Lessons
Poker lessons in modules, free or reserved for Pro.
Free lessons are open to everyone. Pro lessons are reserved for Pro subscribers.
Foundations
Ranges and combos
6 min
What a range is, why there are 1,326 starting combos, and how to count what your opponent can hold.
FoundationsPot odds and equity
9 min
Work out in seconds whether a poker call is profitable: pot odds, equity, the rule of outs and its limits, with two step-by-step worked examples.
FoundationsExpected value (EV)
8 min
EV measures what a poker decision earns on average. The formula, the EV of a call and of a bluff, and why a +EV decision can lose tonight.
FoundationsPositions and initiative
8 min
The six 6-max poker positions, why acting last is worth money, what preflop initiative changes, and common mistakes from UTG and the BB.
Preflop
Defending your BB against the button Pro
10 min
6-max cash, the button opens, the SB folds. The price you get, MDF, and which hands call, raise or fold from the BB.
PreflopOpening by position Pro
9 min
6-max cash, unopened pot. Why your opening range widens from UTG to the button, what that is worth in combos, open sizing and the classic leaks.
PreflopThe 3-bet: value and bluff Pro
10 min
6-max cash, 100 bb. Linear or polarized, why A5s-A2s are the natural bluffs, the value/bluff ratio, the size and the fold equity you need.
PreflopFacing a 3-bet Pro
10 min
You opened, you got 3-bet. Fold, call or 4-bet: price, the 3-bettor's range by seat and profile, hands that call, SPR, leaks.
PreflopThe squeeze Pro
10 min
Open, one call, you raise. Why the squeeze works, its size, fold equity against two opponents, an example range and the leaks that cost you.
PreflopThe 4-bet and the shove Pro
11 min
Value and bluff 4-bets, blockers, size and SPR, the equity of a shoving hand against a calling range, and the EV math of a 100 bb shove.
PreflopPlaying by stack depth Pro
10 min
How effective stack changes preflop, from short push/fold to deep play: what shrinks, what gains value, and the two depth leaks.
Postflop
The c-bet Pro
10 min
Why bet the flop when you raised preflop, which boards favor you, which size to pick and what your Leakproof report measures.
PostflopThe check-raise Pro
9 min
When to raise after checking: protect your range, punish the automatic c-bet, pick your semi-bluffs with outs and read the price you give.
PostflopThe probe bet Pro
8 min
Betting the turn out of position when the aggressor checked the flop: why his range is capped, which cards help and how to calculate the probe.
PostflopThe overbet Pro
9 min
When betting more than the pot makes sense, what it demands of the opponent (MDF, required fold), the consistent share of bluffs and who to avoid it against.
PostflopReading the board texture Pro
11 min
Dry, wet, paired, monotone, connected: what each texture does to ranges, exact flop probabilities, and the rule of 2 and 4 put to the test.
PostflopPlaying out of position Pro
11 min
Why your equity realizes poorly when you act first, a worked calculation, a rule for defending your draws and how to pick your check-raises.
PostflopThe turn barrel Pro
9 min
Which turns to barrel, the EV of a semi-bluff, the fold equity you need, and how your c-bet range has to tighten on the turn.
PostflopThin value on the river Pro
10 min
Betting a medium hand on the river: the exact rule, the EV of three sizes on a written range, the check-raise risk, and a quick test.
GTO
Mixed strategies: why we mix Pro
10 min
Why a solver plays the same hand sometimes as a call, sometimes as a raise. Indifference, bluff ratio, MDF, and when not to mix.
GTOEquilibrium and indifference Pro
11 min
Nash equilibrium on the river, worked out step by step on a toy game. What it guarantees, what it doesn't, and how solvers reach it.
GTOMDF and its limits Pro
10 min
MDF gives the defense frequency that makes a pure bluff worthless. Work it out, tell it apart from pot odds and know which spots to ignore it in.
GTOPolarized or linear range Pro
10 min
A polarized range bets the nuts and air. A linear one bets everything that beats the top of the opposing range. Combos, value/bluff ratios by size, merge.
GTORange advantage and nut advantage Pro
11 min
Who hits the flop best, and who has the monsters? Two separate questions, put into numbers on two boards, with a shortcut to count the nuts.
GTOChoosing your bet size Pro
11 min
What a bet size does (price, allowed bluffs, protection), the geometric bet to be all-in on the river, and when to bet small or big.
NVX method
The N·V·X method: counting in 8 seconds Pro
12 min
Three numbers and one question to decide facing a river bet without rebuilding his range: N, V, X, the routine, three worked examples.
NVX methodValue or bluff: the ratio Pro
10 min
MDF, required fold, bluff share for each sizing: the formulas in plain terms, a computed table, and the link with the N·V·X count.
NVX methodN·V·X at the table: the 20 spots Pro
9 min
How the 20-spot diagnostic organizes your leaks, how to turn it into a weekly routine, read your score and fix the three most expensive mistakes.
Advanced
3-bet pots Pro
11 min
Why a 3-bet pot plays differently: low SPR, range advantage by texture, c-bet and required fold, and what your report measures.
AdvancedBlind versus blind Pro
9 min
BvB explained: wide ranges on both sides, the BB's positional edge, limp or raise from the SB, and the price the BB gets to defend.
AdvancedBlockers Pro
10 min
What a blocker removes from your opponent's range, with combo counts before and after, when it changes a decision and when it barely matters.
AdvancedMultiway pots Pro
9 min
Why your equity melts with three or more players, why bluffs disappear, who c-bets, and how the required fold multiplies across opponents.
Exploits
Exploit or GTO: when to deviate Pro
10 min
GTO is your floor, not your ceiling. Compute the fold threshold that makes a bluff profitable, the conditions to deviate, and what it costs you.
ExploitsNode-lock: forcing the mistake Pro
11 min
Fix the villain's strategy at one node, recompute your best response. A river toy game solved by hand: the gain, the pure line and the risk.
ExploitsExploiting the calling station Pro
10 min
Against a player who calls too much, your value bets widen and your bluffs disappear. Exact river math, a mental shortcut and its measured error.
ExploitsExploiting the nit Pro
10 min
A nit folds too much and only calls with strong hands. Work out the fold equity of a blind steal, the break-even point, and what your shortcut costs you.
ExploitsTesting a population tendency Pro
10 min
Your pool folds too much to 3-bets? Compute the confidence interval of an observed frequency, the 1/√N shortcut and its error, before you deviate.
Player profiles
Reading a player from his stats Pro
9 min
VPIP, PFR and 3-bet are enough for a first portrait of an opponent, AF and WTSD refine it. How many hands you need, which profiles, what to do against each.
Player profilesCalling station and maniac Pro
11 min
Two opponents, two plans. The stats that spot them, then the exact math: equity against a range that calls, bluffs needed against a maniac.
Player profilesTAG, LAG, nit: the three reg profiles Pro
9 min
TAG, LAG, nit placed on their stats: sourced bands, what stays unsourced for the LAG, and the interval that tells you whether you can label someone.
Player profilesSpotting a recreational player Pro
10 min
No stat says "recreational". The sourced signals, the width of his range in combos, the error of a 100-hand sample, and what you do with it.
Stats
Reading your Leakproof report: the 11 stats Pro
12 min
What each poker stat in your report counts (VPIP, PFR, 3-bet, WTSD, AF, bb/100), what a high or low value says, and why the bot refuses a small sample.
StatsThe VPIP / PFR gap Pro
7 min
The VPIP-PFR gap shows how often you call instead of raising preflop in poker. How to read it, the Leakproof report threshold, and what to fix first.
Cash games
Rake and effective stack Pro
9 min
What rake costs your winrate, why it hits small pots harder, and why the effective stack (the shortest one) decides what you can play.
Cash gamesSPR: the stack-to-pot ratio Pro
9 min
SPR measures how many bets are left to play on the flop. How to compute it, what it says about your hand, and how preflop sets it before the flop even comes.
Tournaments
ICM, why a correct call can be a mistake Pro
12 min
In a tournament, your chips are not money. The ICM model, a worked 3-player example, and a call at 55.0 % equity that loses money.
TournamentsPush/fold on the bubble Pro
10 min
When your stack is short, only push or fold is left. The EV formula of a push, why we call tighter than we shove, and what ICM tightens.
TournamentsStructure and ante Pro
9 min
Rising blinds, classic ante or big blind ante: what the dead money changes for your open, your BB defense and the number of orbits you have left.
TournamentsPKO and bounties Pro
10 min
The official progressive KO rule, a bounty's value in chips with the proportional model, and what it does to your BB call against a short shove.
TournamentsThe final table Pro
11 min
With nine players all in the money, your chips aren't worth their face value. Pay jumps, the ICM value of a stack, bubble factor, effect on a call and a shove.
TournamentsResteal and rejam from 10 to 25 bb Pro
11 min
Facing an open, shove or fold. The required fold formula, a calculation at three depths, what blockers are worth, an exercise on fold to 3-bet.
Expresso & Spins
The Expresso: the format and the multipliers Pro
9 min
The Winamax Expresso format, the multiplier table read off the official page, what the room keeps and what it changes in your strategy.
Expresso & SpinsExpresso heads-up in push or fold Pro
9 min
Under 15 bb, Expresso heads-up is often played shove or fold. The ranges computed at 6, 10 and 15 bb, four test hands and the leaks to fix.
Expresso & SpinsThree-handed push/fold Pro
10 min
Three-handed Expresso: what we can calculate (SB vs BB after the button folds, in chips and in money) and what no tool gives you (the button's shove).
Expresso & SpinsExpresso variance Pro
10 min
Two sources of variance: your games and the multiplier draw. Standard deviation per game, the big draws, and how many games it takes to prove a ROI.
Bankroll
Bankroll management Pro
8 min
A poker bankroll exists to survive variance, not to show off a score. Buy-ins, moving up and down in stakes, rake, a tracking log: the rules, no promises.
BankrollVariance and sample size Pro
10 min
Winrate, standard deviation and confidence interval: how many poker hands before a result means something, with the formula and two worked examples.
Mindset
Mental game and anti-tilt protocol Pro
10 min
Recognize the forms of tilt, apply a protocol before, during and after the session, set stop rules and review your hands cold.
MindsetCalibration: knowing what you know Pro
9 min
Measure whether your confidence matches reality with the Brier score, spot overconfidence and underconfidence, and know which spots to study first.
MindsetBiases at the table Pro
11 min
Results, recency, confirmation, sunk cost, revenge and fancy play: one worked spot for each, with the exact odds and equity.
MindsetFatigue and session length Pro
9 min
What research establishes about fatigue, sleep and breaks, what it does not, and how to set your session length without inventing numbers.
MindsetGetting through a downswing Pro
9 min
How often a winner drops 10 or 20 buy-ins, what the math can't tell you, and the written rules that keep you from making a downswing worse.
MindsetThe session routine Pro
8 min
Before, during, after: a written routine, short and checkable, taken from the mental game sheet, with how often your stop-loss really triggers.