POKER LEARNING RESOURCES - BEST POKER FORUMS ONLINE
Moving beyond poker basics and improving your game is, without exception, a process that requires considerable investments of time and energy. If you are serious about it and you share the professionals desire to keep improving and always stay on top of your game, then finding the right resources to help you in this endeavor is absolutely crucial for success.
As we all know, the internet offers an enormous amount of material on all kinds of different topics and poker is no exception. E-Books, instructions videos and texts, training programs and coaching apps are all available in the vast expanses of the online world but it is important to remember that the quality of this available content is always quite inconsistent and you are bound to run into good and bad examples.
In this article, we will review a number of different websites offering a wide variety of content. However, the main focus will be concentrated on Poker Forums – strongly connected communities of both beginners and professionals – places to share knowledge and gain support in your quest for improvement.
INTERNET FORUMS – SHARING KNOWLEDGE SINCE THE DAWN OF WORLD WIDE WEB
Internet Forums are an early form of online communication and they have managed to stay alive and vibrant despite all the tech advances of recent years. For the slightly older generations that saw the birth and gradual growth of these online communities, it is actually quite moving to think about the particular qualities that allowed their survival and growth over the years. They are still (as in the early days) very simple but closely moderated platforms that connect people into incredibly strong communities that share the same passion and value the idea of sharing knowledge.
This quality is crucial for forums continuing presence and flourishment and it also makes them one of the best learning resources, not only for the wealth of information they hold, but for the incredible possibilities of community feedback and genuine interaction between helpful, kind and generous people truly wanting to share their knowledge and experience.
Of course, like everything else, all content on the web can be either free or subject to a fee. Here, we’ll review several sites on both sides of the coin, starting of course, with free content.
FREE WEBSITES (in no particular order)
TwoPlusTwo is the largest poker forum online. It is also often dubbed as “the best poker community on the web”. While some of these attributes are certainly debatable, it is without a doubt, one of the most popular and almost unavoidable resources for any poker enthusiast out there.
Besides its TwoPlusTwo Publishing Company (that sold over two million books) and an influential Monthly Magazine and Weekly Podcast, TwoPlusTwo does not offer courses, instruction videos, coaching, arcade games or other similar things. It is, most importantly - a forum, a strong community.
It was founded by a statistician and a popular poker pro and author Mason Malmuth and it features books and articles from the likes of David Sklansky, Dan Harrington, Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, Alan Schoonmaker and others.
The sheer size and wealth of useful content and information available on TwoPlusTwo is quite staggering and it makes the site an indispensable source for anyone interested in exploring the world of poker and/or the people within it.
All types of poker and gambling topics are discussed on TwoPlusTwo and you can find almost all imaginable poker related queries. There are even sections on gossip, brags, politics etc. and this is probably the main reason why almost any important poker related news usually breaks fist exactly on TwoPlusTwo.
The website’s design is not particularly impressive. Even the forum looks like an old school Bulletin Board. This means it is well organized and split into clear sections and categories. There is an astonishing number of 97 categories. They range from all kinds of Poker, Strategy, Marketplace, News, Poker Theory,Ttells, Coaching and International forums to general sections like Health, Travel and Politics. Surprisingly, even these “off topic” boards generate a reasonable amount of discussion. For example, in comparison to our next reviewed website Poker V.I.P, only the “Politics” subforum on TwoPlusTwo has almost 9.000 threads and more than 1.3 million posts compared to the Poker V.I.P’s most popular poker related subforum that has “only” 4.300 threads and just over 23.000 posts.It is a live and vibrant community and surely an indispensable resource for anyone seriously interested in poker.
Poker V.I.P. markets itself as the fastest growing poker forum in the world. It is a beautifully designed, eye pleasing website and even the forum, while retaining its functionality, seems a lot fresher than the traditional, old school bulletin board look.
It offers a multitude of quality content and all kinds of different poker learning resources such as strategy articles, instruction videos, video player reviews, poker arcade games, learning courses, prizes and frequent competitions etc.
It is a very rich site and it even offers free professional hand evaluations. This means that selected professionals are actually tasked with the evaluation of all poker hands posted on the forum. While it is not a feature unique to this site, it seems to be the only place that offers it absolutely free, without any kind of subscription charge.
The Forum is divided in 9 categories. Some of the most interesting categories are:
- Poker Theory, Concepts & Discussion (a place to introduce yourself and discuss poker concepts and theory);
- Support (a place to find the best poker rooms and view information about promotions. Here, you can also get valuable support from various online poker rooms);
- Line checks/HH Reviews/Stat Analysis (a place to post hands for line checks and hand history reviews);
- My Poker Journey (a place to share yours and read about others’).
Compared to the second most active category with less than a thousand threads, the most popular section is “Line checks/HH Reviews/Stat Analysis”. Here people post their hand, stats and hand histories and really get some valuable feedback from a dedicated, growing community.
From its beginning, PokerStrategy has been conceived like a proper poker training and coaching website. The site itself is free to visit but most of the content is blocked and reserved only for members that generate enough rake. In that sense, it seems that PokerStrategy is not really offering an equal opportunity to everyone. Even a portion of the forum is only available to the members of a certain status and the same goes for a big portion or instruction videos. All of this might be understandable when you consider the fact that the website generates its revenue like any other affiliate site, by referring its members to poker rooms and earning commission on the rake they generate there.
Pokerstrategy Forum houses 49 categories divided between 5 subforums (PokerStrategy Forums, Poker Forums, Poker Strategy and Hand Discussions, Community Boards and Poker Rooms). The most popular categories seem to be No Limit and Sit and Go Tournament Discussions but there are many other interesting and popular topics and discussions.
Paid Hand evaluations are also available, although they are not free as they used to be before the budget cuts and an ownership change back in 2014. All in all, PokerStrategy seems like a lively place with much to offer to both its free and paying members.
PocketFives is an active poker forum with plenty of good content mostly concerning strategy and coaching. Its focus is mostly on MTT’s and it could be considered a specialized forum, a place for all players keenly interested in this type of poker. They also offer different types of staking and coaching agreements for other types of playing but MTT’s are obviously their main specialty.
The forum is organized in a total of 10 categories split in two sections. Poker advice and strategy is the most popular subforum with an impressive 2.2 million posts. There are also sections for Bad Beats, Daily Fantasy Sports and a Staking Marketplace.
With a 35 coaching team, PocketFives cites an approximate $1.5 million in profits generated by its 240 students. What better reason to try it?
As it says in their “About” section, “CardPlayer.com is the world's oldest and most well respected poker magazine and online poker guide” They were established way back in 1988 and their site provides all kinds of poker information and content from strategy articles, news, blogs, poker results, poker site reviews, videos and coverage of all major poker tournaments around the globe. There are also poker player profiles, magazines, tools and other quality resources.
The articles are well written and knowledgeable. There is a total of 46 pages of articles which you can browse through or search using filters such as the game type, main concept, player or author.
Formerly known as “All Vegas Poker” (AVP) is a U.S. site that claims to be the largest source of poker information available online in North America. The homepage is designed to look like an information tools that helps you find good legal games close to your location.
Although the site intends to be international, it is clear that most active members share information that mainly concerns the U.S.
The forum still holds the old AVP badge and most of posts are tied to the topics of live poker strategy, planning for trips to Vegas, poker rules and etiquette etc. So, if you are in search of such info, this might be the best place to go.
FlopTurnRiver seems like a site with substantial learning material available. Aside from the forum, it also offers numerous tools like the odds calculator, tournament trimmer, bankroll management calculator and a rakeback calculator. There are also instructions videos on different strategy tips for playing cash games, tournaments, MTT’s and even Open Face Chinese Poker.
The forum itself is compartmentalized into 17 categories with a combined 1.2 million posts in total. Whatever this site doesn’t have - it offers in links to other sites.
Liquidpoker seems to offer a variety of content from poker news to a long list of rated poker blogs you can search or browse through. There is also a small selection of poker articles, interviews with online players and a handful of short famous player profiles.
The site itself is pretty crammed, almost every feature it contains can be found on the homepage which contributes to the general congested vibe. In one corner, there is a small odds calculator and if you look close enough you’ll even find a quite handy box containing links to free poker streams you can watch in just one click.
The forum itself is divided in a total of 7 categories (General, Sports betting, Main poker, Low stakes poker, Midstakes poker, Website support and Closed). It is not as active or lively as some of the others but the site itself still has some valuable content.
CardsChat advertises itself as “A Worldwide Poker Community” and claims to be the friendliest poker forum on the web. Its app is available in Google Play and Apple App store.
The homepage highlights the news and just below heads straight to the forum to discuss the latest stories and developments as well as strategy tips and poker talk in general.
The forum is comprised out of 4 sections: Poker discussion (with 3 subcategories of general poker, poker news and poker rooms), Poker strategy (further divided in subforums about cash games, tournament poker and learning poker (a beginners forum for basic questions about rules, general strategy and everything you need in order to learn to play the game) and Events and General discussion subforums that are reserved for members only. Here, CardsChat.com team reveal freerolls, special events and real money tournaments. There is also a “Player’s League” subforum as well as the “Players Lounge”.
The “worldwide” of their slogan probably refers to the general discussion sections and threads in languages such as Spanish, French, Russian, Serbian and Portuguese.
The latest site data counts just over 165.000 members in total with over 200.000 forum threads holding more than 2.3 million posts.
Besides the forum, the site also offers poker news, site reviews, an odds calculator and an archive of other poker resources.
Now that we have listed several free sites, it’s time to turn to some subscription based websites, again, in no particular order.
SUBSCRIPTION BASED WEBSITES
CardRunners is one of the first commercial poker training websites. Formerly known as Stoxpoker, it has been around since 2005. It houses a number of poker professionals who contribute to its content including game theorist and author of Applications of No-Limit Hold'em Matthew Janda as well as early instruction videos from the Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt.
Monthly subscriptions start at $30 and there is a 7 day unlimited use free trial available.
IveyLeague is a relatively new website constructed over a popular training site formerly known as LeggoPoker. The story has it that the legendary poker pro Phil Ivey struck a deal with the original owners to transform the site into his personal training site now known as the IveyLeague.
The impressive list of coaches featured on the site starts with Phil Ivey himself, Patrick Antonius, Andrew Lichtenberger (LuckyChewy), Crhis Kruk (Apotheosis) and many others.
Iveyleague offers two monthly subscription packages. Basic plan costs $9 while the full package requires $75. If it makes you feel any better, the cost of the full package used to be over $100.
BlueFirePoker is one of the most popular poker training sites widely used by poker pros. It was co-founded by Phil Galfond and it used to hold a reputation of a number one poker instruction resource.
Since Galfond left (over alleged contract disputes) the popularity of the site has been slightly waning but a multitude of quality content is still there to be used by all those prepared to pay a subscription.
Like IveyLeague, BlueFirePoker used to be a lot more expensive than it is at the moment. A monthly subscription costs only $30 but there is a considerable sign-up fee that prevents users from grabbing every single video from the site in the first month.
Run-It-Once is a new poker training website founded also by Phil Galfond after leaving the aforementioned BlueFirePoker. Along with Ganfold, there are a total of 55 coaches on Run-It-Once. The list includes the likes of Ben Sulsky (Sauce123), Jens Kyllonen (Jeans89) and Jason Koon (NovaSky) among others.
It’s a beautifully designed site that offers an expansive library of instruction videos, uploading 2 new videos every single day.
CONCLUSION
At the very end, it is important to note that all the sites listed and shortly reviewed above represent only a tiny fraction of an enormous amount or resources available online. If you are smart enough, almost anything you choose to use as a source could potentially be helpful. However, choosing the best resource available always puts you one step ahead of competition.
In order to choose well, it is good to have an overview of available options. So, keep reading the PokerAffilateWare blog and find out even information to help you gain more knowledge of what’s out there.
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