Tips on how to win at poker when playing for money

Playing poker for money can be both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. If you are new to online poker, or even if you have been playing a while, we thought it would be useful to provide you with some simple tips that will help make your experience more pleasurable and ultimately more profitable.

When starting out playing poker with money, you need to remember that it is not all about how good a player you perceive yourself to be. It's also about other external factors that come into play when betting for cash.

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Choosing The Right Poker Site for You

There are many things you should look for before picking a poker site. Sign-up bonuses sound great until you realize that the competition is made up almost entirely of tight players who only play premium hands. That’s why we always recommend , so you get an idea of the general standard of play at each room.

As well as factoring in traffic levels, software and payment options, you should consider what types of games each site is strongest in. For example, has the biggest selection of , whilst offers a range of . If you want to play , then there's only really one choice - stands alone as the leading site for Boost poker. See our to find the best option for you.

Read our comprehensive to help you avoid the common pitfalls when choosing where to play. Our reviews will give you a good idea of what each site has to offer. Remember though, the only way to learn which table odds are at, is by actually visiting each poker site. Different sites, even on the same network, can have very different patient/shark ratios. So it’s recommended to try out a few free tables to get a feel of the opposition. As a final check, see which (if any) your potential poker home supports that particular variation.

Start Hands Are Critical in Making Money in Poker

Another important aspect to getting used to playing poker for money is making sure you are using . These charts take into account the position you are sitting and the other players at the table, and tell you which starting hands are decent enough to play.

For example, if you are at a typical table where most players are opening with any two cards, then it makes sense to have a fairly wide range of starting hands. However, if you are up against a table of nits (tight players), then you may have to adjust your game accordingly and only play the best of the best hands.

You must remember that the cards you are dealt mean nothing once they have been dealt – it’s all about what happens after everyone has had a chance to act. Often people get fixated on their two hole cards and base their whole decision on these cards. This is wrong thinking and is one of the main reasons people lose money playing poker! See our to help improve your overall game.

Don't Get Attached to Your Cards

Making money in poker is all about timing and being in the right place at the right time. Having the nuts (the best possible hand) means nothing if you give away the store on the river (the last card). The most valuable skill in poker is reading other players and anticipating their actions. Simply putting your opponent on a range of hands can go a long way toward helping you make the right decisions.

Don’t worry too much about calculating outs and running complicated calculations at the table. If you feel that a hand is good, then nine times out of ten it’s a bad notion. It’s better to lean towards raising and pushing profit pots rather than limping to see cheaply what you think might be the best hand. Nine times out of ten you will be behind even if you hit your magic card. This ties in with reading other players.

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One of the biggest mistakes I see is people winning a big pot and then celebrating. Never celebrate a big pot, especially to your obvious opponent. If you hit a set on the flop and your opponent is showing signs he is going to check-call your flop bet, it’s imperative you don’t let any more action after the flop. If you develop a habit of letting people draw at your set for just one bet, then you are going to start losing money.

The next time you feel the temptation to rub your opponents noses in it by stacking them when bluffing or betting on the river with the nuts, think again. We cannot stress this enough -- poker is a hard game to make money in, do not give it away cheap. Think of every bet and every raise as part of the bankroll management plan you have in place.

Make Sure You Have Enough Cash in Your Bankroll

Having a solid bankroll is crucial to giving you the security to make those tough decisions and see through the importance of leaving ourselves with the maximum number of chips for the longest possible time. Tilting is another word for going on 'one-eyed King Richard' III. Basically, tilt is going from making logical decisions based on a predetermined strategy to acting on pure emotion and desperination.

A typical sign of a poker player tilting is going from being a calling station to a super aggressive maniac. Another common symptom is targeting a specific player and declaring war. You can easily spot a person tilting; they usually have a huge chip swing and are never seen again.

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Think of poker as a journey, not a destination. Be happy that you are learning all the time and improving your skills instead of lamenting over a bad beat or a run of bad luck. A successful poker player learns to distance themselves emotionally from the results of their actions. If you start to lose emotions towards losing chips and gaining emotions towards winning them, you're already on the road to becoming a strong poker player.

Stick to Limted Games When Learning

We suggest sticking to  games like ,  and when learning and building your confidence. These games are a lot easier to get to grips with because there are no confusing community cards to read and there are no massive pots to trap yourself in. Additionally, it's much easier to hide your inexperience in a limited game because you are only playing against other players' two cards.

Comparing notes is another good way to learn. If you are on a winning streak, then analyze how and why certain decisions led to you winning the pot. Conversely, if you are on a losing streak, put pride aside and realize that losing does not make you a fish -- it just means you need to review your decisions and learn from them.

Practice Makes Perfect in Poker

The only way you are ever going to improve your game and win money at poker is through practice. If you are scared of risking real money, then most poker rooms will give you bonus money for playing. Or you could simply play in play-money mode until you are ready to convert to real-money poker. Either way, the most important thing is to get some hours under your belt and to enjoy the ride.

Be Patient

Patience is arguably the most valuable virtue a beginner poker player can possess. It takes years of playing to acquire the knowledge needed to make accurate decisions in any given hand, spot bluffs and interpret body language. In the meantime, by exercising patience and adhering to simple poker strategies, you can become a consistent small winner.

In limit poker, the swings are smaller, which means it is easier to remain patient and make mature decisions. You are less likely to get carried away with a big hand and lose control of a situation, which in turn helps keep losses to a minimum. Compare this to , where big hands and even bigger egos run riot, and it becomes clear that limit poker offers the ideal environment for the novice poker player looking to hone his or her skills.

Look at each poker hand as a learning curve. Each hand contains several decisions. The more good decisions you make, the greater your chances of making a profit. The more hands you play, the more experiences and decisions you accumulate. Keep the focus on quality play and the money will follow.

Avoid Playing When Tilted

Tilt is a term used to describe a player who has lost emotional control and is now playing aggressively and recklessly, typically as a result of a bad beat or a series of unlucky cards. Every player goes on tilt at some point and it is vital that you learn to recognize the signs both in yourself and others.

The key to avoiding tilt is to build up a bankroll that will allow you to walk away from the game when things aren't going well. No result is permanent in poker and if you give yourself time to recover from a dry spell, you'll find that your luck will change.

If you feel yourself becoming frustrated or angry at a series of bad beats or bad cards, log out and come back another day. This is far better than plunging systematically through a downswing and having to start from scratch.

Learn to Control Your Emotions and Body Language

Try to minimize any physical signs of tilt such as slumping in your chair or banging your fists on the table. If you are playing live, tilt is even more dangerous due to the influence of alcohol. Never drink when playing poker, particularly if you are playing for real money. Alcohol impairs your judgment and will almost certainly lead to tilt. To summarize, here are some simple ways you can limit the damage if you start to suffer from tilt:

• Take a break. Log out of the poker client and do something else.
• Minimize the poker table when things aren't going your way. Do something else and come back later when you feel more composed.
• Move down in limits. If you find yourself going on tilt regularly, it may be wise to drop a level and pay higher rake. At least you will have the chance to rebuild your bankroll without throwing away everything you have.
• Learn to shut off emotionally to the outcome of individual hands and events. The aimitory neutrality of online poker is an advantage here. It allows you to eliminate the impact of strong emotions on your decision making.

Don't Chase Your Losses

This is perhaps the biggest mistake that recreational players make. Let's say you budget $250 per month for online poker and you log on one evening and lose $125. Rather than accepting this as a normal variance and dropping back to your usual stake (perhaps $5 + $0.50), you decide to be stubborn and determine to get your money back. So you jump in to a $10 + $1 game and after a couple of hours you have lost another $300.

Instead of tapping out and acknowledging that you are now $525 below your starting bankroll, you then decide to move up yet again to a $20 + $2 game. It's pretty obvious what happens next. After an hour or so you have now lost a total of $700 and you are desperate to win a hand. Sound familiar?

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This kind of scenario is played out countless thousands of times every day. I guarantee that 8 out of 10 times the player in question will move up yet another limit to $30 + $3. More often than not, this player will hit a royal flush or straight flush within the first few hands and exclaim "Its lucky number 13 isn't it!" before going on to make back around $900. Happy that lady luck is finally back on his side, he decides the best course of action is to move back down to a $10 + $1 game (now perceived to be too easy for him). Guess what happens next? Yep, by lunchtime the following day he has lost a further $500 and is now $1,400 down on the week.

At this point, feeling miserable and confused, he decides to confide in his regular online buddies in a private message. "Hey, you always have time for a PM eh?" he type writes. "Basically I'm $1,400 down over the last three days and I was wondering why I am playing so badly?" he queries, before going on to copy and paste the entire chapter on Texas Equities from the BMPTG.

So why does chasing your losses never work?

Firstly, when you double your stakes you effectively shorten up your stack to just 15 big blinds. At these ultra-short stack depths, the game changes dramatically. Position becomes paramount and the ability to extract maximum value from overpotted barrels (aka bluffs) is the key skill. Unless you are incredibly skilled at playing for tiny stacks, your chances of making any sort of profitable return are slim.

Secondly, moving up limits on a whim means you are playing outside of a predetermined bankroll and staking plan. Essentially you are now playing a game with no structure, and it is impossible to make good decisions without first establishing clear guidelines. Successful poker players stay successful because they stick within clearly defined boundaries. Once you step outside of these boundaries you are essentially playing with fire.

Finally, moving up in limits due to chasing losses quickly destroys your bankroll and erodes years of hard graft. Building a bankroll steady and slowly is a long process, but blowing it in a matter of hours is remarkably easy. Once your bankroll has gone, you are left with no limits (no pun intended), no structure and no direction. At this point many players give up, putting all the blame on bad luck and terrible beats. Occasionally people will go on a mega tilt rant along the lines of, "I used to have a bankroll of $25k and now I've lost it all - poker just isn't as beatable as it used to be."

In reality, no-one loses their bankroll, they give it away. Just like someone who spends £20 at the pub every night, claiming they couldn't afford a night out at the West End, eventually had too much credit card debt to pay off, and is now separated from their spouse... Give it up - we've all been there.

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Know Your Own Limits

Don't try to turn $5 into $500 in one session. It simply doesn't work that way. Instead, set yourself a series of realistic goals and aim to turn that $5 into $60 over the course of a week or a month. Poker is not a race; nobody is chasing your bankroll but you. Stay calm, stay focused and stay within yourself and you'll soon notice your profits creeping up week by week.

Understand your own limitations. If you know that you are not skilled enough to compete at a high level, then don't play at a level that is beyond you. There is no shame in sticking to the micro-stakes. On the contrary, it shows great strength to play at levels where the swings are larger than your entire bankroll. Playing fearlessly (yet smartly) when you know any second could be your last is a skill in itself.

Most importantly, accept that you are going to lose money. No matter how good you get at poker, there will always be somebody better than you. Variance ensures that sometimes you will win and sometimes you will lose - this is natural. Accept the downswings as a necessary part of the road to success. Trying to avoid them by moving up limits or changing variations will only lead to disaster.

Remember, it's not how much money you make from playing poker, it's whether you are fulfilling your true potential. To get anywhere in life you need goals. Whether they are poker-related or not, goals give you something to aim for and stop you from becoming complacent. Once you have established a realistic set of daily and long-term objectives, it's time to start thinking about how you are going to achieve them.

Read More About Poker Strategy

Reading poker strategy books and articles is one of the best ways to absorb new ideas and techniques. The greatest players in the world continue to read literature on the game to keep fully informed of the latest theories and concepts. Here are a few classic poker tomes to help get you started:

• Harrington on Hold'em, Volumes I-VI, Dan Harrington
• Theory of Poker, David Sklansky
• Harrington's Fundamental of Poker, Dan Harrington
• Ace on the River, Angelo Moscato**
• Super System 2, Various**
• Poker Maths Demystified*, Jared Tendler & Sky Matsuhashi**

Watch Live Streams and TV Shows

Watching live streams and televised tournaments and cash games is a great way to study the nuances and subtilties of good poker play. By watching the best players in the world outline and verbalize their thought processes in pressured situations, you can absorb a lot of information quickly and effortlessly. Here are some great places to start:

• World Series of Poker: Probably still the biggest and best poker event in the world. With hundreds of tournaments taking place every year in Las Vegas there is always a ton of WSOP video content available via the official website and YouTube channel.
• European Poker Tour: Held throughout various European cities, the EPT attracts some of the largest fields and biggest paydays in the live tournament arena. Lots of great strategic match-ups and plenty of drama make the EPT a must-watch. Check out the official for all the latest.
• PokerStars Big Game: Streamed online from the PokerStars Jaqk mobile app, the Big Game features some of the biggest names in poker, business and sports battling it out in a cash game. With appearances from Sergio Araujo, Brian Rast, Jean-Robert Bellande, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Tilly, Neil Clarke, Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott and many, many more, this is a non-stop roller coaster ride through the highest stakes cash games on the planet. Watch the games, directed by _Full Contact Poker'_s Jay Rosenkrantz, unfold via the and.
• Epic Poker League: A short-lived attempt to launch a professional league for poker much like the NFL, NBA or NHL. Featuring the same high-profile pros as the Big Game above, matches were broadcast on the NBC Sports Network. Unfortunately the league folded after just five weeks and the inaugural tournament was never concluded. However, replays of the opening event, plus the four subsequent tournaments, can be watched via the.
• High Stakes Poker: A long-running cash game held in Los Angeles featuring some of the biggest names in poker, Hollywood and the business world. Many legendary hands and huge pots have taken place on this show, including Phil Hellmuth's famous bluff for $5 million. Old episodes are hard to find but well worth tracking down on BitTorrent and similar file sharing sites.

Join a Play Money Community

Get involved with a play money forum or Facebook group. There are tons of helpful play money forums on the Internet and joining one of these communities is a great way to discuss tactics, ask questions and share experiences with like-minded individuals.

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You could, for instance, set up a play money table with some friends or like-minded poker enthusiasts and create your own rules. Playing in this type of relaxed environment can be a fun way to develop your skills and build your confidence, especially if you are new to poker or recovering from a bad run.

Record and Review Your Play

Recording and analyzing your poker games is a great way to identify and correct mistakes. Most hold'em poker games are won without seeing a showdown so by simply replaying hands where you were involved you can quickly ascertain who made the right decisions and why.

Many online poker clients come with integrated hand replayers but if yours doesn't, don't worry - you can use a smartphone to capture the action. Simply place your phone on the table in front of you and hit record whenever there is action to you. Most people find it completely natural to talk through their thought processes and reconstructing the action later will seem totally normal.

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Work on One Aspect of Your Game Per Session

Trying to fundamentally change the way you play is a big job, especially if you are used to playing one way for a long time. By trying to implement too many changes at once you will probably just end up confusing yourself, resulting in no improvement or possibly even a regression. It's far better to work on one aspect of your game per session.

For example, if you typically play a very aggressive game and want to become more of a caller or trapper, spend the whole session only calling. Regardless of the hand, position or previous action, force yourself to just call for the entire session. Although this approach will undoubtedly drive you crazy at times, it's a great way to train your mind to take different kinds of action. The following week you can introduce raises and traps, leaving your calling on autopilot.

**\

Success at any level of competitive poker requires discipline, dedication and most importantly of all patience. Building a bankroll from the ground up is a slow process that demands consistency, focus and a steadfast refusal to dance with the devil.

Every hand is a lottery. Sometimes you are going to get lucky and win, and sometimes you are going to get unlucky and lose. Over a large sample, however, the laws of statistics and probability mean that only those who display the required skill and discipline will survive.

By employing the tactics outlined above you give yourself the best opportunity to stay out of trouble, minimize variance and grind out a profitable living at the lower stakes. Good luck!

Talking Your Way to Poker Profit

By James Hartigan

Anyone who has splashed out on a strategy book or spent hours studying game theory will be aware of the vast amount of poker knowledge now readily available. Yet despite all this literature, the majority of players never advance past the intermediate stage.

Why is this? Well, for every book explaining the finer points of pumping a one-pair flop, there are hundreds teaching you how to make millions online. These riches usually come attached to a seven-figure bankroll and years of experience, leaving the average part-time player despondent and disillusioned.

It's all very well understanding the intricacies of poker in abstract terms, but applying this knowledge in a real game is an altogether different ballgame. The truth is that most people don't have the time or temperament to become elite players. Thankfully, you don't need to.

By focusing on the areas in which you are leaking profit and talking through your thought processes and experiences, a skilled poker coach can shave points from your game and boost your bottom line. Unlike strategy books, which tend to favor theory over application, coaching is designed to teach you how to be profitable now, with the cards you have, on the table in front of you.

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The Benefits of Coaching

Quick Fix

Coaching is a great way to plug the holes in your game and become instantly more profitable. A fresh pair of eyes can quickly pinpoint the moves that are costing you serious money and teach you straightforward ways to stop bleeding.

Custom Made

Unlike strategy books, coaching sessions are tailored exactly to your needs. Whether you are struggling with pre-flop raises, post-flop play or knowing when to shake hands, a poker mentor can design a lesson plan to fit in with your existing style and knowledge.

Affordable

You don't have to be rich to hire a poker coach. Prices have dropped considerably in recent years as the market has become saturated with ex-pros seeking a new career. Indeed, some coaches are prepared to barter and offer packages that include a proportion of their winnings from your games.

Motivational

Regular coaching sessions can be a powerful motivator, stopping you from slipping into bad habits and keeping you focused on your goals. Nobody wants to be the weak link in the team and having a mentor watch your games and offer advice can be a great incentive to improve.

Confidence Builder

Although poker books and online forums are packed full of theoretical examples, it's often difficult to apply these lessons in a real game. Having a poker pro beside you, offering advice and encouragement, can seriously boost your confidence and help you maximize your profit.

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Learn From the Best

Even if you can't afford a one-to-one coaching deal you can still learn a huge amount by listening to the thoughts and experiences of successful players. Articles, videos, podcasts and webinars are a great way to access insights and advice from the world's top pros.

Finding a Poker Coach

So you've decided to hire a poker coach. But where do you start? Should you go for a local pro, an online guru or maybe even a member of Team Pro?

Before you hand over your hard-earned cash it's important to understand the different types of coaching available and whether they will actually benefit your game.

One-to-One Coaching

This is generally considered the holy grail of poker training and involves regular one-on-one lessons with an expert in the field. Typically delivered online via Skype or another VoIP service, one-to-one coaching allows you to talk through your games in real time with a highly experienced poker player.

During each session you'll be asked to sit at a table while your mentor watches your action from the sidelines. Whenever there's an interesting hand or tricky decision you'll be invited to share your screen and talk through your thought processes.

Your coach will then offer alternatives, explain the reasoning behind their suggestions and invite you to choose your play. After the hand has run its course your tutor will offer a debrief, discussing what went well, what went wrong and outlining any key lessons.

One-to-one coaching can be extremely beneficial for players seeking a bespoke training program. Because each lesson is tailored to your strengths and weaknesses it allows you to address the specific issues holding you back and learn strategies that will immediately boost your profit. Furthermore, because communication is bidirectional, coaching sessions provide a unique opportunity to ask an elite player any question that comes to mind.

That said, one-to-one coaching can be expensive and time consuming. Most programs require you to commit to multiple lessons per month and pay a hefty fee upfront. Additionally, because there's so much ground to cover in each session itcan be difficult for coaches to deliver truly in-depth analysis.

Overall though, one-to-one coaching is a fantastic way to accelerate your poker development and get some great tips from a pro. Just make sure you choose an instructor who is qualified for the job.

What to Expect

Before you hand over your money it's important to have a clear idea of what's on offer. Reputable coaches should have no problem providing details of the following:

• Cost per lesson
• Lesson duration
• Number of lessons per month / package validity
• Qualifications and experience
• References from previous students

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Coaching Checklist

• One-to-one coaching is a great way to boost your poker game.
• Lessons should be tailored to your level, bankroll, style and goals.
• Topics of discussion may include hand evaluation, adjustments, GTO, banking, image, table selection, motivation and mindset.
• Look for affordable deals that represent good value for money.
• Check credentials and qualifications of your tutor. Can they back up their advice with evidence from their own playing careers?
• Try and negotiate additional services such as database reviews and live workshops.
• Set clear goals and evaluate the success of your program at the end of each month.

Group Coaching

Group coaching is a cheaper alternative to one-to-one lessons that allows you to interact with like-minded players and learn from their mistakes as well as your own. Taking the form of regular online workshops, group coaching sessions follow a predefined syllabus that covers a broad range of poker topics.

Each topic is introduced via PowerPoint presentation before students are invited to share their screens and work through some practical exercises. As with one-to-one lessons, a poker pro will monitor the action, offering guidance and suggesting alternative strategies.

Group coaching is a cost-effective way to learn new skills and compare notes with fellow students. Because you are paying a fraction of the price compared to one-to-one lessons you can normally afford a greater number of lessons, cramming in more practice and more feedback than you would get with one-to-one coaching.

Furthermore, the communal nature of group coaching allows you to learn from the mistakes of others, expanding your understanding of the game beyond your own narrow perspective. Regular interaction with like-minded players can also be a powerful motivator, stopping you from getting rusty and keeping you focused on your goals.

That said, group coaching is rarely as targeted as one-to-one lessons, meaning you might not get to discuss all the aspects of your game that are currently holding you back. Additionally, because lessons are delivered to a group there's inevitably less time for in-depth analysis, meaning you might struggle to get through all your queries in a single session.

Despite these minor criticisms, group coaching is a great way to access affordable poker training and we would definitely recommend it as a starting point for anyone considering hiring a mentor.

Database Reviews

Quite often coaching companies will offer to review your hand histories, highlighting key areas where you can make savings or extrct more value. While not as interactive as one-to-one or group coaching, this passive form of tuition can be surprisingly effective and usually works out much cheaper.

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After purchasing a database review you will normally be instructed to collect a large sample of hands across a range of games and buy-in levels. This information can either be submitted via email or a file sharing site, or the coach may ask you to join a monitored table with a tool like TableSteak.

Once your coach has your data he or she will comb through your sessions, selecting key hands for review. Normally these analyses will be recorded in the form of video blogs, each of which will focus on a specific theme such as pre-flop raises, post-flop aggression or hand range construction.

Because each student pays a fixed sum coaches are able to spend a huge amount of time on each review, breaking down hands in minute detail and comparing them to data mined from their own extensive databases. Naturally, because there's no direct contact between student and teacher there's no opportunity to ask questions, but the objective feedback you receive should help you fine tune your game and plug those annoying leaks.

If you're on a tight budget database reviews are a great way to learn from a pro. Not only will your tutor save you time by sifting through your data and highlighting your biggest mistakes, they'll also help you understand why those errors occur and how you can change your behavior going forward.

What to Expect

• Agree the number and type of hands you will collect. Coaches may request hands from specific games or buy-in levels so be sure to clarify their requirements before hitting record.
• Ask to see a sample video so you can gauge the quality of the analysis.
• Check how many hands will be reviewed. Even if you have to wait a week for the results it's better than paying for a service that delivers five-minute summaries of your first 100 hands.
• Request a detailed breakdown of the statistics your coach will be using to evaluate your game. You want someone who really knows their stuff.
• Ask if you will be able to reply to the analysis and interact with other students. Although not essential, the opportunity to ask questions and compare notes can seriously enhance the learning experience.

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Free Coaching

Believe it or not you can learn a huge amount about your poker game just by chatting through your hands with someone objective. Of course, Mike McDonald and Katie Dozier aren't going to hang out with you at the PIO solver but there are plenty of other ways to get free coaching online.

Twitter is a great place to start. By following a range of poker pros you can pick up lots of little tips and tricks that will immediately boost your profit. Alternatively, you could try engaging some of these players in more detailed discussions.

Although it might seem a bit strange messaging a random pro out of the blue, few will turn you down if your question is relevant and concise. Indeed, many players actively encourage students to send in their hands via email or a file sharing site.

Webinar

A lesson, usually lasting around an hour, delivered to a group of students over the internet. Webinars are a good way to learn new skills and compare notes with other players.

VoIP

Stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and refers to applications that enable voice chat over the web. Programs like Skype are used for one-to-one coaching.

Hand Range

The spectrum of cards a player is likely to be holding in a particular situation. Determining an opponent's hand range is a crucial element of today's poker games.

GTO

General Theory of Pumps. In other words, the strategy you should adopt if all your opponents are playing perfectly. Understanding GTO is an important part of any poker pro's armory.

Database

A collection of hand histories saved within your poker client or a third-party program like PIO solver. Analyzing your databases is a great way to identify areas for improvement.

Pixelating

The action of covering sensitive information with blocks of black pixels to prevent opponents watching the replay seeing your screen name, table stakes or other confidential data.

Solver

A piece of software that utilizes complex algorithms and mathematics to play perfect poker. Programs like PIO solver are widely used by coaches and high-level professionals to test their skills and explore GTO.

Side Loading

The action of opening a hand history file from outside your poker client in order to analyze it with a tool like PIO solver. Some clients, like PK0rv, don't allow this so you'll need to purchase the solver separately.

Tools of the Trade

Poker coaches use a variety of tools and techniques to analyze your game. Here are some of the most popular.

PIO SOLVER

Probably the world's most advanced poker tool, PIO solver allows you to input hand histories and ranges and output perfect strategy. Extremely powerful but quite difficult to master.

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EVBET

Evbet is an online store selling poker tools and accessories, ranging from solvers and database software to clothing and merchandise. Popular with coaches and high-level pros.

TABLESTEAK

Allows you to overlay a second table on your existing online poker game, capturing all the action for detailed analysis at a later date. Great for coaching sessions and self-review.

SKYPE

The leading VoIP application, Skype is a fundamental tool for one-to-one coaching, allowing students and mentors to chat face-to-face over the Internet.

PK0RV

A lightweight online poker client developed specifically for Mac users. As well as being highly customizable PK0rv enables side loading, making it ideal for database reviewers and solver heroes.

How to Get the Most Out of Coaching

By Adam Long

Whether you're a rank amateur or an elite grinder there's always scope to improve your poker game. Indeed, no matter how many wins, cashes and titles you've got under your belt, there's always some sneaky leaked that could be soaking you dry without you even realizing.

However, as anyone who