9 PREFLOP Poker Tips For Beginners (Just Do This!) 

I just released the sequel to this video. If you struggle on the Flop, Turn or River here are my 9 POSTFLOP Poker Tips for Beginners: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--mWsXEf_lQQ.html

Ive been watching educational poker videos for a while now and you’re the first person I’ve heard say what you said about adjusting your preflop raise to aim for only 1 caller. It makes so much sense and really has changed my perspective on how you want the preflop to go when you have a good hand.

Your videos have been the most practical, straight-foward informed content I've found as I'm learning to improve my game. So much of the content out there is all theory, math-heavy hardcore poker nerd type stuff - which has its place. But as a novice who's fallen in love with the game but just trying to learn practical strategies (and basic theory) that can keep me afloat while I try and build experience, you've been my go-to. Thanks for the incredible content!

Thanks for your work on this channel. I find your approach to be the most accessible for amateurs. I grew up watching my family play poker every weekend from toddler age through high school. They went to Las Vegas multiple times per year. I had a friend who always came home from Vegas a poker winner. His secret? ¨I always quit while I am ahead.¨ No ego, just discipline funded essentially free trips to Vegas every year. I never got the playing bug, but I have played my share when I was younger. Now I watch poker and chess analysis channels to help keep my mind sharp. Your channel is very entertaining.

FABULOUS channel. Ive always been a fan of watching poker but lately wanted to learn more about the logic of the game. your videos are VERY well done and you have a great knack for conveying information clearly. Next steps...I will be checking out your cheat sheet and ordering a book or two. Thank you very much! Take Care!!!!!!

Just wanna say, I'm extremely happy that I stumbled across your channel while u was searching 1/3 NO Limit videos....I have learned sooo much more about the game and I just wanna say THANK YOU! - I just last week made the move to play poker so that I can try to scrap a living and work my way up so Im starting with 3,000 bankroll....1St day I got smoked for about 600 4 days ago I've played everyday since then after watching and studying your content...and I have been in the black each day since avg about 5-8 hrs a day at 1/3!! I'm now down 27 from my starting roll and....I only wish I found your channel sooner bro!!!! BEST OF LUCK FOR YOU IN THE FUTURE!!!

Dude, you've done an amazing job on this channel. I've been watching your videos the past couple weeks trying to work on my strategy. I had to reload for $300 on global poker a little over a week ago (I tried jumping stakes way before i should have, variance took me for a ride, and learned a painful lesson in bankroll management lol) and between 20nl, tournaments, and a few sit n gos, I'm happy to report as of the writing of this comment that I'm up to over $900! Thank you so much for the lessons and keep em coming!

Charts rule dude! Memorizing and drilling the charts is essential for live thinking!

I’ve been watching your videos and in my first tournament won 16th out of 144 so thank you!!

Great video, the tip for dealing with aggressive players makes sense and I haven't seen anyone else talk about that, very useful.

Your channel is great, i consider myself almost at pro level now. I have been playing for 20 years, i was fortunate to live within 4 hour car drive to Las Vegas. I took 7 years off to take care of my mother, but i have started playing again last year. I mainly play tournaments, and sometimes low end cash games. This last WSOP i got in the money in 3 straight events, and i just missed the final table in the Pokerstars in Manila. I was the bubble for the final table, but i got a decent pay out. THanks to you i have cashed around 20k since returning to the game. I was old school tight player, now i have opened up my game a lot. Thanks

honestly your YT vids are a lot more digestible than 1000$ courses I've bought. thanks for explaining it in a way that's easier to pick up!

Nathan i just want to say THANK YOU your tips and the way you explain them is just so smart and simple. i have watched alot of how to by pro's in poker and i felt frustrated i couldn't really understand and fully apply the things they taught but you were the one who made the difference. you made me a better player. thank you.

Thank you Nathan for the video. It was very easy to understand. I just subscribed to your channel.

You have hands down the best instructional poker videos on youtube!

I'm starting to take poker more seriously, you made the scary looking charts easier to digest, great work! Subscribed!

Great video. Loving it. One question I had. In tip 5 you suggest playing pocket 2s (51% relative chance of winning), but folding QTo (59% relative chance of winning). How come when the 2s have a lower chance of winning?

I've played poker for 25 years, so I checked you out when you came into my feed. You do a good job. I'm pleased to see that I'm already following your advice...

great vid. let's say you have a decent hand and raise 3x and someone shoves. are you still only calling with premium hands or do you adjust your range down at all if you already put money in? also, if this guy is an agro or on tilt would you adjust down or just cut your losses and stick to the staticical advantage?

Thanks for the tips! I'm a noob and the part i struggled with the most was the preflop, just like you said haha! Thank you, awesome video!

Just subscribed….great stuff…to the point…super practical…glad you came across my screen !

Great video with some good strategies. Thanks for the tips!

These are terrific tips. Thank you

Good teacher. Thank you

Im from New Zealand and use the app GG poker, self taught and been looking for a video like yours to help me with tactics,cards to play or fold etc. Your video has helped me. Thank you!!!

I don't know if he mentioned this, but another crucial tip is to ALWAYS keep your preflop bets the same size. It doesn't matter if you have AA or 72o, keeping the preflop bets the same will make it incredibly hard for your opponents to put you on a specific hand

Great video! ! I have been playing with fake chips (you can buy them) for fun for years and at this point quite easily goes top 3 in 100 player MTT high stakes (15-30 days worth of freeroll play for buy in). Feeling ready to start playing for money. This is the best beginner advice I have ever seen for preflop! Cash games are so different from MTT, with or without antes

Hey man, I’ve been watching your content for a long time. Great stuff. Question. I’ve seen many players out there say oh we should raise to our standard size to get “ value” preflop. If we go to large we force out weaker hands. But what happens is like you said we go to the flop with 4-5 called and we lose most of the time. How do you feel about that ? We should just try to get 1 caller? Even if we just steal the blinds and everyone folds? It’s hard you know when people fold when you have AA, KK, QQ and no one pays. But I assume it’s better than letting mostly everyone in because we raised too small. Also I’m in a lot of ISO raise pots. Where a lot of people have limped and then I raise. Does this rule apply to RFI, and ISO raising or just ISO raising or both.

On #7 you might want to gauge the table first a bit before blindly going over the top of limpers. There could be some "tricky limpers" among them. However, after an hour maybe of seeing limp pots go to showdown weakly maybe imply this exploitation. Just beware of tricky limpers!!

Absolutely invaluable content

This is great stuff. Thanks bro!

Couldn't limping be used as deception to get them to bet more if you have a strong hand?

Curious about the one caller example In that specific scenario i think it is a winning play in the long run lets make the 46% round up to 50% to make things easy. if you win 50% of that pot while all in preflop, That means you triple up 50% of the time, which means that you still gain money as you win x3 your stack, and lose 1x your stack per 2 hands

Think you man

It helps mee!! Thanks 😊

Thank you ❤❤❤

around 11:45 you talk about getting on the left of the weak players, would you also recommend the opposite? when you identify the strong players try to get on their right? i've always kind of done that, so that i can control the action betting into them and seeing how they react... ie in my last cash game a few days ago i initially sat down in seat 8, seat 6 and 7 were two regs who play extremely well and also know each other very well.. after about an hour of playing to their left in seat 8 and watching them bust seat 5 twice and take chunks out of seat 3 and 4 without me being able to get in on the action i moved to seat 5 when that player left and i noticed their play completely changed when i moved into that seat. I also started being able to control the pot while they started folding a lot more.

Just learning poker and I feel like my eyes have been opened. This was extremely helpful and informative I'll have to rewatch and soak it in again. Liked and subbed 👌

Only pocket pairs and big AA is really tight! A lot of big pots are always won with suited conectors as well, mostly in cash games.

so I came here like 4 days ago, watched one single video and went back tp PS to try that out. Since then, I have been constantly getting at least to a prized seat on each tournament. 😀

What online client do you recommend playing on?

Bro great video! I need a video like this in Omaha Hi-Low, some things here apply, but the hands don´t. Thanks!

Good stuff

Can anyone give me their opinion on the best small stake poker websites to play at currently in Texas but never played online

Awesome!

Nathan can you make a video how to recognize that opponent have set or overpair. I am winning player at micros but most of my loses are against set or overpair...

Great video for beginners 👏🏿 Thank you @BlackRain79Poker

which hud is good for Ignition on line site?

I'm a good card player and have checked after flopping 4 10s because an A-hole across from me was always raising...sure enough he raised and I went all in, he called and was super pissed when he saw my 10s the point is. Some people spend way too much time over thinking things and trying to study odds of getting a certain card. I don't care how good you are, if you don't have the cards, you can't win, sure you can bluff, but eventually you'll get caught and lose big time, just ask the guy across from my 10s.

I normally buy in to cash games 50 x the big blind and take 2 buy ins, do you think this is a better option or should i just take one buy in and buy in 100 x the big blind ?

Im a LAG/TAG Hybrid player the player on my right is the variable to my style

Спасибо

My question is - when I play live games 1/2 or 1/3, a raise of 3 or even 4 times the pot will still get multiple callers. I usually need to go to $15 or $20 to get the weaker hands out of the action. Is this normal?

Can you recommend a good online platform for a US player who needs to use a VPN? I tried before but they wanted an address from the country I sign up in.

Something i have a hard time with is knowing when to fold after i 3bet, and someone either shoves or 4bets to me. Is the goal to only 3bet hands im willing to shove? Is that the general principle? No matter my position at the table?

Is this applicable for Tournaments as well? You focus mainly on cash games while you are giving examples here. Please let me know! Big Tournament this weekend and needing a refresher!

I'm the one caller you want. I'm sitting directly to your right. I defend my BB with 9 2 suited and felt you when the flop comes 9 6 2 rainbow.

Any tips for a table that usually limps into pots and rarely raises? I usually don’t get 3 bet and I haven’t been winning recently

Lost 700$ tonight on tilt playing online, definitely knew I was playing as the fish but still thought I could out bet or out luck everyone I was playing against. Kinda new to higher level/ higher money games, great video a lot of good info for a young poker player that wants to continue playing and be profitable

Limp is not always free money. It’s often a trap😉

I'm still having a hard time having them pay (extracting value). I need to learn more about finding the fish.

Do you have a link for me to purchase any books you have written

Why do you go all in with AK? I know it's much easier to bluff with but technically it's an underdog against a pair of 2s.

Heyyy so I’ve done a few (0€ buy in) poker nights at my house as a beginner, and I’ve lost everytime. I tried using your tips and I won last night ! ☺️

What do the small o and s mean in the hands charts?

So what’s some of the best online poker sites?

Rip Doyle Brunson

Do these tips also apply to live cash games, or just online?

Great informative video definitely subscribed thank u sir

Wait a minute..... can you explain why the 9 player chart only allows you to play AK suited to A5 suited and not less? I'm SO confused about that.... Wouldn't A2 A3 A4 and A5 suited ALL be BETTER than A6 suited for example? What am I missing here I thought this was well known.... Is it only in my head that it's well known?

😊 they respect the raise preflop, and if they don't then they will when you catch em on raise/call after i check my boat on the turn and raise the flush draw on the river!! Booyah

Thorough.

shouldnt your range widen as you get closer to the button?

Before watching your videos, I was the fish! Thanks to you, soon I became the fisherman

I don’t understand the table positions thing: don’t they turn after every round?

good video, but 1/2 cash game raise to $6 rec with AK offsuit at a live casino is a fantastic way to go to a 9 way pot.

Why is for example A6 considered to be better than A2?

👍

What's a "suited connector?"

Also here's a funny anecdote I heard.... It's better to have aces, go all in preflop and get 9 players to call every time than it is to have them and get 1 person to call. The idea is that the 3 out of 10 times you win the money with the 9 callers makes you more money than the 80% of the time you win against 1 person. Unfortunately you can't push a magic button and constantly get 9 callers to your preflop all in :D But I would imagine that as long as you get more callers than your odds of losing you should be profitable in the long run. So like that screen you have 3 callers.... you only win 46% of the time... but if you were all in with both of them ur quadrupling your money on a little less than a coin flip... That's pretty fuckin good.

According to this range chart you would never play 7/8 suited?

I will play almost anything in BB! 😆😆

Is the poker sheet just for free? I'm kinda interested in it

i won because of your statergy 💯💯💯💯

But what if you like to lie low and trap, would you not limp preflop

What hands you play should also have something to do with your position at the table. If you're on the button and everyone up to that point has folded pre-flop what difference does it make if you're in a 6 player or 9 player game at that point as far as deciding whether to play a hand? Either way, you're in a 3 player game now.

Utg +2 raise 10, middle re raise 50 I jammed 250$ with AK and he snap with aces 😂😂

i am winning alot but unable to built up the my stack

Since it takes significant skill to understand ones' own shortcomings, it is not uncommon for the amateur to look at the professional AND THINK THEY CAN DO A BETTER JOB.

I won my biggest pot with 4 6. Almost folded but then flopped 6 6 4 went heads up with someone with ace high flush. He thought he had the nuts and went all in 😎 I called

Invest in a $20 Bluetooth mic to talk into. The echo/reverb from your room is crazy

Which is why online sites always give you complete garbage when you are on the button or cutoff.

I've never been to a poker game where you can only have to raise it 5x the blind to get people to fold LOL that's insane. The 1/2 games I play at the casino, raising to 10 gets no less than 4 callers 80% of the time. Raising to 20 you will always get at least 2 callers..... In order to get only 1 caller you need to raise to around 15x the BB.... But there's the problem...... If I have aces and raise to 15 I get 3 or 4 callers..... If I raise to 20 I usually get 2 callers, sometimes 1..... So then I raise to 25 and everyone folds..... It's so difficult to find that sweet spot to get only one caller, I've been trying to figure out the trick with this for so long... there just isn't any trick...... And that's the biggest problem... I have pocket 10's, I can't really raise to 15 and get 3 callers every time I have pocket 9's because I'll lose more than I'll win that way.... However, if I raise only to 6 or 10 I get 7 callers and barely ever win. In these situations I feel like just limp calling works best because I'm basically set mining anyway, and I'll see the flop more often without having to even call a raise at all.... and if I do hit a flop I will get called for big bets ANYWAY. Maybe these things you're saying will work online where the people aren't so gambly, but I play 1/2 live in Vegas and raising to isolate just does not work here unless you raise really big. But I've tried doing that for a while and started losing (I log everything) all the time! In these splashy games I've found that playing tight and minimizing losses is the best approach... wait for good post flop equity and then be aggressive... Of course it's possible that I just so happened to try this isolation strategy by betting huge during a down swing, but when you DO isolate and you miss, you find yourself in positions where you have good bluff equity... But it's very very difficult to get people to fold anything so in reality the "how often will he fold" variable of the equation is impossible to know..... Did he hit bottom pair? Then he will call a pot size bet....... does he have a gut shot... then he'll call.... did he miss completely??? YES he folded! More more times than not you're bluffing and then getting called by a shitty better hand... or a draw.... and the 20-30% they win their fuckin draw PLUS the 90% they don't fold leaves me losing 70-80% of the time. You said not to use cookie cutter rules, of course I get that, but what do you do when you're playing with splashy players? The only answer I've found is to literally just wait for monsters and then rip as much money as you can get them to call while ur ahead of the math... And then that comes down to actual decision making, which is one of the toughest parts of poker. Edit: So yeah I wrote this before getting to your #2 tip, and it seems my conclusion was correct... just flat call these guys.

Whats 20bb?

Limpers love calling light

Point 8, not always correct

When is the right situation to show a bluff? Always? Never? I had AK suited, bet preflop, bet a Q85 flop, 2 on the turn, and I bet a pot sized bet. The opponent showed 2 jacks and folded. I wanted to show the bluff, but I just mucked it!

Ummm I’m playing J10s and Q10s every time.

Update 2024: $1/$2 cash game min raise now is 15 😂

I made an acronym myself. It's called safe. Stands for see a flop every time