…
When Betting Bigger Is the Solver-Approved Play In Tournaments
Big hand. Big bet. Usually. In the pre-solver era, continuation betting for half pot was fairly common, if not the…
Inside a Championship Hero Call: A Street-by-Street Analysis from the 2025 CGWC
In this article, I am going to break down a big hero call that went down in the 2025 Cash…
The River Block Bet: Why Small Bets Can Be Your Biggest Edge
The river block bet is a solver-derived discovery that revolutionized poker strategy. I will break down why that is and…
5 Situations Where C-Betting Is a Big Mistake in Poker Tournaments
C-betting is super effective in MTTs, so it’s no surprise that it happens so frequently. On average, after you open-raise,…
The Next Step After Range Checking: Turn Strategy (Part 2)
In the previous article in this series, you learned that low, connected boards are best played by checking your entire…
How to Play the Turn After Range Checking the Flop (Part 1)
Some time ago, I wrote about a few spots where checking your entire range on the flop is the right…
3 Concepts That Should Shape Your Postflop Strategy
Are you familiar with positional, range, and nut advantages in poker? These concepts will help you shape your postflop strategy…
From Satellite to Chip Leader: A Day 1 Among the Poker Elite in a $26,000 Event
I am a mid-stakes MTT player. Frankly, I have no business going toe to toe with the poker elite. But…
3 Reasons Solvers Check Top Pair Out of Position in Tournaments
You flopped a pair. In fact, the strongest kind. Even the highest ranking. Now it’s time to work out exactly…
Mastering Preflop 3-Bets: Value, Bluffs, and Exploits
3-betting preflop is a fundamental strategy for winning at poker. Getting it right is also easier than ever, thanks to…
Slowplaying in MTTs: Three Spots Where It Prints Chips
Slowplaying a big hand isn’t optimal… usually. When you have a big hand, you want to make the pot big.…
MTT Survival Guide: The Right Way to Defend Against Turn Probes
Well, you checked back the flop like an intelligent, disciplined, strong poker player. But now they’re reaching for chips… They’re…
PR0DIGY vs Riggedeck: A $35,000 Hand Breakdown from the Cash Game World Championship
As we steam ahead with the 2025 Cash Game World Championship (CGWC), I am going to break down a hand…
LLinusLLove vs Kevin Paqué in a CGWC High-Stakes Showdown
We got a blast from the past in this article. Well, it’s not quite so far back in the past,…
Check-Raised the Flop? Here’s What to Do When the Turn Pairs
In the previous part of this series, we looked at how to approach unpaired brick turns. Now it’s time to…
We’re Cutting Prices for Cyber Monday (25% Off Everything)
The 2025 Black Friday / Cyber Monday Sale is over. We’ll see you 2026 with more sales and more killer…
5 Situations Where C-Betting Will Burn You
C-betting is a fundamental part of playing good, solid, winning poker. There are many situations where c-betting frequently is the…
Unleash Your Potential with Lucid Poker
This will change your poker game for the better. Lucid Poker Version 3.0 launches on November 10, offering a faster,…
5 Solver Strategies That Crush in Theory (and Crash in Real Life)
If you’ve spent any time studying with solvers, you know how powerful they are. Tools like Upswing’s Lucid Poker can…
Outplaying the Reckless Player: Mastering Turn Probes After Missed C-Bets
In the first part of the series, I covered the most common opponent type – the risk-averse player profile. In…
The Hidden Mechanics of C-Betting: Lessons from Phemo
What Is a C-Bet? A continuation bet, or c-bet, is a follow-up bet made by the player who took the…
What to Do After You Check-Raise the Flop and the Turn Bricks Out
In this part of the series, we’re going to cover how to play on blank turns. We’ll start with the…
MTT Preflop Strategy: Turning Flat-Calls from Leak to Weapon
Most losing players aren’t bleeding money because of massive, obvious mistakes. It’s the small, repeated errors that make or break…
Your Opponent Checked Back—Here’s How to Capitalize (Part I)
Over the years, I’ve mostly focused on how to play as the aggressor, particularly on the flop. That stage is…
Check or Bet? How to Build Strong Flop Check-Back Strategies in Tournaments
Let’s face it. Checking back stinks, doesn’t it? It can feel even worse than folding — the most cowardly act…
Millionaire Poker Pro Gets Tricky With Pocket Aces in $116,668 Pot (Analysis)
There’s not much better than watching two of the world’s best poker players battle it out at high stakes. The…
Doug Polk’s Wild Poker Session is a Whirlwind of Emotions
The high-stakes livestream game at The Lodge Card Club this past Sunday was epic, to say the very least. Upswing…
Trapping Top Pair with $751,073 On The Line (Final Table EPT London)
You’re at the final table of the EPT London Main Event. You’ve already outlasted over 700 players in the 5K…
Can You Exploit These 3 Poker Players?
Ready to test your exploitative poker skills? Upswing Poker’s newest course, titled Precision Poker, comes from the mind of chess…
How to Exploit Weak 3-Bettors (AKA Most Poker Players)
Upswing Poker’s newest course presents a fresh approach to poker from chess champion turned poker pro Alex Vuilleumier. In this…
3 Things That Shocked This Chess Master Turned Poker Pro
The newest course in the Upswing Poker library comes from a chess master turned high stakes poker pro. Alex Vuilleumier…
How to Play Five-to-a-Straight Boards Like a Pro
Boards with five cards to the straight can be quite confusing to play. But fear not! In this article, I…
Sneak Peek: The End Boss System with Doug Polk & Fabian Adler
Are you a serious poker player who wants to elevate your game to the highest level? Doug Polk’s brand new…
Doug Polk’s Bold Bluff Versus a Top Pro’s Pocket Aces
Preflop The blinds are $200/$400 and Doug starts the hand with $90,900 in his stack (Kevin covers). Doug raises to…
Straight Flush Draw vs Daniel Negreanu ($100,000 Duel Hand Analysis)
Doug and his longtime heads-up coach Fabian Adler have been working on a new course called The End Boss System…
(Sneak Peek) Road to Victory: The Ultimate Poker Tournament Course
If you’re a serious tournament poker player, read on. Two of the world’s best poker pros have combined forces to…
Darren Elias Uses Bet Sizing Tell to Win $127,680 (Analysis)
Four-time World Poker Tour champion Darren Elias is a master of catching on to opponents’ tendencies and exploiting that information…
Poker Site Owner Double Check-Raises In $100,000 Buy-in Tournament (Analysis)
The text below is based on the video above. Sebastian Gaehl found himself in quite a juicy spot at the…
Should Tom Dwan Fold Pocket Queens In This $1 Million Buy-In Hand?
The text below is based on the video above. Imagine playing a €1 million buy-in tournament with 300 big blinds…
Upswing’s New Poker Strategy Advisor Won $1M+ Playing Cash Games
Doug Polk calls him “the greatest poker mind I’ve ever met.” And that’s why Upswing Poker has hired Fabian “Frabb”…
3 Spots to Use Tiny Bet Sizes in Cash Games
The best poker players in the world have a seemingly unlimited amount of weapons in their arsenal. One of those…
How to Play Nut Flush Draws in Cash Games
I freaking love flopping the nut flush draw. It’s such a strong draw and you can expect to win pretty…
Sneak Peek Inside Smash Live Cash with Nick Petrangelo (ft Brad Owen)
Want to maximize your winnings at the live cash game tables? Read on. Taught by elite poker pro Nick Petrangelo,…
Doug Polk Does The Thing He Said To Never Do (Analysis)
Doug once said “don’t fold sets” in No Limit Hold’em… …but apparently he was being hyperbolic because that’s exactly what…
Why You Should NOT Chop When Deep In A Tournament
If you have ever made a deep run in a tournament, you may have been asked “Do you want to…
Play Like a Pro When The Turn Pairs The Middle Card
When the turn card pairs the board in a heads-up pot, the dynamic between the players changes greatly. This article…
How to Conquer Aggressive Poker Players (5 Exploit Tips)
(Note: Video not loading? Click here to watch it on YouTube or read on for a written version.) Have you…
How You Should Play Four Flush Boards (But Probably Don’t)
(Note: Video not loading? Click here to watch it on YouTube or read on for a written version.) Boards with…
How to Crush the Guy Who Always C-Bets
Have you ever played against a player who seems to continuation bet (c-bet) every hand? This article will help you…
When to Turn Your Low Pocket Pairs into Bluffs
When you hold a low pocket pair, you miss the flop most of the time… …but that doesn’t mean you…
What is Unblocking in Poker & Why Does it Matter?
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of blockers, which have been all the rage in poker for a few years now……
The 5 Best Poker Strategy Articles of 2021
If you want to crush your poker games in 2022, read on. These 5 must-read articles published on the poker…
The 5 Best Poker Hand Reviews of 2021
If you like expert poker hand analysis, you’ve come to the right place. The Upswing Poker team is constantly on…
Poker Training Course: Upswing Lab 2.0
Enjoying the free strategy articles, but want to take your game to the next level? Upswing has a poker training path for you in the new Lab 2.0, the Mastery Path has advanced curriculum from some of the world's best coaches including Uri Peleg and Qing Yang. Lab 2.0 gives you a clear path to sharper and more profitable play.
Enjoying the free strategy articles, but want to take your game to the next level? Upswing has a poker training path for you in the new Lab 2.0, the Mastery Path has advanced curriculum from some of the world's best coaches including Uri Peleg and Qing Yang. Lab 2.0 gives you a clear path to sharper and more profitable play.