Poker
Poker teaches deciding with half the facts: weighing a chance against a price, using what others show, and betting for a reason. Each lesson is one idea, and its questions come back for review on later days.
Never played? Start with your first hands: three guided hands with a coach at every decision, then a few on your own.
Practice points are free and can never be bought, sold or cashed out. You play the computer only.
Stage 1 The hands
- What beats what
The nine poker hands from best to worst, and how to find your best five cards.
Done - Which hands to play
Most starting hands are worth folding. Learn the few worth playing, and why.
Done - Acting last
Acting after the others lets you see what they do before you decide.
Done
Stage 2 Odds
- Outs and odds
Count the cards that would win, turn them into a chance, and weigh it against the price of a call.
Done - Worth it on average
Judge a choice by what it wins on average over many tries, not by one result.
Done - Odds for later
Count what you could win on later rounds, not only what is in the pot now, and when not to.
Done
Stage 3 Reading and betting
- Reading the board
See what the shared cards make possible, for you and for everyone else.
Done - Why you bet
Bet for a reason: to be paid by worse hands, or to make better hands fold.
Done - What they could hold
Think of an opponent's possible hands, not one guess, and how often your hand wins against them.
Done - Signals and tests
An action that is costly to fake says something; a well-chosen bet sorts strong hands from weak.
Done
Stage 4 Keeping your head
- After a bad loss
Decide the next hand as well as the last: the cards do not remember what you lost.
Done
Practice tables
Play hands against the computer, cautious, steady or bold, and see every decision checked against the odds at the time.