Beginner Poker Strategy Articles

Featured Articles

10 Quick Poker Strategy Tips That Will Help Your Game

We’ve compiled 10 tactics and strategies that will make you a more confident and profitable poker player.

4 Valuable Pieces of Poker Tournament Advice for Beginners

Highlights of the most important tournament tips from Upswing's tournament articles.

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 from the beginner-friendly Launch Pad, to the advanced Mastery Path, Lab 2.0 gives you a clear path to sharper and more profitable play.

Upswing Poker Lab 2.0 Icon

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 from the beginner-friendly Launch Pad, to the advanced Mastery Path, Lab 2.0 gives you a clear path to sharper and more profitable play.

Basics, Rules, and How to Play Poker

How to Play Poker (Texas Hold'em and more)

Basic rules and game flow for new players to learn how to start playing.

Poker Hand Rankings

List of poker hand rankings. Learn what beats what, learn texas hold'em starting hands, and download a free cheat sheet.

Popular Articles

Pot Odds Explained and How to Calculate Them

By Dan B.

Pot odds are a fundamental part of poker and it’s important to learn how to calculate them. Don’t worry though,…

10 Quick Poker Strategy Tips That Will Help Your Game

By Dan B.

10 Quick Poker Strategy Tips That Will Help Your Game If you’re looking for easy to remember and quick poker…

Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em Poker (The Ultimate Guide)

By Geoffrey Fisk

Success in Texas Hold’em starts with good preflop hand selection. If you’re playing a winning strategy, you’ll be folding preflop…

All Beginner Poker Articles

How to Play Poker in a Casino (Beginner’s Guide & 5 Pro Tips)

By Jose Aguilar | July 29, 2021

You can find many different ways to play poker without ever stepping into a casino. That first trip to a…

What is Two Pair & How Should You Play Two Pair?

By Dan B. | July 5, 2021

Two pair is usually quite a strong hand in a game of poker. To make two pair, you must have…

4 Poker Career-Changing Insights I Learned from Phil Ivey

By Patrick Harvey | June 15, 2021

Phil Ivey is one of the most mysterious figures in poker. For the past 20 or so years, Ivey has…

How to Play Suited Gappers in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & 6 Postflop Tips)

By Dan B. | June 11, 2021

What’s not to love about suited gappers? You can hit flushes, weird two-pairs, trips, and super disguised straights! A suited…

4 Tournament Mindset Tips for Poker Success (ft. ALLinPAV)

By Patrick Harvey | May 18, 2021

Upswing Poker coach Hristivoje “ALLinPav” Pavlovic has proven that the poker dream is still alive. About five years ago he…

Pocket Kings Strategy, Even When an Ace Flops

By Dan B. | May 4, 2021

Let’s talk about how to play Pocket Kings. Pocket Kings are a premium hand, and your goal is to build…

[QUIZ] Can You Ace These 10 Fundamental Preflop Decisions?

By Dan B. | April 20, 2021

Ready to put your preflop fundamentals to the test? This quiz was made with relatively new poker players in mind,…

Why You Must Embrace Variance to Succeed in Poker

By Konstantinos "Duncan" Palamourdas | March 30, 2021

Nothing invokes larger emotional response to poker players than the word variance. What is Variance? Defined simply as the expected…

10 Baddest (& Biggest) Beats from Polk vs Negreanu at $200/$400

By Patrick Harvey | February 5, 2021

Luck was a big topic of conversation in the Doug Polk vs. Daniel Negreanu Grudge Match. Through different points of…

How to Play Ace-Five Suited in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & 6 Postflop Tips)

By Dan B. | February 3, 2021

Ace-Five suited (A5s) is a powerful hand that has generated a lot of conversation in the past few years. If…

The 10 Biggest Bluffs from Polk vs Negreanu at $200/$400

By Patrick Harvey | January 29, 2021

The Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu Grudge Match has exceeded expectations across the board. With the whole poker world watching,…

The 100 Most Valuable Poker Strategy Articles for 2021

By Patrick Harvey | January 27, 2021

Hopefully you’ve taken advantage of all the great strategy content that’s available here at Upswing. But in case you’ve missed…

What is a Straight? And How Should You Play Straights?

By Dan B. | January 22, 2021

True to its name, a straight consists of five sequential cards in a game of poker. Straights are often strong…

How to Play Ace-Ten Suited in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & Postflop Tips)

By Dan B. | January 14, 2021

What goes through your mind when you look down at Ace-Ten suited? Some people love it, some people hate it,…

Become a Winner at Pot Limit Omaha FAST with the PLO Launch Pad Course

By Geoffrey Fisk | January 7, 2021

Taking up “The Great Game of Pot-Limit Omaha” can seem like an intimidating task. Even the most seasoned No-Limit Hold’em…

How to Play Pocket Nines in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & Postflop Tips)

By Jake Godshall | December 15, 2020

Middling pairs like pocket nines are among the most difficult-to-play starting hands in No-Limit Hold’em. Of course, even many beginners…

How to Play Flopped Sets in 8 Common Situations

By Dan B. | December 3, 2020

Who doesn’t love the feeling you get when you flop a set? When it happens, all you can think about…

Doug Polk Explains Five $105,976+ Pots He Played vs Daniel Negreanu

By Patrick Harvey | December 1, 2020

Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu have captivated the poker world with their $200/$400 Heads Up Grudge Match. Beginning in early…

Late Registering Online Tournaments: How Late Is Too Late?

By Josh Jones | November 23, 2020

You’re starting to take tournaments seriously. You put a decent amount of time into studying theory / analyzing hands. But…

The 10 Biggest Pots From The Polk vs Negreanu Challenge (So Far)

By Patrick Harvey | November 13, 2020

The most anticipated poker grudge match in years got underway last week and it hasn’t disappointed. Through the first four…

$22 Becomes $100,061 in Unbelievably Huge Tournament (Hand Analysis)

By Josh Jones | November 10, 2020

Who hasn’t dreamed of turning a small tournament buy-in into a fortune? Upswing coach Daniel “Daniel” McAulay actually pulled off…

How to Play Jack-Ten Suited in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & 6 Postflop Tips)

By Dan B. | November 6, 2020

Jack-Ten suited has to be one of the prettiest hands in poker. It’s not just a looker. Jack-Ten suited is…

Can Tony G Make a Heroic Call for €1.2 Million? (Hand Analysis)

By Dan B. | November 3, 2020

Million dollar pots don’t happen often. But in today’s hand, a player gets put to the test on the river…

How to Play Pocket Tens in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & 5 Postflop Tips)

By Dan B. | October 16, 2020

Pocket tens is one of those hands that troubles poker players, especially beginners. When you have pocket tens, you will…

What is a Flush? And How Should You Play Flushes?

By Dan B. | October 9, 2020

Making a flush can often result in winning the pot in a game of poker. One of the stronger hands…

10 Poker Infographics That Will Help Your Game

By Patrick Harvey | September 24, 2020

Infographics are a fun and effective way to learn, which is why we’ve created numerous infographics throughout the years. Today’s…

How to Play Ace-Queen Offsuit in Cash Games (Preflop Advice & 6 Postflop Tips)

By Dan B. | September 22, 2020

Some hate it, some love it. Ace-Queen offsuit is one of the most polarizing hands in poker. While it is…

How I Won €151 From Fedor Holz (Hand Analysis)

By Tomas Molcan | September 18, 2020

Fedor Holz, at the age of 27, is already one of the biggest legends of the game.  The German native…

4 Valuable Pieces of Poker Tournament Advice for Beginners

By Patrick Harvey | September 15, 2020

You’ve played your A-game for hours and you made some hands when you needed to. Now, it has finally happened:…

The Ultimate Guide to Squeezing in No Limit Hold’em

By Dan B. | September 1, 2020

The “squeeze” play — 3-betting preflop versus a raise and one or more callers — was once a staple of…