Learn poker

Lessons with Webb

Read it, then play it at the table, a level at a time. Level 1 and every guide are free.

1. 1

   Level 1: First hands

   Free

   The order of play, what beats what, and reading the board.

   • Learn poker in three minutesStart hereTour · The order of play and what beats what, in eight short pages.
   • Poker hand rankingsFreeGuide · All ten poker hands in order, strongest to weakest, with how ties are settled and how often each one actually turns up. No signup, and you can practise straight away.
   • How to play Texas Hold’emFreeGuide · The rules of Texas Hold’em in the order you meet them at a table: the blinds, the four betting rounds, what you can do on your turn, and a full hand played out. No signup, and you can practise straight away.
   • Three pair in Texas Hold’emFreeQuick answer · You can hold three pairs and you cannot play them: a hand is five cards, so the top two pairs play and the third is worth a kicker, one time in four. With every rank shape counted and two spots walked through.
   • What have you got?Practice · Your two cards, a finished board. Name the hand you are holding.
   • Which hand wins?Practice · Two hands, a finished board, one question. Harder spots are worth more.
2. 2

   Level 2: Choosing hands

   Members

   Which two cards to play, and why the seat matters as much as the cards.

   • Which starting hands to playFreeGuide · All 169 starting hands in one chart, sorted by the earliest position you should open them from. Plus how often each one arrives and what suitedness is actually worth. No signup, and you can practise straight away.
   • Position in pokerFreeGuide · What position means, the six seats in the order they act, and why the same two cards are a fold in one seat and a raise in another. With the numbers behind it. No signup, and you can practise straight away.
   • Starting handsLesson · What makes two cards worth playing, why most of them are a fold, and the chart that sorts them.
   • PositionLesson · Why the last seat to act is worth money, and why the same two cards are a fold in one seat and a raise in another.
   • Open or foldPractice · It folds round to you. Your seat, your two cards, a hundred big blinds: raise or fold?
3. 3

   Level 3: Pricing hands

   Members

   Outs, pot odds, calling the river, and when to bet rather than check.

   • How to calculate pot oddsFreeGuide · Pot odds in one formula, with the price every common bet size sets, how many outs each draw really has, and the mistake that makes most pot-odds advice wrong. No signup, and you can practise straight away.
   • How much to betFreeGuide · Every bet sets two prices, one for the other player and one for you. The four sizes worth using, what each one charges a draw, and why a pot-sized bluff has to work half the time. No signup, and you can practise straight away.
   • How often do you flop a set?FreeQuick answer · About 11.8% of the time, or one flop in 8.5. All 19,600 flops a pocket pair can meet, graded, including the 48 that hand you a full house without a card of your rank in them.
   • OutsLesson · Counting the cards that win it for you, and spotting the ones that look like help and are not.
   • Pot oddsLesson · The price of a call as a share of the pot, your chance as a share of the deck, and calling when the chance is bigger.
   • Which five play?Practice · Seven cards are yours to use and only five of them count. Tap the five.
   • Count your outsPractice · Both hands face up on the turn, one card to come. How many of them win it for you?
   • Who gets there?Practice · Two hands face up on the flop, two cards still to come. Which one wins it more often?
   • Pot oddsPractice · They have bet the turn. Both hands are face up, one card is to come: is the price right?
   • Calling the riverPractice · They have bet the river. Work out what bets like this, weigh the price, call or fold.
   • Bet or checkPractice · It is checked to you on the river. Work out what calls, and bet if you beat most of it.
4. 4

   Level 4: Tournaments

   Members

   Playing a stack that shrinks: how deep you are, and when it is shove or fold.

   • Stack sizesLesson · Counting a stack in big blinds, why a short one has fewer moves, and what rising blinds do to the same chips.
   • Shove or foldPractice · A tournament, a short stack, and it folds to you. All in, or let it go?
5. 5

   Level 5: Reading players

   Members

   Ranges instead of hands, bluffing on purpose, and what the regulars give away.

   • RangesLesson · Thinking about every hand somebody could have instead of guessing one, and crossing hands off as they play.
   • BluffingLesson · Why a bet with the worst hand can win, how often it has to, and which hands to do it with.
   • The regularsLesson · What the faces at the low tables really do differently, read off the settings that make them play.