Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Initially, he wasn't entirely my cup of tea either but he's grown on me over the last couple of years. There's a lot he teaches and advocates that's helping me improve.

What training site do you think is better? I am an online cash player who is delving into MTT's now and getting ready to start playing $1/2 live. I also think it would be fun to learn a little PLO at some point. RCP is perfect for me.

I still have no firsthand experience with Upswing. Do you think US>RCP? I like some of Upswing's articles but in all fairness to Splitsuit - I've seen Doug Polk play live cash four times this summer and three times he was dumping money drunk. To the extent that other players and the commentators were laughing at him. That doesn't really help sell a training site.

And yes: Doug Hull and Splitsuit are the co-founders of RCP.

Question: I've seen people review this on RIO itself but I'm looking for (hopefully) an outside opinion - From The Ground Up (Peter Clarke). How is this? Is it simply redundant compared to the material I'm currently working on alongside play?

ok, so for the past 2 weeks now I've been studying RCP material heavily and it's really paid off huge. That + using both the RCP and RIO forums for discussion and HH review, along with the most volume I've ever put in, has me loving the game because I understand it more now.

I also picked up an RIO essential again and have been starting to pour through that material, as well. Ultimately, I'll be getting an RIO Elite as I try to move up to 25nl and start building a legitimate online/live roll.

Both sites teach a ton of really solid modern theory, though but RIO is very cutting edge at the moment. Clearly where the high stakes guys do their off table work. RCP's 1% series, and the approach taken by most of the US live guys, is a level or two behind a more pseudo GTO style that understands solver's ideas of protection and checking strong to balance postflop ranges, etc. Solvers have basically destroyed the idea of the 70% model (which really was d.o.a anyway) and RCP even has a new series of videos called "Questioning the 1%" that addresses this very subject.

RCP is great for foundation, practicality, and live play. That said, it has endless material for online cash, mtt, plo. RIO is cutting edge, complex theory and where you'll find the most advanced teaching/concepts I can find online.

Unable to PM you,,,can you please PM me regarding the deucescracked videos?
Thanx

There are so many "courses" out there now its had to pick one. Currently have consumed most of the upswing lab and looking for more content to watch and absorb.

I'm looking at purchasing the upswing elite cash game mastery course but have read some bad reviews of it here.

With the increase in cost for many one time courses at $1,000+ competition is stiff. What do you all feel is the best bang for your $?

If you’re considering a $1k course then getting MMAsherdog’s cash game course is most likely the very best product on the market and it’s brand new. Check it out on Bluff the Spot.


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Hi, I’m a new player, playing 0.02/0.05, probably only ever played around 20k hands in my life, still making silly errors etc etc. I don’t get much time to play but do what I can. I want to take my game to the next level, what is the best course to help me do this? I bought the dnegs masterclass and that was pretty handy as I knew nothing. Then I signed up to Johnathon Littles poker coaching but most of it is locked content unless you sign up for premium. Atm im playing cash games to learn the basics but eventually I want to play tournaments. I’m off work for a few weeks soon and thinking about investing in upswing. Can anyone point me in the right direction? That’s all

When I said pointing me in the right direction, what I meant to say was, is there anything else I should be doing or is investing in online coaching the best way forward?

Play more instead of buying courses, download a tracker software and review sessions and hands after playing. Don't use the hud in real time and focus in the action on the table. Have fun.

After gaining some more experience playing you could sign up to Runitonce or Upswing training sites. Best value by far to improve at playing poker. You can also search youtube for free info in the meantime.

Thanks for the advice mate, I’ll be honest I do already use poker tracker and the HUD’s. I’ve just edited my HUD so all I can see is VPIP and PRF but nothing else. This should help me think about ranges more at the table rather than looking at all the other stats that I don’t fully understand.

It's pretty terrible.

"When I said pointing me in the right direction, what I meant to say was, is there anything else I should be doing or is investing in online coaching the best way forward?"

Depends on how much time you have. Paying for coaching saves you alot of time (and time is money) as you are paying for insights and strategy that has been crafted and honed on the back of hundreds of thousands of hands of experience (sometimes millions) by a good coach.

Obviously you must play and experience is extremely important but coaching speeds up one's progress mightily.

I hate to read bad reviews of a course that costs one thousand American dollars.

Any other recommendations?

Can you expand on that?


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It's mostly him talking through basic PIO sims in different spots. No real practical application. There's even a video on how to split an AirBnB or bring a sandwich to a live game.

Looking for a site that will help improve my tournament game?

Please advise from first hand experience which poker training websites have helped you specifically for TOURNAMENT (MTT) poker?

Thank you!

Thanks for the advice mate, I don’t get to play as much as I’d like to and when I do I’m playing 5NL on PS which I’m doing ok at but only with an extremely small 2k sample of hands (I only play 1 or 2 games at a time so it takes a while)

My plan is to play up to 10k hands and if I’m still doing how I am then move up stakes but accelerating that would help

The only 2 sites I’m deciding between are upswing and what I think is a new site, learn pro poker. LPP is cheap too atm at only $25 a month, so I may go for that one and try and plough through it, see what information I can learn.

any reviews on the 6max course from upswing?

I have a friend who has this course and he says he likes it. I haven't seen it myself though. Does he explain though why the solver does what it does? If he just says what the solver does without further expanding on that with unique and original content I could see why that would be a bit boring. Sometimes though there are hidden gems in some of this sort of content but I also get it's horrible to watch through hours of stuff to look for one useful piece of content.

Is his preflop bible any good?

My two cents on the current state of training sites. Please keep in mind these are my personal opinions only as a consumer. I have been on many training sites since the Deucescracked days. I am only focusing on cash game content as I am primarily a cash game player. I have not consumed much in the way of tournament content.

1. RIO is fine but the thing is the vast majority of the videos are now old and useless. A lot of the videos are pre-solver or when people didn't know how to use solvers. Play and explain videos are often bad since they explain very little. The coaches are cautious not to share too much. However, there is some good content on there but you need to find it and it's hard for a newbie or even an experienced player to work out who to listen to. Krystoff Slaski (spelling?) is not bad imo. Uri Peleg is a boss. Sauce is a good player but in my personal opinion is not very committed to sharing everything he knows for you to become a better player. In fact, he specifically indicated in a video he would not share certain information/it would be unfair and that he ought not be expected to (and this was from a fellow coach asking). Another problem I have with Sauce (and it's just a personal opinion) is he says stuff like "this is a high EV board for the BB" which is a super useless statement to make without explaining WHY this is and HOW you can determine this at the table and whether it even matters for your strategy. Further, as he mostly plays PLO, I see him saying things in play and explains that make me wonder why he is the main coach for high stakes NLH still. For example, that he hasn't looked at preflop sims for 500z that factor in rake and that other coaches would be better at that. He also made a whole video on just how to use an RNG which seemed a bit pointless. I also see coaches on this site not want to even share excel spreadsheets even on request of paying members. That being said, this is obviously one of the better sites and there is some good stuff on here if you know what to look for.

2. Upswing - beginner content is good. Good place if you literally have no idea of even the rules of the game. The basic strategy will at least give you something to beat micro stakes with. I have some reservations about the category system because eventually you have to break out of that and realise those were just training wheels. Fried's content is good (just unfortunate he was constrained by upswing ranges which he didn't believe were correct and they certainly arn't correct). Damner's material, despite some criticism of it being boring (and it is at times), is actually very good. He is the exact opposite of someone like sauce. He is happy to share things including showing in full view a 3 man no rake preflop sim and discussing strategy in that regard. I was quite surprised he so freely shared that. He also shares quite freely how he thinks about the game. Upwing's true value in my opinion comes from the more advanced stuff by coaches they bring in like dammner and Fried.

3. Deucescracked - shame it went the way it did. They had a brand but let it just slip. They sold the site and no one did anything with it.

4. Red Chip Poker - I haven't seen any of the content but I have heard from others the content has not been updated in some time. My personal view is I do not think Ed Miller, Splitsuit and the Solve4Why crowd are any good at online poker by objective standards e.g. I don't think you will see Ed Miller, Splitsuit or people like Matt Berkey beating tougher online games (500z or 1knl+). I think the CORE program is probably good for the money for a beginner though. Beginners need a way to learn things like what a semi-bluff is, combinatorics, percentages, ratios etc in an easy and cheap way. I mean it's super cheap and I am sure even splitsuit/Ed Miller and co can get the basics right.

Optional extra for mods to server from this post if I am not allowed to say this since I am about to throw out some serious shade:

Outstandingpoker.com - this site is bordering on being a scam. It hasn't been updated in 7 or 8 years and at this point in time most of the statements on it are in my view misleading or false - especially "atta22 is one of the most profitable mid stakes poker players online." This is not true. It may have been true 7 or 8 years ago but it's not true now. Sorry for the shade but peddling this stuff is just wrong. I think they only make money by having people pay for a trial these days. It actually makes me angry if this site has subs still since it's not fair to class this stuff as training by today's standards. At least one person has signed up as of 2019 and I feel sorry for him since he isn't only wasting his 4.95 and whatever monthly fee thereafter, he is getting horrible advice and going to lose his bankroll. This sort of stuff can send people into depression or worse. A lot of their videos are old and just garbage.

I'm a casual poker player who is taking more interest in playing online cash games (with occasional tournaments) to make a bit of side income. For now, I am playing NL5 games on 888Poker (I live in Canada) and would like to improve my win % at the micros before I move up in stakes.

In researching sites for learning and improving at micros with the goal of going up from there, which would you say are recommended for online cash microstakes games?:

- Blackrain79.com - Nathan Williams claims to be the most winning player in the micros. These are simply e-books, instead of a sub model, that grants special access to his forums for more interaction.

- MicroGrinder Poker School by Alton Hardin

- Red Chip Poker CORE

- Upswing Poker Lab

- PokerCoaching.com by Jonathan Little

- RunItOnce's From The Ground Up course (seems like good value for $50)

- The Poker Forge by Smart Poker Study


I am looking to get better asap, but want to do it right the first time. Any advice would be really great!

I just got Run It Once: From the ground up
I've recently done the entire Red Chip Poker CORE

I loved both and learned a ton from both.
Most of it is probably only applicable at micro stakes, but that's what these courses are for, to build a basic strategy.

I'd recommend RIO From the ground up for online 6-max cash games
This is a bit advanced and very specifically aimed at 6-max online cash micro stakes.
I had to watch the videos twice and take notes to really understand the concepts.

I'd recommend RCP CORE for live and pretty much anything else
This is all very structured and really easy to understand.
I'm a huge fan of SplitSuit's videos.

Thanks for your input, Yeodan. It's exactly what I was looking for: to build my skills vs. micros and then advance from there once I am winning more.

I was leaning toward From The Ground Up, due to the flat rate package price, where I can take my time to digest the material. I actually prefer 6-max over full ring, although I have been playing both.

If anyone else has input, I would appreciate it!

Great write up and review

I am sure this can be found throughout the forums...but looking for advanced material for 6max cash player at the 0.25/0.5-0.5/1 level and building a BR to continue moving up, already with strong foundation of GTO concepts, ranges, etc. particularly interested in material that applies information from solvers to common situations.

Never got Upswing Lab but it sounds promising...is there enough advanced material at this point? I recently found AlvinTeacherPoker monster course, and his YouTube channel looks promising, but there is little material on the course itself aside from mixed feelings about the coach as a person.

Not really looking for content flooded with nonsense about it being sick, and the best, testimonials, a must need, and full of life advice.

Would you guys still consider Upswing Lab to be somewhat beginner focused? And what about after courses like Upswing Lab and From The Ground Up - What comes after them before something extremely advanced? Is RIO going to wind up being the best monthly moving into 2020?