Picking a high-quality training resource is one of the most important decisions of any ambitious poker player.
The poker training market is very crowded and a lot of the material created is of questionable quality.
Here we offer our personal top 7 Resources to get you started.
The list is not necessarily in order, as different resources have different strengths.
1. Advanced Poker Training – Ok, we admit it. We’re tooting our own horn here. But we really do believe that we’re one of your best training resources! APT is completely different from other training resources; it provides an online poker training software program that enables users to play up to 500 hands an hour against intelligent computerized opponents, receiving advice at each play. It features in-depth training reports and weekly poker training plans that show you exactly where you should be targeting your efforts. The unique “Beat the Pro” challenges set you up against poker pros such as Mike Caro, Jonathan Little, Scott Clements, Ed Miller, Scotty Nguyen, and many more. It is the most fun of all the poker training sites because you are actually playing poker instead of watching videos. APT also has a rapidly expanding suite of educational tools and resources such as a lively forum, What’s the Nuts, and a handy printable odds chart. APT has even recently added a regular videocast featuring hand reviews of user submitted situations. The rates are lower than most other sites as well.
2. Tournament Poker Edge – Tournament Poker Edge is another full-featured poker training website. They host over 1,000 videos, strategy articles, forums, a weekly podcast, and TPE University. TPE University offers a full curriculum of videos and strategy articles along with quizzes to assess your progress. While there is no free trial period, discounts are offered for longer subscription periods.
3. Poker Tracker – Most online poker pros have PokerTracker 4, and you should too. It tracks hands of online poker platforms and lets you look at your win rates with various hands. With the the “Heads Up Display” (HUD) plug-in you can get information on your opponents while you play against them. Poker Tracker also offers a full set of reports, graphs, charts, and filters. They support all of the major online sites and offer a 30 day free trial to allow you to try them before you buy.
4. Jonathan Little’s Weekly Poker Hand Podcast – Jonathan’s Weekly Poker hand is a great resource for thinking through your game. Each week Jonathan selects a hand that he has played and talks through each decision that he made on that hand and the thought process behind it. Jonathan has recorded 167 hands so far, so there is a wealth of material to review. You can access the video version at the link above, or subscribe to the audio version on iTunes. Both are free of cost.
5. Hold’em Manager 2 – Hold’em Manager is, along with Poker Tracker, one of the pre-eminent HUD programs. Hold’em Manager 2 offers an incredible array of stats for your online game. They have a number of reports and a wide variety of filters to help you analyze your play. They even have a YouTube channel of training videos to help you advance your HUD and your game. Hold’em Manager also comes with a 30 day free trial.
6. Two Plus Two Poker – The Two Plus Two website is one of the oldest and most popular forums for poker discussions and Texas No-Limit Holdem poker questions. On their website they offer an electronic, monthly magazine as well as a weekly Pokercast. It is by far the most active and most authoritative of the online poker forums. Membership is free.
7. Test Your Poker TestYourPoker is different from other poker training sites. Members can improve their full ring cash game skills using unique professional replays, a huge database of member hands, and the ability to get hand by hand feedback. It is one of the few non-video poker training sites. More than 300,000 players have taken the test so far. You can try it for free.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it will give you an excellent start in meeting your training needs. Follow the links above, and get ready to win big!
