How to Destroy Your Opponent After Seeing One Showdown (Part 2)

a7o on 9-5-4-J-K

Sometimes it takes just one showdown for a great poker player to change their game plan and start crushing opponents. If you want to maximize your win-rate, you need to be able to identify and exploit the leaks in your opponents’ games. One of the best ways to do this is by paying attention to…

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How to Play Pocket Aces (5 Mistakes to Avoid)

how to play pocket aces - mistakes to avoid

After hours of looking down at hands like Tâ™  5♣, it finally happens. You get dealt the beautiful pocket aces. But getting dealt the best hand in poker doesn’t entitle you to win a big pot — or even a small pot. To extract max value with your pocket aces, you have to avoid the…

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10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Exploiting an Opponent

As you’ve probably heard before: everything you do at the poker table conveys information. Anyone that has played live poker for a long time understands that humans are oftentimes bad at hiding what they are thinking. That’s why it’s so important to pay close attention to what your opponents are doing, especially in a live…

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Patrick Leonard’s 4-Part Recipe for Poker Success

patrick leonard recipe for poker success

Patrick Leonard certainly knows a few things about success. The English poker pro and partypoker ambassador boasts a poker resume that speaks for itself, with nearly $14 million in career earnings. Leonard recently authored a blog post on Medium, detailing what he calls his “Four Underrated Ingredients to Success”. Inspired by his recent career-high tournament…

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How to Dominate Ace-High Flops in 3-Bet Pots (Deep Analysis)

ace high flops 3-bet pots

You need to be well-versed in 3-bet pots if you want to win in 2020. 3-bets are much more common than they used to be, which is why it’s more important than ever to know how to play well in 3-bet pots. This article will zoom in on one specific, but relatively common situation: playing…

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How to Simplify Your Poker Strategy Without Sacrificing Value

simplified poker strategy

Most of us strive for simplicity in our life, but is it something to strive for in poker too? Short answer: Yes. In this article, I am going to cover some pros and cons of simplifying your poker strategy so it’s easier for you to execute in-game. Then, I’ll demonstrate the (very low) cost of…

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5 Tips to Stop Bleeding Chips from the Small Blind

The small blind is arguably the most difficult position to master in No Limit Hold’em. This position is particularly challenging for two main reasons: You are forced to pay half of a big blind without looking at your cards You play every single postflop situation with a positional disadvantage If you take this 5-step professional…

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10 Poker Mindset Mistakes to Avoid

poker mindset mistakes

Are mental game mistakes costing you money? In this article I’m going to discuss the most common poker mindset mistakes I see being made by online and live poker players. Whether you’re a high stakes, mid stakes, or low stakes player, you will surely recognize some of these mistakes. 1. Neglecting Your Game When Running…

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How to Maximize Your Profit on Paired Flops In Position

Paired Flop Strategy

Improving your fundamentals in common spots is one of the easiest ways to improve your win-rate. Here’s the common spot that will be the focus of this article: you raise, the big blind calls, and a paired flop falls. What will be covered? Why You Shouldn’t Play All Paired Boards The Same Way How to…

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[QUIZ] Can You Pick the “GTO” C-Bet Frequency on 10 Flops?

c-bet frequency quiz

This poker quiz is not going to be easy. Each of the following 10 hand scenarios starts the same way: you raise (2.5bb), your opponent in the big blind calls, and then they check on the flop. You will then decide how frequently you should continuation bet (c-bet) given the board and your position/range. The…

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Amir Vahedi’s 3 Bluffing Tips from 2009 Stand the Test of Time

Amir Vahedi Poker Advice

The evolution of poker strategy is fascinating. When I first started my journey into poker a few years ago, I began by reading every old book I could find. As I got more serious about poker, however, I realized that a lot of the strategy taught in these books is outdated. So when I recently…

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5 Advanced Poker Strategies & Tips To Supercharge Your Poker Wins

advanced poker strategies and tips

Ready for some advanced nuggets of poker wisdom that will help your game? For today’s article, I dug through Upswing’s extensive library of strategy articles and extracted five of the most important tips that have been covered over the years. While these tips cover vastly different topics, they should all play a part in your…

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Why Coffee is Hurting Your Poker Results

coffee poker

Hey there, Upswing fam! Today we’re mixing things up with a guest article by “Coach” Bahman Zarghami that will help you with your mental game. Even if you don’t want to give up your daily coffee, this short article is worth a read so you can better understand stress and anxiety as they relate to…

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