Poker Strategy
The Top 5 Most Important Traits of Successful Poker Players
“What separates a decent poker player from a great one?” I get asked this question often. There are a ton of valid answers, but I think 5 in particular stand out on the journey to poker success. In this article, I’ll break down the top 5 personality traits that correlate to more success at the…
Read MoreHow to Bluff Your Straight Draws Like a High Stakes Pro
Straight draws tend to make the best bluffs. And not just because of their chances of actually hitting a straight. Unlike flush draws, straight draws typically boast great implied odds because of their disguised nature. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, straight draws often block some of our opponent’s strongest hands on many board…
Read MoreHand Combinations – The Secret Weapon Pros Use to Win More Money
High stakes poker players have a secret weapon. If used properly, this secret weapon will: Force more folds when you are bluffing. Induce more calls when you are value betting. Make your hero calls correct more often. So, what is the secret weapon that high stakes pros take advantage of nearly every hand? It’s hand…
Read MoreHow to Play a Tight-Aggressive Style That Wins in Modern Games
What is a Tag in Poker? The concept of a tight-aggressive poker strategy is simple: play very few hands, but play them aggressively. TAG poker worked like magic 10 years ago, when fishy players with loose pre-flop tendencies were a dime a dozen. Heck, even Mike McDermott recommended it to the professor in Rounders (1998).…
Read More3 Tips for Crushing Rebuy Tournaments (Infographic)
More like WEEEEE!-buy tournaments, right guys?!?! Rebuy tournaments are fast, exciting and (usually) fun, but a lot of players bleed money this format by overthinking their strategic adjustments… …but making the correct adjustments can make you a force to be reckoned with in a format with so much “dead money” to be made. The infographic…
Read More5 Lessons I’ve Learned After a Decade of Poker
For the past decade, I’ve been a poker player. I’ve played in my cousin’s basement, illegal underground games, and casinos all over the world. Though some luck is involved, poker is a game of skill; the best players will win over the long run. However, I’ve seen many professionals come and go over the years—even…
Read MoreThe 4 Dumbest Career-Ending Mistakes Tournament Players Make
Poker is a hard way to make an easy living. This perfectly sums up life as a professional poker player. On paper, though, making a living playing poker shouldn’t be so difficult. Granted, the games are tougher now than they have ever been, but I personally still see […]
Read MorePhil Hellmuth Tries Bullying His Opponent with Speech Play (Hand Analysis)
The Big Game was a heck of a show. Every week, PokerStars (the show’s sponsor) would give an unknown player $100,000 to battle against some of the most famous poker pros. This time, that unknown player was Max Martinez from Italy. His opponent? 14 time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth is known for his…
Read MoreHow to Understand and Crush HUSNGs [2nd Edition]
Heads-up poker is sheer one-on-one competition. Every time you sit at the table you’re essentially telling a single opponent: “I’m better than you, and I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is to prove it.” But heads-up poker comes in different forms, so it’s important to know which fits best with your skill-set.…
Read MoreIs Phil Ivey Bluffing? Patrik Antonius Sure Hopes So! (Hand Analysis)
Poker legends go to war in a huge pot on The Million Dollar Cash Game. The same cruel flop gives Phil Ivey a Full House and Trips to Patrik Antonius. Can Patrik lay it down, or will he interpret Ivey’s barreling as a bluff? Watch below for the full hand and Doug Polk’s analysis. (Note:…
Read MoreDoug Polk Plays a $25,525 Pot with Pocket Queens (Hand Analysis)
Doug Polk picks up Queens at the right time against a loose-aggressive player on Live at the Bike! Live at the Bike! is a streamed cash game that takes place at The Bicycle Casino located in Southern California. The purpose of the stream, in their own words, is to create ‘poker edutainment’. While this description…
Read MoreWhat Really Makes a Tournament Structure “Good” and Profitable?
You’ve probably seen a tournament with a name like this… Super MEGA-Stack Tournament of Champions Poker Event “Wow,” you may think. “This tournament must have a great structure, right?” Maybe, but not necessarily. Casinos benefit from disguising tournaments with bad structures by giving them fancy names and big starting stacks. We have to look past…
Read MorePhil Hellmuth Tilts HARD in a Big Pot Against Tom Dwan (Hand Analysis)
The one-sided Tom Dwan and Phil Hellmuth feud. Despite his explosive character, most of Phil Hellmuth’s rivalries have been friendly away from the table… …but his rivalry with then newcomer Tom Dwan was like no other. Phil once famously told Dwan “Son, we’ll see if you’ll even be around in 5 years’’ after a bad…
Read MoreHow to Make Winning Adjustments in Low Stakes Games
Low and micro stakes poker is different… …but not as much as a lot of you guys seem to think. I saw countless comments during Doug Polk’s Bankroll Challenge like this: “How could Doug bluff there?! They NEVER fold at the micros.” This assumption may seem right to some of you, but assumptions have limits,…
Read MoreRyan Fee vs Barry Woods in a Baffling Hand on Live at the Bike (Hand Analysis)
Doug Polk makes a lot of analysis videos, but he usually makes them alone… …but when it was time to review a hand played by fellow Upswing coach Ryan Fee against Barry Woods on Live at the Bike, Doug brought on his longtime friend and business partner to work through the action together. Remember, this…
Read MoreHow to Make Big Money on the Final Table Bubble
You’ve spent several hours (or possibly even days) playing in a tournament, and the finish line is finally within sight. Just ten players left. One bust-out away from the final table. And you really, really don’t want to be that final table bubble boy walking away with 10th place money… …but could this be a…
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