Poker Teaching Sites

Training to Be a Pro But Need Help

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Advanced Poker Training Play up to 500 hands an hour against virtual opponents who try to beat you, while receiving real time advice, instant reports, and weekly training plans.

• Cash-game action is the site’s focus, though tournament play and other poker variants in addition to Texas Hold’em also receive some attention. Site instructors include noted online pros Emil “whitelime” Patel, Joe Tall, Vanessa Selbst, Ariel Schneller and many others. See more details about Deuces Cracked and if its worth it.
• Enter any casino, and the biggest bets are always on the baccarat tables. With online casinos, Poker Teaching Sites players can enjoy the same level of excitement on live dealer baccarat games. Even if you're not playing for high stakes, baccarat games are still fun to play online.
• Pokerology continues to grow and expand, and as complete as the site is, it will never be completely finished. As the game changes the site will continue to change with it so that your poker education is always on point, forever on the cutting edge, and eternally up-to-date with contemporary thinking and know how. Welcome to Pokerology.
• Video poker, once mastered, is one of the easiest and most enjoyable games to play either online or at a land-based casino. Online video poker uses a 52-card deck and all variants of video poker games are based on the 5-card draw system of poker. In order to play free poker slots, you’ll need to follow a few quick and easy steps.

Hey, there, fledgling poker player! So you’re tired of not winning at the tables, you’re looking to improve your game, and you’ve heard a lot about these online poker training sites? Lots of your opponents seem to be subscribing to them and improving their games. Can joining one or several of these sites improve your game as well? And if so, which sites give you the best bang for your buck? Below are a few of the best and most well-known poker training sites on the market today, and what each of them has to offer.

For a quick start we have also put together some basic tips to playing poker to help you get on your path to becoming a poker professional, or just saving a couple bucks.

DEUCESCRACKED

A top-tier site for those players seeking ways to improve their cash-game play. DeucesCracked’s videos are better edited than many of the site’s competitors, and with a library now in excess of 1,200 videos, there’s plenty to choose from. Cash-game action is the site’s focus, though tournament play and other poker variants in addition to Texas Hold’em also receive some attention.

Site instructors include noted online pros Emil “whitelime” Patel, Joe Tall, Vanessa Selbst (female pro), Ariel Schneller and many others.

See more details about Deuces Cracked and if its worth it.

CARDRUNNERS

By consensus CardRunners is the largest of all online poker training sites, having also merged with former competitor StoxPoker. CardRunners serves up an extensive library of thousands of poker training videos, with a heavy focus on cash-game play. The site’s professional tutors include Cole South, Michael “timex” McDonald, Brian “sbrugby” Hastings, Taylor “greenplastic” Caby and many others. Many of these players were the original high stakes players in online poker whom moved onto the business side. The massive library needs better organization, but the overall quality of the videos are among the best in this category.

See more details about Cardrunners and if its worth it.

POKERXFACTOR

While many of the training sites listed here focus primarily on cash-game play, PokerXFactor’s focus is on tournament action instead. Led by the legendary online duo of Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and Eric “Sheets” Haber (who are also among the largest backers of other players in the industry), the site also includes instructional offerings from Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Scott “BigRissky” Clements and many others. The site offers a library of several hundred videos, and includes an interactive hand-history viewer allowing members to review and share their own questionable or interesting plays.

10 Best Free Poker Sites

Here is the full review of PokerXfactor’s tournament training site.

BLUEFIREPOKER

BlueFirePoker is one of the best sites for cash game strategy and videos. The site has a massive list of professional players including Niman “Samoleus” Kenkre, Martin Fournier Giguere (a/k/a “Giggy”) and others in assembling one of the most impressive catalog of videos to date. The guys that run that coach on the site have some interesting reads that most pros follow, plus a forum where professionals discuss hands with players. The price of training will run you $30 a month and they whack you with a $100 upfront initiation fee as well. It’s worth it when you’re getting tips from Phil Galfond, arguably one of the most consistently recognized high stakes pro.

Read more about Bluefire the training site.

GRINDER SCHOOL

More geared to beginning and intermediate players, Grinder School is a newer site centered on several hundred videos that emphasize the core concepts of basic play, with a target audience of micro-, low- and mid-stakes players. The site offers both cash-game and tournament tutorials but focuses heavily on NLHE action, though other games and topics are showing signs of receiving attention. I think this will be a great site for when the US is legalized for the average player. Cost is only $20 and there is no beginning initiation fee but you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t personally use them but their library of videos is greater than 1000 comparable to similar training sites…

Read our full review about our featured best site for low stakes training.

POKERSTARS POKER SCHOOL (POKER SCHOOL ONLINE/PSO)

Several of the largest poker sites now offer their own basic tutorial packages, free of charge, with PokerStars among the sites doing so. Stars’ PSO offerings are free (account registration required), though they are geared toward beginners; intermediate and advanced players won’t pick up much new here. Still, the groundwork covered here is a solid start for playing poker. Please note that PokerStars now owns Full Tilt Poker Academy, but they are two separate entities. The problem with poker sites offering their own training is that it dwindles the experience for casual players and is usually not in their best interest, thus the ‘basic information’ you get for free.

You can read more on the Pokerstars School here.

Conclusion

The above-listed training sites are some of the best online but depending on your skill level, stakes, bankroll, and preferred game type, the best site for your game can wildly differ. Most sites allow players a free trial, or at least, the ability to view their video library and lessons before signing up. Take advantage of this and be sure to look for information that will suit your skill level. For my money, DeucesCracked is the best training site for poker players of all stakes.

Author:Joseph Falchetti (twitter)
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Choosing a high quality poker training site is one of the more important decisions an aspiring poker player can make. The poker training market is incredibly overcrowded and a lot of the material created is of dubious quality. It seems that every day a new “strategy” website is born. Unfortunately, since Black Friday a lot of training websites have struggled to maintain a high quality product. There are lots of factors to consider when choosing a training website (content quality, forum traffic, price, etc), so we’ll break down some of the top poker training websites by category to help you choose the best place to get started.

Why Sign Up To a Poker Training Website?

Training websites are a great way to vault your game up to the next level. Poker is an incredibly challenging game and, in order to achieve success, it is vital to have support from expert players. Not only do training websites provide videos where you can hear the thought processes of top players, but in many cases they also feature forums that give you the opportunity to interact with great poker minds. Many coaches are surprisingly willing to dispense with high-quality free advice in these forums. As an aspiring player, this information is invaluable. The only downside to signing up is the cost, and that is relatively insignificant ($30 per month is close to the industry standard). Also, keep in mind that for lower stakes players there are many options that are much cheaper than $30, which still offer good content. Let’s take a look at some of the best poker training websites.

Advanced Poker Training

Most poker training websites offer real time and delayed commentary videos done by top poker players. However, Advanced Poker Training takes a slightly different approach to teaching the game. They have created a poker simulator that allows you to play against other theoretical opponents and dispenses advice to you. This allows you to learn in a highly productive interactive manner. The website features Mike Caro as a poker coach, who is famous in the poker world for his book Mike Caro’s Book of tells—The Body Language of Poker. Overall, I would say that this website may be of some benefit to beginning poker players, but more advanced players will probably want to go elsewhere. Advanced Poker Training’s simulator is not a good enough substitute for real time or delayed commentary videos from top players. However, the interactive learning environment may help you learn some of the basics faster than other training techniques.

#1 – Ivey League

Like the name suggests, this really is an exclusive product. Phil Ivey is arguably the best poker player in the world, and with his connections, he has put together an incredibly impressive stable of coaches. Ivey League features Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Cole South, Aaron Jones, and a legion of other high quality and reputable players. While Ivey League is very new to the poker training sphere, they are making quite a splash. In order to boost their poker content, they purchased a long standing company in the poker instructional business “Leggo Poker.” Ivey League has hundreds of high quality videos that cover a range of topics including NLHE, PLO, Seven Card Stud, Omaha 8 or Better, 2-7 Triple Draw, and Mixed Games. Also, because Ivey League coaches are some of the best players in the world, they are able to offer insight on high stakes games, which is something many other training websites lack. They have three tiers of membership including Undergraduate, Bachelors, and Masters, which have a monthly price of $0, $9, and $75, respectively. Ivey League poker is simply on a different level than any of the other training sites on the market right now. One potential downside is, because of their size, forum members may not have the same level of access to players/coaches as they would get at a more niche website. Great work here by Ivey’s team- let’s hope they keep it up. VISIT WEBSITE

#2 – Tournament Poker Edge

This is a niche product website that has focused entirely on helping players win at Multi-Table Tournaments. Their singular focus has paid off with an attention to detail that may be lacking at some of the bigger training websites. Tournament Poker Edge makes a point to be incredibly responsive to emails, forum posts, etc. If you are interested in learning how to play MTT’s and want to ask questions, this is a great place to get answers. You may have never heard of their coaches, like Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah and Daryl ”aaaaaaaa” Jace. But just because you haven’t heard of them doesn’t mean they aren’t awesome at what they do. In fact, each of these coaches have about $3 million in lifetime tournament winnings. The cost is $29.95, but you can get a slight discount by purchasing per quarter, and a year’s membership costs only $299.85. Tournament Poker Edge also has a frequent podcast where you can listen to some top players from around the world. Podcasts are a really fun way to gain some insight into what life is like as a poker player. It seems like a lot of the coaches on this website are serious grinders of online tournaments. Tournament Poker Edge is a solid choice for serious MTT players and definitely fits into the discussion of the best poker trainer sites. VISIT WEBSITE

#3 – Poker VT

You probably know about Poker VT because it features Daniel Negreanu, one of the most famous poker players and personalities in the industry. Daniel has numerous videos on this website that talk about MTT’s, FT Cash, SH Cash, HU Cash, etc. This is certainly a valuable asset, and they have a couple of other solid coaches on the roster as well. With over 2,000 poker trainer videos, there is plenty of content to view. The website appears to be geared slightly more toward tournament players but offers a wide range of cash game content as well. Unfortunately, at least according to the schedule on their website, they don’t appear to be adding new content anymore. Also, the forums seem to be quite inactive. This is not a website that I would recommend when there are other choices available, like Ivey League, Tournament Poker Edge, or elsewhere. Their fee schedule was $29.99 per month, but, given the level of inactivity, it doesn’t seem to be a worthwhile investment. VISIT WEBSITE

Poker Teaching Sites Videos

Daniel Negreanu The Poker Trainer At Poker VT:

#4 – PokerXFactor

This training website has very limited cash game content and focuses primarily on MTT’s. Most of the top featured coaches, including Russell Carson, have an impressive tournament resume. When you sign up, you can receive twelve videos for free, and they are currently running a “Big Spring Sale” with eight months offered for under $100. That seems like decent value compared to the other poker training websites. They are producing a new video every second day or so, and 85% of it seems to be MTT focused. One cool feature of PokerXFactor is they have a weekly “classroom” where you can register and join into a meeting of fellow poker players. This is a great interactive way to learn from other top poker players. PokerXFactor also comes with some exclusive poker tools including a 3-Bet Calculator, Tournament Payout Calculator, Re-stealing Spreadsheet, and more. These can be fairly useful tools for intermediate and advanced players. VISIT WEBSITE

#5 – Pocket Fives

This is a well-known brand in the poker tournament space. Pocket Fives has been around since 2005, and they are pioneers at trying to rank tournament players. Like many of the other websites we have reviewed, their primary focus is on MTT’s. Again, they have an impressive line-up of internet superstars who have won some serious cash online. Their poker forum appears to be quite active, which is a huge positive if you are trying to learn. The monthly cost is $30 per month, but they offer a pretty significant discount on a yearly signup ($250). That comes out to an average of just over $20 per month, which is pretty good value considering their line-up of coaches and their respected brand. You can also get Pocket Fives training for free if you sign up through their referral link to certain websites like PokerStars, 888.com, etc. VISIT WEBSITE

Summary

All Poker Sites

Finding a poker training website that works for you is a very personal decision. Every website will have its own personality and culture. What I have noticed is that some websites are incredibly welcoming and all the forum regulars and coaches are prompt, helpful, and respectful. This is not the case with every website. Generally, there is a bit of an inverse relationship between size of a website and the quality of the forums. Smaller niche websites have less anonymity and the owners keep a close eye on what is occurring in the forums. Bottom line is there are a lot of good options to choose from in the poker training space. Some of the best poker training websites are listed above with Ivey League being the big dog in the industry right now. However, biggest is not always best, especially if you are able to find a coach who explains complicated concepts in a way that makes sense to you. Everybody has a slightly different learning and teaching style, and unfortunately they do not always mix. It doesn’t matter if a website has great coaches if they don’t make sense to you! Don’t be afraid to try a couple of websites out and see if you find some great content and a friendly environment to learn in. Good luck!