Free poker course
Learn poker, one lesson at a time
18 lessons in three tracks — about 75minutes of reading in total. Start at “what is a flush” and finish knowing why folding AQ on the bubble can be correct. Every lesson ends with a tool you use immediately. No account, no email, no upsell wall.
How to learn poker, in order
- 1Learn the rules and the maths — hand rankings, position, betting, pot odds, and which starting hands are worth playing (Track 1, 7 lessons).
- 2Learn a winning style — the tight-aggressive blueprint, preflop raising, c-betting, value betting, bankroll rules, and your own stats (Track 2, 7 lessons).
- 3Add the advanced layers — tournaments, ICM, short-stack push/fold, and thinking in ranges instead of single hands (Track 3, 4 lessons).
- 4Practise and review — play small, log the session, run your hands through the leak report, and re-read whichever lesson your numbers point at.
Reading strategy builds recognition; using it builds skill. Most lessons here hand you a calculator, a chart, or a cheatsheet at the end and tell you exactly what to try in it. Each lesson also assumes nothing you haven't already been taught.
Saved in this browser. Sign in and it syncs across your devices.
Rules & Basics
Zero to playing a real hand: the rules, hand rankings, position, betting, pot odds, and which hands to play.
What is Texas Hold'em?
4 min Which Hand Wins?The basic flow of a hand: cards, betting rounds, and how someone wins.
Hand Rankings (Memorize These)
4 min Hand Rankings ChartAll 10 poker hand ranks from worst to best, with tie-breakers explained.
Position is Everything
4 minWhy your seat at the table matters more than your cards.
Betting Basics: Check, Call, Raise, Fold
4 minThe four actions you take, when each makes sense, and the unwritten rules.
Pot Odds: The Math That Wins You Money
4 min Pot Odds CalculatorThe rule of 2 and 4, and how to know if a call is profitable.
Which Hands Should You Play?
4 min Preflop ChartsHand notation, the premium hands you always raise, and how to read a preflop chart.
Reading the Board: Draws, Outs, and Danger
4 min Odds CalculatorWet vs dry boards, counting outs correctly, and knowing when the board beats your hand.
Take the Poker 101 quiz
10 questions covering everything in Track 1.
Winning at the Micros
The tight-aggressive blueprint: preflop raising, c-betting, value betting, bankroll rules, your stats, and tilt control.
The TAG Blueprint: Tight and Aggressive
4 min TAG CheatsheetThe four playing styles, and why tight-aggressive is the proven default for beating small stakes.
Raise or Fold: Open Sizes, 3-Bets, and Never Limping
4 min Preflop Charts — 3-bet rangesStandard raise sizes, your first 3-bet range, defending the big blind, and punishing limpers.
The Continuation Bet: Your First Postflop Weapon
4 min MDF CalculatorWhen to bet the flop as the raiser, how to size it, and when to give up.
Value Betting: Where Winrate Actually Comes From
4 min Range Equity CalculatorThe one question behind every bet, thin value, and why you should bluff less at the micros.
Bankroll Management: Never Go Broke
4 min Bankroll ManagerBuy-in rules for cash and tournaments, moving down without ego, and tracking honestly.
VPIP, PFR, and Finding Your Leaks
5 min Leak ReportThe two numbers that describe your whole game, and how to audit your own play.
Tilt: The Leak That Eats All Others
4 min Session JournalWhat tilt really is, the four triggers, stop-loss rules, and a three-line journal habit.
Tournaments & Advanced
Tournament-specific skills: ICM, short-stack push/fold, and learning to think in ranges instead of single hands.
Cash Games vs Tournaments: Two Different Sports
4 minWhy chips mean different things in each format, and which one to learn first.
ICM: Why Tournament Chips Lie
5 min ICM CalculatorThe Independent Chip Model, bubble pressure, and why folding big hands can be right.
Short Stack Play: The Push/Fold Zone
4 min Push/Fold ChartWhy short stacks shove or fold, how position sets your range, and why calls are tighter than shoves.
Think in Ranges, Not Hands
5 min Range ExplorerThe mental upgrade that defines strong players: ranges, combos, and blockers in plain English.
Questions about learning poker
How long does it take to learn poker?
Learning the rules takes about ten minutes. This course's 18 lessons run roughly 75 minutes of reading in total, and most people finish a track in a couple of sittings. Learning to beat a real game is a different timescale: expect a few months of regular play plus review before your results at micro stakes stop being noise. The rules are a weekend; the skill is a season.
Is this poker course really free?
Yes. All 18 lessons and the quizzes are free, with no account and no email required, and no lesson content is ever gated. Almost every linked tool is the same — the calculators, charts, and cheatsheets are open to everyone. Two have limits worth knowing up front: the leak report allows 3 free reports a month, and the session journal saves to your profile so it needs a free sign-in. PokerPro sells a $9/month PRO plan for unlimited AI hand reviews and leak reports, but the course itself never sits behind it.
What is the best way to learn poker as a beginner?
Learn one concept, then immediately use it on a real hand. That is why every lesson here ends with a tool: read pot odds, then run pot odds; read about ranges, then open a range on the grid. Reading strategy without applying it produces recognition, not skill. Play small stakes while you study, review your own hands afterwards, and only move to the next track once the current one feels automatic.
Do I need an account to take the course?
No. Lesson content is never gated, and your progress is stored in your browser via localStorage so the checkmarks survive a refresh. Creating a free account only syncs that progress to your profile so it follows you between phone and desktop — and when you sign in, any progress you already made anonymously is merged in rather than replaced.
Does this course teach GTO or solver strategy?
No, and it deliberately says so. The course teaches the fundamentals and the exploitative adjustments that actually beat micro-stakes games: tight-aggressive hand selection, c-betting the right textures, thin value betting, bankroll and tilt discipline. Where a topic has a standard model behind it — ICM uses Malmuth-Harville, push/fold charts approximate published Nash ranges — the lesson names the model and its limits instead of calling it solver output.
What should I do after finishing the course?
Play a session with the TAG cheatsheet open, then review it. Run your hand histories through the leak report to see your real VPIP and PFR, log the session in the journal, and re-read whichever lesson the numbers point at. The course gives you the checklist; your own hands are where the learning actually happens.
Keep these open while you play
Pot odds, equity, EV, combinatorics, and ICM in one reference.
The simplest winning style, on one page. Free.
Hand-by-hand ranges for every position.
Test your hand vs anything in seconds.
Look up any term you don't recognise.