Learn live cash poker
Free lessons for players in live £1/£2 to £5/£10 cash games, arranged in three paths. Each lesson gives a straight answer, a worked example, an interactive tool or calculator and the limits of the advice. Start with the path that matches the question you have now; every lesson links to the next one.
Your first live games
For players moving from home games or online poker to a card room, or still finding their feet at 1/2.
- Position and opening rangeswhich hands to play from each seat, with a range chart
- How to play against limpersraise, over-limp or fold, and how big to raise
- The straddlewhat it does to stacks and hand values
- 3-bettingwhich hands to re-raise, how big and when to bluff
- Defending the blindsthe price you get and which hands to play
- Pot oddsthe price of a call and the equity it needs
- Bankroll by stakebuy-ins and bankroll for each live stake
Poker maths
The numbers behind every decision, each lesson built around a free calculator.
- Pot oddsturn a bet into the equity you need
- Equityyour share of the pot against a hand, a range and a whole table
- Ranges and combinationscount the hands behind a read
- Rakewhat live rake and tips cost you an hour
- Variancehow wide results swing over hours of play
Bankroll, results and study
Keeping score honestly and turning sessions into better decisions.
- Bankroll managementset the rules before the swing
- Poker downswingshow deep a normal downswing gets
- Win rate and sample sizehow long until your results mean something
- Review a poker hand in ten minutesa routine for one difficult decision
- Poker variance and standard deviationreading your own swings
How these lessons are made
Every lesson is original Overshove writing. Every number is recalculated before publication, and each lesson says where its examples come from and what it assumes. The advice is a starting point for your own study, not a promise of results; poker results include a large element of chance.
Questions
Where should a beginner start learning live poker?
Start with position and opening ranges, then playing against limpers, because those two decisions come up in almost every orbit of a live game. Add pot odds next, so you can price the calls you face.
Are these poker lessons free?
Yes. Every lesson and calculator on this page is free to read and use, with no account needed.
Do these lessons apply to online poker?
Most of the maths applies anywhere. The examples and advice are written for live cash games, where tables are usually nine-handed, limps and straddles are common and players see far fewer hands an hour than online.