Use Solvers to Revolutionize Your Poker Game with Fried Meulders

Solvers have revolutionized poker strategy. As the name suggests, a ‘solver’ is a powerful piece of poker software that offers ‘optimal’ solutions to a specific, user-inputted scenario. (We use ‘optimal’ in the sense of ‘game theory optimal’, but must be cautious using the term ‘solved’, as No Limit Hold’em is not, strictly speaking, a solved…

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5 Not-So-Easy River Spots Explained By A Game Theory Expert

Discussing hands with friends is a great way to get better at poker. Now, imagine if one of your friends was top 6-max player and game theory expert Fried Meulders. Discussing hands with him would be an incredible way to get better at poker. Fried is a successful regular in the ultra-tough Zoom cash games…

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The Ultimate Guide to Preflop Multiway Pots (And Squeezing)

check-raise module

Multiway pots are extremely complex. As more players enter the pot, the size of the game-tree increases. This makes finding the best play a more complicated task than it usually is. Many players, including top pros, frequently make mistakes multiway pots. We’ll break down 8 multiway pot examples in this article. These examples help demonstrate…

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This Is Why You Should Use Small Bet Sizes

When I finished writing Applications of No Limit Hold’ em a bit over 4 years ago, my favorite concept to talk about was overbetting. In many ways, it’s still is my favorite topic. That’s because once the theory behind overbetting is laid out, the situations where overbetting is correct are usually […]

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The Professional Approach to Straddled and Three-Blind Pots

straddle poker tips

Even the best poker players in the world lose money from the small and big blind. You’d have to be an action junkie — or hate money — to voluntarily become a third blind… right? Mostly right. That’s where the straddle in poker comes in. A straddle is a blind bet made by a player…

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Does Your Poker Journey Feel Stuck? So Did Doug Polk’s

poker strategy articles 2017 doug polk stuck

Does your poker career feel stuck? Have you been playing in the same low- and mid-stakes games for what seems like forever, but now feel that your once-achievable poker goals are just pipe dreams? Do you feel like your love for the game keeps you playing, but that it’s ultimately pointless? You are not the…

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How to Check-Raise Like a High Stakes Poker Pro

poker terminology check call bet raise fold

Players that don’t check-raise are easy to beat. If you won’t check-raise me, there are only two possible outcomes when I bet: You fold and I win the pot You call and take a turn card out of position You therefore fold away all of your equity, or allow me to realize all of mine.…

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Paired Boards: 3 Examples That Reveal The Optimal Approach

2s Js Jh

Paired boards can be confusing and frustrating. They often create scenarios where one player is way ahead and another is way behind, which makes it difficult to get value when you have the goods and often tempting to bluff– potentially over-bluffing –when you don’t. We’ll take a look at 3 hand histories featuring paired boards…

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Print Money with Your Flop C-Bets In and Out of Position

Every poker player knows how much easier it is to play hands in position. In position players get to play looser, bet more frequently and ultimately win more pots than an out of position player can. This article is about flop continuation bets(aka c-bets) in single raised pots– how to most effectively beat down your…

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When Should You Bet the Flop in Multi-Way Pots?

starting hands multiway

A unique approach is required to avoid spewing away your chips in multi-way pots. This is simply because as more players are in the hand, the raw equity of your range decreases. Just look at how much Ace-king’s equity suffers as more random players are added to the pot: That’s nearly a 26 percentage point…

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How to Bluff Your Straight Draws Like a High Stakes Pro

8d 7d on Js 9d 5c

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…

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Hand 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…

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How 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).…

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How 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,…

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