With time, the game of poker has evolved very much. Poker population is increasing day by day. But playing poker is no child’s game and requires good knowledge about it. There are several courses available on the internet that is helpful for anyone who wants to learn poker from scratch. When people get too many options, they only get dragged towards confusion as to which is the best among all.
Firstly anyone who is looking to get a poker course should be very clear on the level of the game they belong to. Broadly, poker can be classified into three levels, namely beginner, intermediate and advanced. There are different courses available based on these levels as well as based on different segments of the game. Let us go through them:
Beginner
If you are a fresher, then ‘An Introduction to Poker’ and ‘Poker Terms Explained ’ by Tom “Time” Leonard is specially designed for you. Introduction to the poker history, motive behind playing poker, all the cards, rankings, pot, all-in, ante, backdoor, bad beat, bluff, calling station, double belly buster, donkey, check-raise, cards speak, heads-up, and several other topics are covered in both these courses. The novice player can go for these courses.
Intermediate
If you belong to the intermediate level, then the best available course for you is ‘The Phil Ivey Master Class’. Phil Ivey is one of the finest players of poker. The course covers the below-mentioned topics:
- The bluffing strategy of poker
- Playing what hand can be best in every situation
- When playing online poker or live poker, the tricks to read opponent hands
- How to mentally put people on tilt
- Deep Stacked Poker Strategy
- When playing in a tournament or cash game, determining the optimal bet sizing.
Hence, if you are new or have been struggling playing poker due to a lack of knowledge, this course is ideal for you.
Advanced
If you fall in the category of all those who are a pro at poker and are keen on learning all the advanced strategies of mid or high stakes then this course is designed for you. ‘Winning Poker Tournaments’ is designed by Nick Petrangelo and consists of the GTO based poker theory. Every imaginable situation that can arise in a tournament of poker and how to fight against that is covered here. Nick shows his strategies based on several factors like:
- Tournament stages such as early, middle, bubble and final
- several flop textures such as wet boards, paired boards, monotone boards, dynamic boards, and ace-high boards
- size of the stack
There is also an inclusion of a cheat sheet which is an added advantage. However, this course is of a very high level and only recommended for poker pros.
All-In-One
Among all the best available courses, Upswing Poker Lab Review is a very good course that anyone can take which covers all the three levels. This is a course of about 30 lessons that are written along with videos all in one place and is taught by Doug Polk and Ryan Fee, who are also accompanied by other best poker players for better elaboration.
Now, this course is designed in a manner that moves from basic to advanced levels like no-limit holdem strategy, cash games, MTTs, live play and over advanced courses. Just pick any one topic that you want to have a grip on and you are ready to move ahead.
Unlike other courses that do not focus on introducing the novice players with the basic concepts, this course covers everything that is a must for a player to get open up to poker. Hence comes concepts like ranges, types of hands.
Once the basic concepts are cleared, the player then learns the poker strategies. Different segments that are covered here are Preflop raise, Postflop bet sizing, worth and merits of various positions, steer the river, how to play with or without initiative in a single raised and 3 bet pots. When one wants to learn to play Flush Draw, the course focuses on various points like whether one is an attacker, secret flush boards, the texture of the board, flush draws in 3 bet pots.
Conclusion
Playing poker requires an understanding of the game which can be attained with such poker training courses. Just identify your actual level and accordingly choose the course that fits you.