Best Poker Training Sites
best suited for
MIXED GAMES
- Monthly Subscription available
- Founded by Phil Galfond
- Library of +2400 poker training videos
best suited for
LEARNING EXPLOITATIVE STRATEGY
- Personalized training program
- Personal trainer for poker
- Weekly reports on your progress
What Will I Learn?
In case you’re searching for the best poker training sites that will help you climb the stakes fast, you’re not alone. Thousands of players are in your shoes, and are faced with dozens of options – it’s pretty hard to choose which one to go with! Luckily we have compared the different options available, and this post was written to present you with a list of the best ones. Besides having catchy names, the best poker training sites can take your poker game to the next level this year. The training sites included in this article can help players who are occasional tournament players but want to start winning, full-time poker players looking to move up in stakes or anywhere in between.
Long gone are the days when people who were committed to making it as a professional poker player had to learn new poker strategies by learning just from their own experiences. First it was poker books and strategy articles on magazines, then online poker forums and after that video training content on both poker training sites and live streams on Twitch. Nowadays popular poker legends like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Fedor Holz have their own Masterclass poker courses. Tactics on how to crush poker tournaments or cash games can be learned online. Immersive poker learning experiences are just a few clicks away if you happen to have a computer or smartphone with an internet access.
Even if you’re not particularly talented in the psychology of the game or the math side of it, accessing the proper training will help you develop your skills on your way to becoming a true crusher or even a poker pro, going from Zero to Hero. Or, since you’re reading our review, shall we say from a pet to a true poker beast! Now what you need is courses and training videos from the best poker coaches available in your chosen game format, with content that is specifically designed for your current level of buy-ins, whether that is micro stakes or high stakes.
What are the Best Poker Training Sites in 2023
The poker training sites presented in our review are not necessarily in any particular order. If you choose to go with any of these poker training programs and really put effort into studying their materials, you’re very likely to increase your poker edge & get better results fast.
Let’s get started – here they are:
Why did we choose these particular five? When you’re trying to find out what is the best poker training site, there are a bunch of ranking factors you should consider. Based on our experience, the following criteria are what make a poker training site a great choice:
- Do the instructors have a proven track record of winning in their main game format
- Are the poker training program materials & videos produced with quality
- Do they provide testimonials from real students
- How often they update their poker courses
Scroll down or click any one of the training sites to read all the essential details on each poker training site & what specific game types and topics they cover.
Raise Your Edge
If you play poker tournaments, Raise Your Edge should be your number one choice for an online poker training site. Their head coach Benjamin ‘bencb798’ Rolle is one of the biggest online MTT winners in recent years, winning poker tournaments both online and on the live felts. He has shipped trophies like $1.1M in WCOOP 2016 SHR and made deep runs in events like WSOP Main Event online. Patrick Leonard has said that bencb is likely the best tournament poker coach in the world!
The flagship tournament course of Raise Your Edge is called The Tournament Masterclass, which includes a structured study plan, bencb’s personal range charts and over 20 hours of content in the Apprentice Class version. If you purchase the Expert Class version, you’ll gain access to over 50 hours of poker training content and exclusive VIP discord channel with bencb. This MTT training course jumps directly into pre flop range analysis, and almost every situation imaginable is covered here in an interactive format: What to open from each position, how to continue against 3-bets and 4-bets. The MTT course is being updated continuously so you will always be aware of any new poker strategies for tournament poker. In addition, you will get access to the range viewer built by RYE, which can come very handy in analysing different spots.
To get the full benefit from a RYE Tournament Masterclass, you should already have an intermediate level of poker knowledge about multi-table tournaments. That means you should be familiar with concepts like hand ranges, ICM, hand reading, pot odds etc. before buying this top poker course.
Other popular courses available on Raise Your Edge include:
Live Cash Mastery: This course is created specifically for live play, covering topics like pre flop strategies, how to play versus all types of opponents, isolating and overlimping, playing deepstacked and many more.
Bounty Beast: Since online poker tournaments with bounties have become wildly popular, having an advantage over players who are merely guessing the correct plays can put lots of profits in your pocket. The training course is compiled from poker solver work and analysis from coach ‘w3cray’, covering theory on bounty & knockout tournaments, math and tools and hand reviews in practice. This course is a great choice for improving your tournament play with bounties.
Raise Your Edge in a nutshell
Best suited for:
MTT players, Live Cash Game players
Student testimonials:
‘I bought RYE when I was fairly new to poker in general, especially online poker. After the first three training videos, I immediately noticed I was doing much better in the fields. Their range viewer is an amazing learning tool for improving your skill level, used by experienced regs and beginners alike. It’s truly a site that can fulfil needs for all types of poker enthusiasts and deserves the place among the best poker training sites available online – Bravo!’ -T. Torrim
‘Do you want to improve your poker skills? Do you want to feel as if you were the top poker player at the table, every time you sit down? It took me from you average small to mid-stakes player, doing ok, to someone who is now competing at the highest stakes against real beasts – thanks to bencb and the whole RYE team for the incredible training content!’ –Jaime Staples, partypoker Team Pro
Where to sign-up:
To sign-up for Raise Your Edge poker training courses and materials, just click here.
Take Your Game to the Next Level
For bencb798 poker was a way to live a life of freedom and pursue his passions. If you’re serious about achieving your poker dreams and winning tournaments, getting elite MTT content is your best choice without a doubt.
BluffTheSpot
Our team first came across BluffTheSpot’s video series on YouTube, as they happen to post quite advanced poker video training materials there, for free. We wondered if some of that free poker training content and information should really not be available openly. Out of curiosity, we wanted to see how good their paid poker courses are as the free ones are something the majority of players could as well pay for. It turned out, these guys know their stuff – and there is a logical reason behind it, as we found out!
The head coach for BluffTheSpot is MMASherdog. In case you haven’t heard of him, he is one of the biggest high-stakes No-Limit Texas Hold’em winners on PokerStars, winning over $1M in 2018. He can be regularly seen at the highest stakes online battling it out with the sharpest minds in No-Limit Hold’em. It’s hard to find poker coaches with his skill level. Now, which other poker training site can say that they have a head coach who is still pretty much at the peak of his poker career?
The motto of BTS is ‘Dedicated To Fuel Your Poker Success’. They have plenty of coaches with great results in online poker, such as mnl1337, Runchuks, RunLikePanda and many others. You can choose whether to study their courses independently or to join their Coaching For Profits program, where you not only have the access to their poker training materials & resources but also to 1-on-1 coaching, group coaching sessions and a library of over 300 poker coaching recordings from the past with thousands of hand histories analyzed.
If you’re looking to become a winning player at the low stakes poker games, BluffTheSpot Lab has everything you need. For advanced Texas Hold’em cash game players, High Stakes Course from MMASherdog can help you take your game to the next level. Alternatively, you can apply to their staking program if you’re currently playing at buy-in levels between NL10-NL200 and are willing to work hard to crush bigger stakes in Texas Hold’em cash games.
BluffTheSpot in a nutshell
Best suited for:
NLHE or PLO cash game players
Student testimonials:
‘MMASherdog’s poker training content is set up in a nice, clean structure. He’s very strong theoretically, but what’s more important is that he can also put it into words nicely. I picked up some important concepts that you need to know from the first couple videos and am looking forward to the rest of his series!’ – Steven ‘SvZff’ Van Zadelhoff, Winner of WCOOP 2017 Main Event
‘MMASherdog is one of the top 10 online cash game players in the world at No-Limit Texas Hold’em. He articulates his thought process very well.’ – ‘NLZWERVERNL’, High-stakes online professional
‘MMASherdog has been one of my toughest and most consistent opponents over the past few years. Poker content has never been produced from a player of his calibre before. This poker course should be a solid investment for aspiring players on their quest to the high-stakes tables.’ – ‘Bit2Easy’, High-stakes online professional
Where to sign-up:
To sign-up for BluffTheSpot poker training courses & materials, just click here.
Follow a Clear Path Proven By Hundreds of Winning Players
Overwhelmed by the huge amount of bad poker training videos online? Get well-selected strategy videos every month, instant feedback from personalized quizzes and join a community of highly motivated players & top-level coaches.
Upswing Poker
In case you watch any poker videos on YouTube, it’s pretty much impossible that Doug ‘WCGRider’ Polk hasn’t popped up on to your screen at some point with his humorous but on-point videos. As a founder of Upwsing Poker and a content producer, Doug Polk is the perhaps the most visible character of this poker training site. He is a former high-stakes HU crusher in Texas Hold’em and he’s become somewhat of a poker celebrity in the last few years. Doug teaches some of the courses at Upswing Poker, such as the Advanced Heads Up Mastery. Another co-founder of the site is Ryan Fee, who produced the legendary poker guide called ‘6 Max NL Strategy Guide’ back in the day. Since their launch in 2015, Upswing Poker has grown into a pretty large business and they have signed more coaches such as Alex ‘Kanu7’ Millar, Matt ‘Checkmate’ Colletta, Andres ‘Educa-p0ker’ Artinano, Jake Abdalla, Nick Petrangelo, Kane Kalas, Chris Wehner, Dylan Weisman, and many others. The coaches of Upwsing poker write and publish also free poker strategy articles regularly.
While Upswing Poker has a variety of courses available, their main product is the Upswing Poker Lab. Upswing Poker Lab is an Texas Hold’em membership course that has comprehensive sections for each area of the game. In our opinion, it’s suitable for both beginners and winning poker players as long as they know the poker rules. Although there’s no free trial, you can try the Lab risk-free with 30-day money-back guarantee. The content of the Upswing Poker Lab gets fresh updates each month. The lab can be broken down into 6 different modules:
Module 1: Lab Core Strategy
Module 2: Advanced Lab Strategies
Module 3: MTT’s (Multi-Table Tournaments)
Module 4: Live Poker
Module 5: Mini-Courses
Module 6: Plays And Explains
One of the best poker training tools included in Upswing Lab is the hand range viewer. Using this learning tool you can check which hands you should be playing from a particular starting position. This means no more guesswork during your pre flop decisions! A Pot-Limit Omaha version called PLO Lab available for everyone who prefer being dealt four cards instead of two.
Other popular courses available on Upswing Poker include:
Crush the Baron: As the name suggests, Crush the Baron course breaks down the strategies of one of the greatest 6-max cash game players of all time, namely OtB_RedBaron. The course is taught by Andres ‘educa-p0ker’ Artinano.
Advanced Heads Up Mastery: Heads-up poker strategies and tactics are explained step by step by Doug Polk in this Upswing Poker course. One of the most advanced HU courses available online.
Advanced Cash Game Strategy with Kanu7: This massive poker course contains over 36 hours of content from Kanu7. Alex ‘Kanu7’ Millar has been one of the biggest winners in high-stakes cash games in recent years. He developed an elite level cash game course together with Upswing Poker. Inside the course, you can find the 286 preflop solutions Kanu7 uses in-game, obtained from his personal poker solver for calculating game theory optimal plays.
Play Like LLinus: This Upswing Poker course is basically a follow-up course on Advanced Cash Game Strategy. The poker course is a compact one with 4 hours of video content teaching you the strategies of Linus ‘LLinusLLove’ Loeliger who is generally regarded as the end-boss of 6-max Holdem cash games.
Short Deck Course: Short Deck Poker is a popular game format among Asian players. The training content inside this course is produced by Kane Kalas. a high stakes player who has battled it out in some of the biggest games available online. The course will help you develop a winning approach and skills needed to crush 9 and 6-handed as well as HU short deck tables.
Upswing Poker in a nutshell
Best suited for:
NLHE, PLO, 6+ and Mixed games cash game players, MTT players
Student testimonials:
‘Overall, I rate it 9/10. Unlike Cardrunners and RunItOnce, there isn’t a bunch of random content by random people with various strategies sprinkled in. The poker training modules are highly consistent and comprehensive, which is exactly what I was looking for. The best part of the Upswing Poker training program is that you get access to the Facebook group, and get to discuss whatever you want, and guys like Fee and Joey Ingram actually participate and answer some questions of students.’ -TheMicroDonk
‘If you think your basics need a brush-up, or perhaps you’re curious about what Upswing Poker Lab could bring to your poker game, by all means check out their poker training course! If you’re a grizzled veteran, in order to prevent yourself from feeling like you’re treading water in a sea of poker training content, I suggest that you aim for some of their more specialized cash games and mtt training materials.’ –W. Shillibier
Where to sign-up:
To sign-up for Doug Polk’s Upswing Poker training courses and materials, just click here.
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Run It Once
Run It Once is a training site founded by Phil Galfond. Many old school Pot-Limit Omaha players have learned their first lessons of PLO from Galfond’s videos on Bluefire Poker. Galfond is basically a legend among PLO poker community and has amazed the poker world with his results timer after time. Nowadays he can be seen battling it out on The Galfond Challenge against some of the best poker players in the world, playing Omaha at nosebleeds stakes of course. RIO is ranked as the top paid poker training program by Poker News, a trustworthy poker industry publication. The quality & quantity of their instructors is quite astonishing, including names such as Ben Sulsky aka Sauce123, NovaSky, Jeans89, Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick and our very own BeastsOfPoker ambassador Joni ‘bustoville’ Jouhkimainen.
The memberships of RIO are divided into three different levels: Basic, Essential and Elite. When you join RIO with the basic version which is free, you get full forum access to their poker forum. We recommend reading through the answers & comments on RIO forums – the free poker content posted by both coaches and members has some pretty valuable information for serious grinders. On the Essential level, you get 5 Essential videos per week and access to the Essential Library which contains 1533 poker training video clips. On the Elite level, you get access to 9 new Elite videos per week and to the Elite Library containing 2405 poker training videos from some of the best coaches you can find. First 2 minutes of each training video can be checked out free before you make the purchase decision. Their video content can be watched also through the RIO app in case you want to study poker with your phone or tablet.
For low stakes players, the recommended choice is the Essential level. The Elite level in turn is targeted towards high-stakes players. RIO gives great value for all players who are already good in their poker fundamentals and are looking for ways to improve their game further in specific areas of poker.
Run It Once in a nutshell
Best suited for:
NLHE, PLO, 6+, Mixed games, OFC and LHE cash game players, MTT players
Student testimonials:
‘The most important part of the training program is the Forum. A lot of really good people are going to help you. And despite the fact, that you are a micro or low stakes player, they give you the best advice according to the limit you play online poker at. On the other hand, there are so many things that you can learn from a poker player who plays higher stakes. You learn how to think in ranges, how to use the right betsize etc. Bluffing frequencies and balancing and all that stuff, you simply don’t have to use it on the lower limits. That simple it is!’ –Zoty79
‘There may not be many training videos of below 50NL, but watching low to mid stakes videos is just as valuable, if not more. Felipe, and Simon Couling have done plenty of <100NL videos. Go check them out. If they can get me from 10NL to 1000NL, anyone can do it!’ –Chael Sonnen
‘Run It Once, turned me from playing 4NL to 400NL. I think it’s definitely worth it. Knowledge is power. Use it wisely~’ –Mushmellow
Where to sign-up:
To sign-up for RunItOnce poker training courses & materials, just click here.
Advanced Poker Training
Advanced Poker Training is basically like a virtual personal trainer in poker, as it trains you to play poker hands against computer opponents. This way the training software will allow you to get real-time advice and feedback on your decision-making and point out potential improvement areas in your game. You can even choose the type of players you have most trouble with, and set the poker trainer to include AI opponents with that style. For example, if you have trouble playing against maniacs, just set the training to include that kind of opponents, and you will learn how to beat them in no time!
The trainer is started with a screen that allows you to adjust the different factors of the table, after which you move on to the table to start the training. The trainer has weekly reports to follow how your game is progressing, and personalized training plans to point out which areas still need more focus. By upgrading to the premium account you get access to many training options of value that are not available in the free version.
During the poker training, you can always click the ‘brain-button’, which opens the thought process of your advisor for the current spot you’re facing. This comes handy in tough situations where you’re not quite sure what the optimal play is. Advanced Poker Training is an excellent choice for players who want to learn poker by doing, and who want to exploit various types of opponents at the online poker tables. You can learn the correct adjustments against various player types pretty quickly with their poker training software.
Coaches of APT include names like Mike Caro, Jonathan Little, WSOP 2016 Main Event winner Qui Nguyen, Scott Blumstein, Ed Miller, and Alex Fitzgerald aka ‘Assassinato’. Jonathan Little produces courses for other poker training sites as well. A good example of such a course would be ‘Cash Game Master Class’. Ed Miller has produced poker training material for Red Chip Poker crash courses and written several poker books that have taught Texas Hold’em strategies to thousands of players all over the world.
Advanced Poker Training in a nutshell
Best suited for:
NLHE cash game players, SNG players, MTT players
Student testimonials:
‘It’s not a perfect simulation, but I really like that you can practice particular spots with repetition. After I lost a couple live pots recently with AK, I went in there to play AK hundreds of times in a row just to get more comfortable with how to make decisions in different spots with AK. Similarly you can set it up to practice a ton of hands OOP. … or only with small pocket pairs… or only with suited connectors.’ –MattP
‘This is a great tool to just try different moves. One thing I like to do is to play every single hand (not using the deal only playable poker hands), just to get myself into some tough situations. Just play a bunch of hands, use the advice feature, use the session reports to see where you’re making mistakes, and really put some thought into those mistakes to figure how you could have done better. Even studying a single hand history for 10 minutes can have a great impact on your overall game.’ –bigburge10
Where to sign-up:
To sign-up for Advanced Poker Training courses & tactics, just click here.
What is the best poker training site for Pot-Limit Omaha
Very few training sites focus exclusively on PLO4 or PLO5. There is one PLO membership course that stands above others called PLO Mastermind. PLO MM is our preferred choice for learning Omaha cash games or tournaments.
What are good alternative poker training sites in 2023
Are you looking for free training site options or alternatives that don’t break your budget? Below we have covered good alternatives for your poker training – let’s break them down one by one:
Pokercode by Fedor Holz & Matthias Eibinger
Fedor Holz created Pokercode to provide comprehensive training in MTT strategies. However, the site has since evolved to teach much more than MTT strategies. A new course by Steffen Sontheimer offers comprehensive coaching on how to win cash games.
While Pokercode has a free version, it is not as detailed as the one you would pay for. The free version gives you access to the best videos from Fedor and Steffan and free public coaching.
Although you can improve your poker skills with the free version, you will need to subscribe for the full MTT course, monthly live coaching sessions and new videos.
New and experienced players can learn a lot about Independent Chip Model (ICM) strategy, live play and off-the-table routines. Given that the instructors are good at poker, you have every reason to sign up for the courses on this platform.
Pokercode includes the following parts:
- Pre-Flop: Part of the course covers pre-flop fundamentals. It also delves into playing in position, how to defend the blinds, and facing three bets.
- Post-Flop: In the second part of the course, there are 22 videos covering post-flop. Fedor tackles short-stacked examples, loose opponents, deep-stacked examples, tighter opponents, etc.
Pricing: €99 monthly, €214 quarterly, and €699 annually
Pokercode in a nutshell
Best suited for:
Beginner poker players, MTT Players
Student reviews:
“I have a Pokercode sub and love it. I’m primarily a live cash game player and wanted something that explained more of the theory behind solver outputs vs just copying the outputs themselves. Steffen’s videos were great for that. It’s probably the content that’s done the most for my overall game,” -D. Jones.
MasterClass (Phil Ivey & Daniel Negreanu)
MasterClass is one of the most popular online training platforms for photography, basketball, filmmaking, and poker.
It has recently signed up Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey, two of the world’s most successful poker tournament players. So if you want to learn how to play poker from the gurus, this is the place to be.
These two poker pros will tell you how they have managed to win tens of millions of dollars, final tables and WSOP bracelets.
With the MasterClass, the two poker stars are targeting beginners and intermediate players who are looking to get their feet wet in the world of poker.
The two courses are offered separately as Daniel Negreanu’s Masterclass and Phil Ivey’s Masterclass. Over the years, they have won numerous tournaments and earned tens of millions of dollars from the game. Both instructors offer fundamental strategies for beating low and medium stakes whether you play cash games or tourneys.
As both are among the best live poker players of all time, these MasterClasses offer great value to live poker players. You get specific advice on physical tells at the poker table, hand reading, bluffing etc.
So if you want to improve your game and beat the low and medium stakes (maybe at your local casino live poker tables), signing up for a MasterClass poker training session is a no-brainer. The price is very low compared to price of lessons you’d need to pay for your mistakes at the tables! Newer poker players will get more bang for their buck from these courses than some of the more material-heavy programmes.
- Pre-flop and blind defense
- Betting Tactics
- Bluffing
- Post-flop
- Deepstack play
- Mental game
- Table image and tells
- How to maximize value
- Betting and raising the right way to gain an advantage
- Strategies for tournaments and cash games
- Poker psychology
MasterClass in a nutshell
Best suited for:
MTT players, Live Cash Game players
Student testimonials:
“Hands down, Negreanu’s MasterClass is one of the best resources for learning poker fundamentals I’ve come across. If you’re a beginner, this course has everything you need to know to build a solid poker foundation, and there are plenty of unique insights Negreanu gives that intermediates can learn from as well. I like how the course helped me build my poker skills,” Finn Reuben.
“I was new to poker, so I opted for Phil Ivey’s Masterclass. Even though it cost me a small amount, I learned most of the basic things I needed to know about poker. I liked each of the lessons, which lasted 10 to 20 minutes. In three and a half hours, I had completed the course,” Bill Rivers.
Pokercoaching.com – Cash Game & Tournament Training
Pokercoaching.com is a good alternative for learning how to play winning poker. Its sections include lessons, quizzes, homework assignments, tools and rewards.
Jonathan Little, the founder of this poker training site, boasts over $7 million in poker winnings. He uses the site to explain the rules of poker and other basics you need to be an effective player.
The site has over 60 courses covering online and live cash games, single table games and top tournaments. As well as Jonathan Little, there are other trainers on the site. These include Elliot Roe and Jared Tandler, who will guide you through valuable mindset courses.
Once you have completed each course, you can do homework to see if you have really understood what you have learnt. There are also educational quizzes with unique rewards. You can use these to test your knowledge of poker.
Despite the work that has gone into building the website and developing the courses, Pokercoaching.com also has a subscription that is completely free. For the more advanced training materials you need to pay a monthly subscription.
Popular sections included on Pokercoaching.com cover the following topics:
- Hand Rankings: Little presents and explains hand rankings and then gives examples to illustrate the points. You get to understand how a winner is determined.
- Stack Size: Newbie poker players learn the importance of using big blinds to determine a stack. According to Little, a 50-big blind effective stack is the default.
- Starting Hands: This is where poker players begin to learn about strategy. You may want your starting hand to be in big pairs, flushes, straights, etc.
- Pre-Flop Strategy: Little discusses pre-flop strategy, beginning with the reasons to bet. He then delves into what you should do when everyone folds to you or you get a 3-bet.
- Post-Flop Strategy: Little introduces post-flop strategy by defining position, range advantage, and nut advantage. He then delves deeper into how players should decide on their post-flop strategy.
Pricing: Free, Standard $49/month, Premium $147/month
Pokercoaching.com in a nutshell
Best suited for:
MTT Players
Student reviews:
“I am a premium member of pokercoaching.com. I find it excellent. They’ve got content from several coaches, and the range of topics that (are) covered is vast. You can find everything from deep dives into solver analysis to play. The coach streams as he’s playing and answers questions. I particularly like the videos where two coaches gather and do hand reviews from their hand histories. The ones by Bert Stevens and Michael Acevedo are awesome” -Hacksaw99 via Reddit.
“Little said himself in one of his videos that if it weren’t for getting a couple (of) big lucky tourney scores, he (would) barely be a winning player. So, luck. That’s the secret to Little’s success. Can you study luck?” -Andrew Waldron.
PokerNerve
PokerNerve is another MTT-dedicated training site. Here you can learn a lot about tournament play with a 7-day free trial, basic package or premium package.
The platform’s lead instructor is Kevin Beattie, who boasts $4 million in online poker winnings over 14 years. He was once Australia’s number one poker player and has won more than ten Triple Crowns – quite an achievement!
The poker training site gives you access to over 40 premium and 50 additional learning videos. Each video is precise and focused on the topic at hand.
Module one introduces you to essential topics such as hand values, board structure, positional awareness and post-flop strategies. Module two focuses on implied odd, stack sizes and stack size based play. That’s before you learn more advanced concepts in modules three and four.
The seven day free trial should tell you if PokerNerve is worth signing up for. After that you can try out the full package.
- Bounty Hunter Course (Advanced PKO Training with +40 lessons)
- Road to Success Starter (Starter MTT Traning with +20 lessons)
- Road to Success Premium (Premium MTT Traning with +90 lessons)
PokerNerve in a nutshell
Best suited for:
MTT Players, Beginners
Student reviews:
“As a beginner, I chose PokerNerve over other poker training sites. My costs were way lower. So, I would advise all MTT rookies to consider this course,” -S. Feisa.
“I started with the free materials offered by PokerNerve. The site has quality content. I used the free trial to decide whether I liked the teaching approach. In the end, I loved it” -K. Frost.
BlackRain79 Elite Poker University
If you want a more in-depth poker training site for micro or small stakes, BlackRain79 Elite Poker University is likely to be the best choice. It offers over 17 hours of advanced poker video lessons with numerous sample hands and multiple cheat sheets to help you memorize effective strategies to beat your micro stakes opponents.
It provides practical and proven poker strategies for achieving results in the most popular Texas Hold’em game formats. The 50+ video lessons cover SNGs, tournaments, cash games, live poker, zoom, 6Max, online poker and full ring.
Nathan also teaches you profitable three-bet and four-bet buffing strategies to win zoom poker against passive and aggressive players. For beginners who want to play small stakes games, this course will teach you the most effective strategies.
The course has a bonus section where you can learn tournament and zoom poker strategies. By the end of the course, you’ll know how to dominate short, medium and big stack bubble situations and final table play.
The course is divided in to following sections:
- Welcome to BlackRain79 Elite Poker University!
- Elite Preflop Poker Strategy
- Elite Flop Poker Strategy
The following bonuses are included in the course price:
- Elite Zoom Poker Strategy Workshop ($300 Value)
- Elite Tournament Poker Strategy Workshop ($500 Value)
- Download My Preflop Starting Hand “Cheat Sheets” for Every Position at the Poker Table ($200 Value)
- The Ultimate Guide to Semi-Professional Poker ($200 Value)
- The Ultimate Guide to Playing Poker Professionally ($500 Value)
Elite Poker University in a nutshell
Best suited for:
MTT Players, Cash Game players
Student reviews:
“It is, without doubt, an excellent course for TG small-stakes play. I’ve had excellent success for someone so new, and I think it gets new players into excellent habits. In none of Nathan’s videos does he try to claim to be the best player out there. He’s very chill and down to earth. For a total newbie, the $300 fee will save them much cash in the long run” -J. Hayes.
“There are over 17 hours of professionally edited material covering every aspect of poker strategy, both on the poker tables and away from them, for both live and online games. There are dozens of downloadable ‘cheat sheets,’ extensive bonus material for Zoom, tournaments, and more, which is being added all the time” -N. Tripp.
PLO QuickPro
PLO QuickPro is a poker training site run by John Beauprez. It specializes in training players who want to learn more about Pot Limit Omaha. The site has content for players of all skill levels.
It teaches you advanced knowledge of Pot Limit Omaha through training materials such as videos and charts.
While there is plenty of free content, you will have to pay between $297 and $1,497 for more advanced courses. The platform uses the services of successful PLO players who share their knowledge with others.
Some key aspects of Omaha that are covered in PLO QuickPro courses include the following:
- How to increase non-showdown winnings
- How to fight back against aggressive players
- Playing profitably out of position
The courses on this site are the following:
- PLO QuickPro Win$1k
- PLO QuickPro Out Of Position Mastery
- PLO QuickPro Manual
- PLO QuickPro Postflop Power
- 3Bet Pots Game Theory & Practice Standard Package (by Cory Mikesell)
- 3Bet Pots Game Theory & Practice GTO Package (by Cory Mikesell)
PLO QuickPro in a nutshell
Best suited for:
PLO Cash
Student reviews:
“I’ve reviewed some of their free content, which seems basic (duh, it’s free). But it’s good. They are the strategy sponsors of the 2 pm poker cast and now seem legit” -S. Totur.
“I would like to say that I’m thrilled with the videos and book content so far. I made it through 3bet and monotone mastery, and I think I am slightly less lost. I have already made the money back for the purchase, but I’m on a small heater right now. More importantly, I more than doubled my EV from 2BB/100 hands to 5BB/100 hands, and I think the videos mostly caused it. Still make a lot of mistakes, though, but I can spot some of them right now” -Jan Fernandez.
What are the best free poker training sites?
The best way to learn the rules of poker (and the basics on how to play poker) is through free training resources. Because these sites aren’t dedicated training platforms, they offer completely free content. These include GGPoker, Unibet Poker, 888 Poker and PokerStars – and of course our very our Poker Strategy section here at Beastsofpoker.com!
Here’s a summary of the best free poker training resources:
- Our 6-max cash games strategy guide and micro stakes poker strategy guide are the most popular ones for Texas Hold’em players. We also cover poker tournament strategy here, as well as Pot-Limit Omaha starting hands & PLO Beginner guide here.
- GGPoker’s blog section offers an extensive directory of articles that introduce essential concepts. For example, you can learn how to play a range and how to approach the game. After reading the articles, you can start playing immediately.
- 888Poker also has a great blog with lots of educational resources on all things poker. For example, you can learn a lot about range composition, MDF strategies, etc. Beginners can also learn the basic rules of poker.
- The PokerStars website offers free poker training for new players. It has a well-organized poker school with categories to make it easier to filter the content. Content includes tournaments, cash games, etc. There are also theory articles and live poker content to help sharpen your skills.
- Unibet Poker has a blog with extensive content that can help you learn everything you need to know about playing poker. There is also a forum where players can share their knowledge and help each other improve their strategies.
Are poker training sites worth paying for?
If you’re serious about winning any decent money in poker, they’re totally worth it. Most of the courses on these sites have been crafted by professional poker players, some of whom have won millions over a lifetime playing poker. They provide valuable insights that you wouldn’t have gotten from anywhere else.
You must be willing to work to understand critical concepts and learn what it takes to win your games. Of course, joining a poker training site won’t make you a top player immediately. You have to put in the work and practice a lot.
Then again, winning players do not shy away from putting in the work they need to stay on top. They are usually members of instructional sites, dedicated to sharing knowledge in forums and reviewing each other’s hand histories. They never stop learning – and that’s what keeps poker enjoyable for them.
Final Words
Some of the online poker veterans have lived the days when it was enough to raise preflop and take down the pot with a c-bet to print money at the full-ring tables. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Reading a poker book or two and playing an ABC game learned on a poker forum isn’t going to cut it anymore. Working in a structured way on your poker game is a must if you want to become a winning poker player. The most efficient way to do that is signing-up to a poker training site and studying their materials prepared for your preferred game format. These training materials will help you rise in stakes and win more at both online tables & when playing live poker at your local casino.
Most of the monthly memberships cost around $30-199 per month. Increasing your poker edge doesn’t have to be that expensive after all! If you want long-term success, utilizing the best poker training sites is highly recommended. Get started today – happy training and see you at the tables!
Poker Training Sites FAQ
A structured approach works best for getting the maximum learning effect out of any poker training site. You need to realize that watching videos and reading free poker articles randomly without any structure will not help you much. You should first work on your fundamentals, and then move on to more advanced poker concepts and courses. Successful poker players develop a system of what they need to do each day to improve their game, and that’s what you should do too!
The first step you need to get right is choosing the right poker format. Many players choose the wrong format when taking into account their strengths as a player, and some do not make the choice at all! Decide what format you want to play and make it fits your needs the best way possible.
Only after you’ve made this decision will you be able to reach your potential as a player and stop wasting energy on things that do not matter. Getting proper tracking software and poker tools is essential for all online players. A free 30-day trial version is available for both Holdem Manager 3 and Poker Tracker 4. If you’re shooting for the fastest learning curve possible, we recommend to get paid poker coaching for your preferred game format.
Anyone can become a solid player as long as they understand a few basic principles. Before you start building your poker game and strategy, you should ensure following conditions are met:
- You have a preparation routine for sessions where you turn off distractions and make sure your basic needs are taken care of before you start playing.
- You can identify good games to reduce variance.
- You know when to quit a table.
- You don’t start playing poker if there is something else on your mind.
Ask any veteran high stakes player, and they’re likely to have this type poker warm-up routine. These simple yet crucial routines will affect your poker mindset and results more than any strategy you can learn – make sure you get them right before working on your poker strategy!
There is no way around that GTO or Game Theory Optimal strategies are the foundation for any exploitative plays you might make. All poker pros should learn GTO play since that’s the baseline strategy you should stick to before you have reads on your opponents to make exploitative plays.
But, GTO is only used as a starting point vs good players or unknown players. Instead of trying to balance your ranges in each spot, you should aim to punish your opponents to the maximum for their particular mistakes. That’s where exploitative strategies come into play: The players who make the most money in poker are very good in exploiting their opponents. Don’t leave money on the table by blindly following GTO or solver-based plays!
Since blinds are continuously increasing in tournament poker and the prize structure heavily favors those who can make it to the final table, the optimal strategy in tournaments will differ from cash game strategy a lot. The biggest difference is basically that once the tournament goes deep, you should play more according to the stack sizes of different players at the table and adjust your aggression based on the prize pool structure, while in cash games you’re always looking to make the most +EV play in chips.
Mastering preflop strategy will give you a solid edge against your opponents. Even if you’re a postflop god who can outplay people after the flop, it doesn’t matter much if you’re leaking a ton of chips in preflop spots.
Improving your preflop game is like building a house: You need to lay good foundations before you can build anything solid on top of it. Pretty much every good poker player uses hand charts, whether they’re printed out or just an image in their head.
To improve your game, you should first learn basic opening and 3betting charts in your preferred game format. Then, start to deviate only gradually from those hand selection charts if you’re facing opponents who are way too loose or tight. All the best poker training sites offer preflop charts as part of their training materials, so make sure to take advantage of them.
You have a couple of options for finding and plugging leaks: Marking up hands and going through them with a coach or poker friends, or analysing your play on your own. The first option is perhaps a bit easier, since you don’t have to find the answers by yourself: Just record your session or mark the hands that gave you trouble, and let your coach find the leaks and suggest corrections. The second option takes more work, but it should give you a deeper understanding of the game in general.
Analysing your game can be done with the help of tracking software such as Poker Tracker or Holdem Manager. You can compare your stats to those of winning players, and analyse all types of stats of your own and those of your opponent’s. After you’ve played around with these tools for a while, you can learn more about the game than you previously thought possible.
The most crucial parts of poker strategy are those that affect your win-rate the most. These might not be the most exciting spots or big hands, but getting them right is vital to your success. True winners understand not only what to do in poker, but also why to do that. The areas of poker strategy you should master are the following:
- When to c-bet the flop and when to keep barrelling
- How to play from big blind facing a c-bet or a check-back
- How to continue postflop in 3-bet pots after calling a 3-bet in position
- When to bluff catch
- How to size your bets to manipulate your opponents into making mistakes
While it’s hard to say what the absolute best poker training app is, the top apps for learning poker are Poker Snowie, SnapShove, Tournament Poker Coach and Poker Copilot. Using a training app to learn poker can raise your game quite quickly. Poker training software might soon even replace your poker coach as powerful AI’s are being deployed in this area!
The best free poker training options to improve your game include reading poker articles and watching educational poker videos. You can find great free articles here at Beasts Of Poker or sites like Upswing Poker and Pokernews. For the best free video content, just check out some channels of professional poker players who are active Twitch streamers or Youtubers.
Online poker sites on the whole are definitely not rigged. Most likely you’re just facing normal variance – poker is a game of both luck and skill after all. Also the financial incentives for the poker sites to maintain a true integrity of their real money poker games are just too important for them to go for non-random cards being deal at the table. However, in case you think a particular poker site is rigged, you should stop playing there and withdraw all your money from that poker website.
There is an excellent article on why some players just can’t seem to win at online poker sites – check out this free poker article from PokerGlobal.
PokerStars is the biggest site with the most cash game players according to online poker sites traffic report on PokerScout. When partypoker left the US market, PokerStars took over as the biggest online poker room in the world. GGPoker is not too far behind in terms of real money players and we predict it’s only a question of time when it surpasses PokerStars as the market leader.
Author
Johannes Turunen
Johannes is the Editor in Chief at Beasts Of Poker and is an expert in both live & online poker. Johannes played online poker semi-professionally for 5 years while completing his Master’s Degree in Technology.
