Poker Strategy
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Welcome to FTR’s Poker Strategy section! We currently have 508 free Poker Strategy articles in our ever growing archive.
These strategy articles contain as much information as you would find in multiple poker books – for free! Make sure you take advantage of this free poker strategy and poker training, on all of the topics shown below. Whether you’re a beginner, seasoned professional, cash game grinder, or tournament specialist, there is something to help take your game to the next level.
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Categories in Poker Strategy
Beginner Poker
112 Articles
Basic strategy concepts to teach new players how to play poker.
Cash Games
58 Articles
When the value of your chips actually means something.
Heads Up
6 Articles
Learn how to battle and beat your opponents, mano y mano.
Limit Hold'em
38 Articles
Strategy articles that help you bet, raise, 3-bet, and cap your bets.
Live Poker
38 Articles
Learn how to transition from online play to your local casino.
MTT
35 Articles
We teach you how to make the final table and lock up a big score.
No Limit Hold'em
182 Articles
What are the two most powerful words in poker? I’m all-in.
Omaha
14 Articles
When two cards just aren’t enough.
Open Face Chinese
4 Articles
Learn how to get those Queens up top for Fantasy Land.
Poker Dictionary
1,236 Articles
Learn the lingo and terms used by poker players.
Poker Psychology
67 Articles
The power of the mind in poker: There is no spade.
Poker Rules
14 Articles
The rules of the road. Learn how to play various forms of poker.
Poker Tools
37 Articles
Improve your game by learning how to use the tools of the trade.
Poker Videos
98 Articles
Watch and learn from the best in the world.
SNG
41 Articles
For the players who only have two decisions, shove or fold.
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Featured Poker Strategy Articles
Most Recent Articles in Poker Strategy
Using Game Theory in SNG Tournaments (Part 3): Semi-Bluff Analysis
Learning how to study post-flop tournament scenarios, especially push/fold scenarios, is important in the growth of an SNG player.
Hyper’s 6-Max Limit Hold’em Guide
Just as a counterargument to the 1bb an hour on the main page, it is true that in limit you cannot make as much as NL. However, I find the advantages of limit make in a viable choice over NL for many people. For one, limit is all about making the decision with the...
Bluff or Check? Missing the Flop in NLHE (Part 4): Anticipating the Second Barrel
This week, we’re going to cover the types of things you should be considering when you’re deciding if you should fire the second barrel or not.
chardrian’s Analysis of a $26 Freezeout on Full Tilt
Sometimes, it’s valuable to go over your completed poker tournaments with a hand-history viewer to analyze spots that you are unsure about and identify errors in play. You can use a replayer that automatically cuts out hands that you folded preflop so that you can focus on the important hands.
Texas Holdem Expected Value Hand Charts – 6 Players
Below is a table of Texas Holdem starting hands, ordered by their Expected Value (EV) in a 6 player holdem game. These statistics were produced by using millions of hand histories to compute the following results. The unit for EV is average profit in big...
Should I Fire a Second Barrel?
Written by Carl Sampson, aka The Dean, 2009. Years ago the continuation bet was a very little known poker concept. This was knowledge that only regular strong players tended to have. This is not the case anymore and continuation betting is so basic that it basically...
NLHE Foundations #07: Putting Opponents on Flop Ranges (Part 1)
Introduction I’ve been doing the free NLHE Foundations Course here on FlopTurnRiver to give players a straight-forward path to go from the beginner levels to the intermediate levels with a mind towards being able to systematically improve over time. If you want...
Poker Goals
There are several similarities that you can find between the game of Poker and Life in general. One of these would be to compare a poker player to a major league baseball pitcher. Every at bat is a world on itself, and you have to keep a cool head through all of them....
The UTG Live Straddle
Straddling under the gun is sometimes done in live, loose poker games. When a player straddles, the blinds lose value, but every other position gains value. Because the pot will play about twice as large as normal, you should change your starting hand requirements to take account of the straddle.
When It’s Safe to Bet Poker Tells
In poker, you need to know when it is safe to bet and when it is dangerous. Caro even says that you cannot study this enough because he feels this is where half the profit is going to come from by concentrating on tells. Before you make a bet it would be a smart idea...
Back to Basics (Part 1): Implied Odds
Implied odds are one of the most important things to learn on a deep level, though it’s usually learned superficially by most players.
ISF – Putting Together Ranges: Practice
A great piece of advice Sauce123 gave me is put people on ranges on every street. I tell this to many people and post it in many threads, because it is some of the best advice around. But sometimes you can hear something, try it, and just not get it. So this week, I’m...
Playing Blinds in SNGs
Playing from the blinds in a SNG tournament is tricky. You’ll often be getting very favorable pot odds and thus be inclined to play many hands. But you should remember that you’ll be out of position without the initiative. In early levels, it’s far better to stay out of trouble by playing tight.
Practical Game Theory in Poker (Part 2): Pre-Flop Ideas
Take it to your opponent before the flop by covering up your own weaknesses when they are being attacked and going after the weaknesses that your opponents show you.
Leading the Flop and the Relationships to Continuation Betting
Leading the flop when you were not the pre-flop aggressor is very similar to continuation betting. You have a range, your opponent has a range, and you have now made a bet that your opponent will have to react to. However, there is another relationship that leading on...