The Ugly Truth About Staking in Poker

makeup poker staking

You’ve heard of staking. Or at least you probably have if you’ve spent any time with poker players. Over the last decade or so, poker staking has blown up, mostly in tournaments, but cash games as well. Done right, a poker staking deal can be beneficial for both parties, yet staking deals gone wrong have…

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There’s Big Money in 4-Bet & 5-Bet Pots

poker terminology check call bet raise fold

Most NLHE players have a pretty good idea of how and when to 3-bet their opponents preflop. If you can believe it, there was a time where most players would 3-bet only if they had Aces or Kings, and rarely any other times. As the game evolved players quickly realized that employing 3-bets preflop more…

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Why You Should Play More Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs)

mtt tournaments

When Multi Table Tournaments Brought the Fun Back Having recently given up poker as my full-time profession to focus on writing, coaching and growing my own poker strategy site, I have felt my love for MTTs – which had faded over the years due to the extreme time-commitment required – return in a way I…

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Stop Bleeding Money in Re Entry & Rebuy Tournaments

rebuy re entry tournament strategy

Not Your Grandma’s Freezeout Re entry and rebuy tournaments, also occasionally referred to as WEEEE!buy and WEEEE!Entry tournaments, are two poker tournament variants that have grown immensely in popularity as of late (especially Re Entrys). They occasionally garner the WEEEE! tags in homage to the lovely sound you make on a roller coaster ride thanks…

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How to Negotiate Final Table Deals Like a Pro

negotiating poker final table deals

Tournament poker deals aren’t something that come up often, but when they do their effect on your bottom line is massive. The high variance of poker tournaments understandably causes some players to seek insurance once it’s down to about four players. Nowadays, with the proliferation of events like the MicroMillions, inexperienced tournament players find themselves making…

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How To Adjust Against Any Player Type At Heads Up Hyper Turbos

player types adjustment poker

Let’s examine the different player types we’ll meet at the tables, as well as look at some basic heads-up strategy that we can employ against each one. But before we do that, it’s important to note that the strategies we discuss below will make big inferences and generalities in order to highlight certain concepts or…

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Spin & Go Strategy with Doug Polk and Courtney Gee (Transcript)

Upswing Poker featured pro Doug Polk recently recorded a Spin & Go hand history review session with fellow Team #GrindNation member Courtney Gee. Courtney (aka “courtiebee”) currently resides in western Canada and was a professional poker player before moving over to streaming full-time on Twitch in 2015. A Heads-Up Hyper Turbo specialist, Gee has used…

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Money Bubble Strategy: How to Set Yourself Up for the Win

tournament bubble boy strategy

How To Not Blow It On The Bubble Congrats! You did it! You’ve endured through days of that tournament, survived the land mines, circumnavigated all the bear traps, and scaled the chip counts. Only 100 players remain and 99 walk away with some cash money! You call an open with 87 suited, flop a huge…

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Out Of This World Satellite Tournament Strategy

satellite poker tournament strategy

Ok, ok, forgive me for the cheese-ball satellite joke in the title, I couldn’t help myself. I’ll make it up to you with some solid poker satellite strategy to help you increase that bottom line and get into the events you want to play that your wallet might not be on-board with. Why should you…

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Beginner’s Guide to Heads-Up Hyper Turbo Sit & Gos

Shaun Deeb slow roll poker

Even if you’re married to cash games and tournaments, it’s hard not to fall a little bit in love with Heads Up Hyper Turbo (HUHT) Sit & Gos every now and again. What’s not to love? 1-on-1 competition, lots of action and fast enough that you can always manage to get a few games in,…

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7 Best Twitch Moments from Doug Polk

doug polk twitch stream K high call

If you are not following Upswing Poker on Twitch, then you are missing out! In every stream, Upswing Poker coach Doug Polk gives out great online poker strategy tips, with a touch of community interaction and a whole lot fun. But that’s not news to someone who is familiar with Doug Polk’s work. He has…

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3 Poker Tips and Strategies from Upswing Coaches

bracelet photo of upswing coaches poker tips and strategies

(Photo copyright: Antonio Abrego) Pro poker tips and strategies have never been as plentiful as they are today. You can’t spend more than an hour in the poker corner of the internet without getting information that would be considered advanced poker training back in the 90’s. From poker blogs to poker training websites, we live in…

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How to 3-Bet (Like a Boss) in Heads Up No Limit

3-bet HUNL featured

A 3-Bet is the act of reraising a pot preflop that has already been raised by another player. The objective of 3-Betting is to extract value when your opponent calls and deny them their equity when they fold. Constructing proper 3-Betting ranges is especially crucial in heads up games given the positional disadvantage of the 3-Bettor. Since you must…

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ICM Poker Introduction: What Is The Independent Chip Model?

gavel on money and chips for poker debt collection lawyer

Long gone are the days where tournament poker was played by “feel” alone. The introduction of basic mathematical terms such as equity and the calculation of odds changed the game of poker forever some time ago. More recently, however, increasingly advanced concepts have been introduced. Among the more relevant are ICM poker: a mathematical model that uses stack sizes…

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How to Maneuver a Tournament Short Stack

short stack poker

Monitoring your stack size is one of the most crucial elements of the tournament poker play and beginners often don’t pay it enough attention. Most tournaments start off with 100 BB stacks or higher, but the blinds will continue raising with our stack in relation shrinking. Large 100 BB stacks allow players to employ a wide range of intricate…

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REVEALED: Pot Odds vs Implied Odds

Pot Odds and Implied Odds When Facing a Bet To many tournament players’ chagrin, pot odds in poker do not refer to how likely you are to score some weed on dinner break. To be a consistently winning poker player it is crucial to have a complete understanding of how to calculate and take advantage of pot…

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