Recommended books:

Did you know...

...that you can find a lot of freely accessible instructional poker videos at the twoplustwo poker forums which are made by the forum members?

Take me there

Online Poker Guide - Helpful poker links

On this page I will guide you through the online poker world basically by just throwing all the sites I have bookmarked at you :-). If you are serious about improving your game, then take some time to go through these links as they will help you to achieve your goal.

For those who are looking for off-line material to digest, I placed some recommended poker books in the right hand side column. 'The Poker Mindset' is a very good book when you have trouble with the psychological part of the game (tilt for instance). It really helps you to put things in the right perspective. The other two books listed are strategy related. If you are just starting out, then I'd suggest reading Harrington on Holdem I first. This book provides a lot of detailed hand analisys' and gives you a framework for thinking through hands correctly.

Poker forums

Twoplustwo, FlopTurnRiver, Pokernews, CardsChat
In order to improve your game it is very important to regularly read on poker forums. Here you can ask questions, read educative articles and keep up to date with what's going on in the world of (online) poker. The forums mentioned are the most active ones I know of, allowing lively discussions (or to have fun lurking).

Poker software/tools

HoldemManager, PokerTracker
There are several programs that can help you study your own game. Tracking software enables you to store all the hands you play. You can review these hands after a session and also calculate statistics based on large amounts of hands that can show you where you might have some 'leaks' in your game. Furthermore you can easily keep track of your opponents playing style as most tracking software enable you to use a heads up display (HUD) showing statistics of your opponents while playing at the tables.

PokerStove
PokerStove is a very handy tool that shows you the equity (chance of winning) for certain hands. You can manually enter specific hands or hand ranges and match them up against other hands or hand ranges while also selecting the community cards. How big is the chance to win an all-in with an overpair to the board against a flushdraw and an overcard to your pair with two cards to come? Find out! The program is free, very easy to use and I'd definitely recommend playing around with it.

AutoHotKey-scripts
Not so much a tool to develop your game but certainly a tool to make playing easier is the use of AutoHotKey or AHK-scripts. Want to assign an action like folding or betting the size of the pot to a certain mouse button? Then the betpot script will be something for you. Scripts can be found at overcards.com. There are also numerous threads about AHK-scripts in the software forum over at twoplustwo.com.

Poker blogs

Reading blogs from other poker players can be very motivational. In this list you will find some quality blogs. Have fun reading them.

BlackRain79.com
Who said you need to move up from the microstakes to win some real money? Sure wasn't Nathan Williams (who won over $25,000 at 2 and 5 nl games alone and is dying to show you how to do the same)!

Online Poker for Beginners
Imagine a winning professional poker player (up to 5k nl, mind you), who has made numerous instructional videos on the 2+2 forums and for Deuces Cracked, starting to give strategic advice on a regular basis on his own blog. Id say say 'must read', no?

Micro stakes grinder
An excellent blog by someone mainly playing full ring cash games. Very informative, entertaining and well written.

Splitsuit
Not just a blog, more of a complete poker portal. 'Splitsuit' also provides some free instructional videos on his website. From what I've heard he is also a very good poker coach. This is how he describes his coaching:

"I have coached over 120 students from 5NL to 200NL with my approach that focuses strictly on the student's needs and learning styles. I have helped many players turn pro, and also helped many just make a solid secondary income from a game they love."

Bill's Poker Blog
Bill Rini, someone with experience working for online poker rooms, shares his thoughts and experiences about anything related to poker in very well thought out, sometimes humerous, and allways well written articles.

Grinding micros 4 life
Read about this regular poster on twoplustwo playing full ring no limit hold'em and punching holes in his door.

HappyPixel
Watch this guy his graphs and feel better about your own (just kidding, although sometimes you will feel better by viewing the ugly graphs of someone else).

Knightsridge - My poker world
Interesting blog in which you can follow Knightridge as he moves up in stakes playing full ring no limit hold'em games.

Dominic - pokergrinder
This blog starts of after the writer took some professional coaching. Follow his path to higher stakes while he explaines strategic concepts and notifies you about some interesting bonus offers out there.

AD/AT
Blog of adamsapple19, a low/mid-stakes tournament poker player.

Howtoplaypokerinfo.com
A blog (portal?) with very informative posts by Richard Jenkins, a graduate mechanical engineer. And you know what they say: "Always trust the engineer!" ;)

Poker portals

There are many websites all over the internet which offer a wide variety of information regarding online poker. A lot of these sites provide little to no useful or honest content. Some sites that do and which I therefore would recommend you to visit when you want to read more than First Time Poker Player has to offer you at the moment are:

WinMoney101's Play Poker Hub
Steve Cross recently launched a very informative site on different ways to win money online. Of course, poker is one of those ways and Steve has written a lot of helpful information about it to get you started. You will find it all from the starting page linked to above. Enjoy!

Poker Tomorrow
Andy Ray wirtes about poker in a very honest and informative way from his own experience. Also, when you visit this website, be sure to take a look at the articles from guest writer Tony Guerrera.

The PokerBank - Texas Holdem Strategy and Rakeback
The PokerBank is written by someone who is an experienced and enthusiastic poker player himself. And this shows in the quality of the articles you can find at the PokerBank. Especially the strategy section is very complete.

PokerT!ps.org
PokerTips provides a number of very helpful guides to the beginning online poker player. Their strategy guide will be very helpful. They also provide an extensive glossary of poker terms.

Poker Listings
PokerListings is the largest poker portal that I know of. It contains a wealth of information about all aspects of poker.

Play winning poker
This online poker resource is mostly written by Steve Badger, an experienced poker player. Navigation around this site can be a little bit difficult, but if you take the time to find what Steve wrote about a certain topic it will very likely be worth it.

Other trusted poker sites

You might also want to take a look at the trusted sites section to find quality poker related sites offering online poker room reviews for rooms not reviewed on First Time Poker Player and information regarding bonuses and rakeback.

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