You look down at your cards and see pocket aces. It's the best starting hand in poker, but how do you extract maximum value from your opponents? On this episode, Mike Brady talks with poker pro Gary Blackwood about the best practices for navigating pocket aces across a wide range of scenarios. If you like winning more money at the poker table, then…

Winning poker, made simple. Pre-register for the Poker Blueprint here: https://upswingpoker.com/poker-blueprint-pre-registration/ Uri Peleg has spent thousands of hours studying poker. He’s done more digging through solvers and tested more strategies than most players ever will. He’s put his findings into practice and come out on top in high stakes…

Winning poker, made simple. Pre-register for the Poker Blueprint here: https://upswingpoker.com/poker-blueprint-pre-registration/ It’s a high stakes cash game at The Lodge studio featuring two players who are no strangers to playing $50,000+ pots, Doug Polk and Mariano. Poker coach Uri Peleg breaks down the hand using the strategic framework taught…

HAND RECAP (7 handed, 14 players left, 600K/1.2M blinds - 1.2M BB ante) Coelho (13.3M chips) raises to 2.4M with A♦ A♣. Kristen Foxen (49M chips) calls in the Big Blind with K♦ K♣. Flop A♠ T♥ 5♠. Foxen checks. Coelho bets 1.2M. Foxen calls. Turn 8♥. Foxen checks. Coelho bets 3M. Foxen calls. River 3♣. Foxen checks. Coelho bets 6.7M all-in. Foxen fo…

HAND RECAP (6 handed, final table, 300K/600K blinds - 600K BB ante) Ben Tollerene (55M chips) raises to 1.2M from UTG with J♣ T♦. Taylor von Kriegenbergh (22M chips) calls from the Button with K♠ K♥. (Stack size notes: This is a battle between the top two stacks. There are two short stacked players with around 10 big blinds each.) Flop K♣ 6♦ 3♥. To…

HAND RECAP (5 handed, final table, 100K/200K blinds - 200K BB ante) Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (14M chips) raises to 700K from the Small Blind with K♦ 4♠. Jesse Lonis (9.5M chips) calls from the Big Blind with A♠ 3♠. (Stack size notes: Blom and Lonis are in 2nd and 3rd chip position. The chip leader has 20M. There are two relatively short stacks.) The …

HAND RECAP (6 handed, final table, 125K/250K blinds - 250K BB ante) Ausmus (4.5M chips) raises to 500K from the Cutoff with A♥ Q♥. Only Reichard (3.2M chips) calls from the Big Blind with J♥ 8♣. (Stack size notes: Reichard is the shortest stack. Ausmus is one of the shorter stacks, but everyone besides the chip leader has fewer than 30 big blinds. …

HAND #1 (8 handed, in the money, blinds 10K/25K - 25K BB ante) Reard (740K stack) raises to 50K with Q♣ J♠ from middle position. Kornuth (2.2M stack) folds A♣ 9♥ from Small Blind. Deeb (990K stack) calls 6♠ 3♠ from Big Blind. Flop T♠ 9♣ 3♣. Deeb checks. Reard bets 45K. Deeb calls. Turn A♠. Deeb checks. Reard bets 135K. Deeb all-in for 645K effectiv…

Let's analyze WSOP final table hands with over $400K on the line! Want to fast-track your tournament poker skills? Get in the Upswing Lab to get access to Aaron Barone's exclusive training content: https://upswingpoker.com/the-poker-lab-coaching/ Written Version of This Episode Event #12 $1,500 6-Max Payouts: 1st - $439K | 2nd - $293K | 3rd - $210K…

[REBROADCAST] Poker tournaments are a grind and you have to have a lot of different skills to succeed in them. Four time WPT champion Darren Elias joins Mike Brady in this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up to share some tips for your tournament strategy. Darren's tournament master class Road to Victory is 30% off on UpswingPoker.com until the end o…

This podcast reveals the truth about blockers in poker. Upgrade your tournament skills and save up to 51% during the World Series of Tournaments sale at Upswing Poker https://upswingpoker.com/wsot-sale/ Blockers are a fundamental part of poker strategy, but they’re also one of the most misunderstood parts of poker strategy. Many players disregard b…

They're taking your money. Here's what you can do about it. Upgrade your tournament skills and save up to 51% during the World Series of Tournaments sale at Upswing Poker https://upswingpoker.com/wsot-sale/ You may be surprised to learn that these different rake structures should impact the way you play. Put simply, when money is being taken out of…

This episode reveals 7 fundamental tips for poker tournaments that will help you run deep more often and play more confidently. The advice ranges from preflop tactics to postflop strategies. Pay close attention if you want to build bigger stacks and win tournaments! Want to upgrade your tournament skills with elite coaching? Save up to 51% on best-…

You must make strategic adjustments, both before and after the flop, when there’s a straddle in play. Otherwise, you're simply leaving money on the table. Pots are much bigger and stacks will be flying back and forth, so it’s critical you get this close to right in-game. Want to improve your tournament skills? Save up to 51% on best-selling courses…

This podcast will help you win more money with hands like pocket aces, kings and queens! Poker pro Gary Blackwood shares his top 5 tips for playing overpairs in No Limit Hold’em. These tips will help you get better results with your strong overpairs like Aces on a King-high flop, as well as your vulnerable overpairs like Pocket Eights on a Seven-hi…

What separates a great poker player from a good poker player is often bet sizing. Knowing how to size your bets like a studied pro allows you to make more money with your strong hands and run more effective bluffs. This episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up will help you improve your bet sizing skills with 3 example situations posed as quiz questions. …

[REBROADCAST] Splashy live poker games with lots of action are incredibly profitable. But they can be incredibly frustrating too, especially if you don't know how to adjust your strategy for maximum profit. In this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up, Mike Brady and Gary Blackwood cover the most critical adjustments that you must make when playing in…

You're about to level-up your poker game with money making counter-strategies from a high stakes pro. WSOP bracelet winner Alex Vuilleumier joins the podcast to share his top 3 exploits that you can use against weaker players. Alex just released two courses on Upswing Poker. The first is called Precision Poker and its Alex’s master class on how to …

The river is when the pot is at its biggest. That means good plays are heavily rewarded and mistakes are magnified. In this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up, you'll learn how to improve your strategy on the river so you make better decisions on this extremely consequential street. Poker pro Gary Blackwood shares his 5 most valuable tips for playin…

Let's analyze some poker hands! Upswing Lab members submitted hands to be reviewed on the Level-Up podcast and we chose 3 particularly interesting ones to go over. Hand #1 features analysis from the upcoming Lucid GTO Trainer tool. Hands #2 and #3 are straight-up street poker! The hands are recapped below (with no spoilers) to help you follow along…

Get in on the biggest sale of the year on UpswingPoker: https://upswingpoker.com/advanced-poker-training/ Playing your strong hands aggressively is usually the best way to maximize profit in poker. Generally speaking, fast playing equals more money, but you are about to discover three situations where you'll actually make more money by slow-playing…

Poker starting hands that are both suited and connected can be massive money-makers. But they can also cost you your stack if you over-play them. Do you know the proper times to raise, 3-bet, and call a 3-bet with suited connectors? And are you aware of the preference towards lower suited connectors in certain scenarios? Alongside host Mike Brady, …

Poker success starts before the flop. If you make preflop mistakes, like raising too big or too small, you won't be able to maximize your winnings on the flop, turn and river. But the optimal preflop raise sizes aren't always intuitive. It's only since the advent of solvers that poker pros have truly been able to dial in their preflop sizing. Mike …

Do you know how to respond when you get check-raised after betting? In theory (and if you're facing tough players), you have to continue with many more hands than you might expect on certain flops. But on other flops, you should actually play quite "A-B-C" versus check-raises by only calling or re-raising with strong, equity driven hands. Mike Brad…

Heads-up poker is fast and action-packed. You have to play loose and aggressive to maximize your win-rate. But you also have to be precise with your aggression to avoid spewing money to your opponent. Whether you play heads-up or not, you can benefit a lot from learning heads-up strategy. Case in point: Doug Polk has had a ton of success in non-hea…

Multiway pots are incredibly common in live poker cash games and they warrant a completely different strategy than heads-up pots. You need to adjust your preflop hand selection, your postflop bet sizing, how you play as the aggressor, and how you play as the caller. Do you know the money-making adjustments to make in multiway pots? No worries if no…

Paired flops like A-A-5 or 7-7-4 are fairly common in No Limit Hold'em. As a result, the way you play them will have a pretty big impact on your overall win-rate. Do you know how often to c-bet on these flops as the preflop aggressor? And are you familiar with the (very aggressive) response you should use as the player in the big blind facing a bet…

Playing out of position as the preflop raiser is one of the most misplayed situations among poker players. A lot of people think that just because they raised preflop, they should follow through with a bet on the flop at a high frequency. That’s largely true when you’re in position, but playing out of position calls for a much more passive and defe…

Bounty tournaments have taken over the online poker world (especially Progressive Knockouts) and live bounties are far from uncommon. This unique format requires a unique strategic approach. If you're playing bounty tournaments the same as non-bounty tournaments, you are absolutely torching money every time you play. Aussie tournament pro Hristivoj…

There's no doubt that Ace-King is one of the best starting hands in No Limit Hold'em. But "Big Slick" also gives some poker players a lot of trouble. If you want to avoid mistakes and maximize your profit when you're dealt Ace-King, this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up is for you. First, you'll how to play Ace-King in every common preflop scenari…

The aggressive betting strategy known as "range betting" can be a big money-maker in poker...but it can also be incredibly costly if you try it at the wrong time. Do you know the flops and situations that warrant a range bet? And perhaps even more importantly, do you know which boards you should slow down and check at least sometimes? This episode …

If you ever play poker tournaments that start with deep stacks, this video is for you. You're about to get a lesson on early stage deep stack strategy from one of the best tournament players of all time: Nick Petrangelo. He's got over $30 million in live cashes and many millions more online, so you know you're in good hands. Nick reveals 3 crucial …

The great game of Pot Limit Omaha is arguably the most profitable poker game to play in the modern era. The average PLO player tends to be much less studied than the average No Limit Hold'em player, so you can gain a big edge by learning the fundamentals. Those fundamentals are what this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up is here to teach you as hig…

Imagine this. The flop has checked through after you defended your Big Blind against a player who raised preflop. Now, you're considering whether or not to probe bet (the term for a bet in this situation) on the turn. Do you know which hands to probe bet? And what about the size you should bet? That's exactly what you're about to learn in this epis…

The $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event is a special tournament. Even poker business people like Mike Brady and cash game pros like Gary Blackwood dust off their hoodies to register the big one and take a shot at glory. In this special episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up, Mike and Gary recap their respective runs (or lack thereof) in the …

The Small Blind is a unique position because you already have half a blind invested, which improves your pot odds, but you're also out of position against every player at the table. What's more, you've still got the Big Blind to worry about behind you. This unique position requires a unique strategy before the flop. Mike Brady and poker pro Gary Bl…

Poker tournaments are a grind and you have to have a lot of different skills to succeed in them. Do you know how to play with deep stacks in the early stages? Does your strategy thrive (and/or survive) in key bubble situations? Can you set yourself up for the final table once you're in the money? Do you have what it takes to play your A-game at the…

Ace-high flops are the most common type of flop in the game, but they certainly aren't the easiest to play correctly. Many poker players use an over-simplified strategy on these flops, playing all Ace-high flops very similarly, but that is far from the best way to play them. Instead, you must consider the subtle factors that separate one Ace-high f…

If you are a player who rarely bets big at the poker table, you are leaving a lot of money on the table. Betting big in the right spots allows you to build pots with strong hands when you have them, but it only makes sense to do when the rest of your range can support it. Mike Brady and Gary Blackwood help you understand exactly when to shovel big …

15 or so years ago small bets were used quite rarely by great poker players. But since then, the usage of small bets has grown as players realized how much expected value they can add to their overall strategy. Using small bets at the right time will allow you to win more pots and put your opponents in tough spots, so this is a vital topic. Mike Br…

Flops with three cards of the same suit can be very confusing to play. They're unlike any other flop texture type in poker, so they warrant a unique approach. Do you know what bet size to use on monotone flops as the preflop raiser? What about which hands to check-raise against a bet as the preflop caller? Mike Brady and Gary Blackwood help you und…

You might know when and how to check-raise in poker, but do you know how to proceed on the turn when your check-raise gets called? How should you decide which hands to continue betting for value? And when should you keep up the aggression with a bluff? Gary Blackwood and Mike Brady help you understand the answers to these questions and more so you'…

Splashy live poker games with lots of action are incredibly profitable. But they can be incredibly frustrating too, especially if you don't know how to adjust your strategy for maximum profit. In this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up, Mike Brady and Gary Blackwood cover the most critical adjustments that you must make when playing in loose, splash…

You've bet on the flop and your opponent called. The turn comes and you're mulling over whether or not to bet again. This episode will help you arrive at the right decision regardless of the specific board and your specific hand. This episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up is meant to help you get better at double barreling, aka c-betting on the turn, a…

Poker has been changed forever. The best players in the world spend countless hours studying with tools like PioSOLVER, and that's enabled the discovery of crucial strategies that allow smart players to win more money at faster rates. In this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up, Mike Brady and Gary Blackwood list 7 of the most valuable strategic disc…

Every time you have a suited hand, there is an 11% chance that you will flop a flush draw. How well you play those flush draws will have a pretty big impact on your bottom line. The Upswing Poker Level-Up boys walk you through playing flush draws as the preflop raiser and the preflop caller, both in and out of position. You’ll learn which specific …

Most poker players don't 4-bet often enough, and that's a huge mistake. 4-betting allows you to drive the action and build pots with your big hands while punishing aggressive 3-bettors. But in order to be a tough opponent, you have to 4-bet with some bluffs as well. This episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up covers how to build an optimal 4-betting ran…

You're about to learn how to make more money with your c-bet strategy on the flop, specifically as the in position preflop raiser. This is one of the most common situations in poker so it's critical you avoid the big mistakes discussed throughout this show. This episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up starts by covering flops on which you should c-bet ev…

Your big blind strategy will make a huge difference in how much money you win or lose at the poker table. To avoid bleeding cash, you need to defend your big blind with profitable hands, fold unprofitable hands, and implement an iron-clad 3-bet strategy. This short episode of the Upswing Poker Level-Up Podcast will help you do all three of those th…

You just got dealt your starting hand a player raises in front of you. Before you even look at your cards, you should have a good idea of which hands you will 3-bet (aka re-raise) and what size 3-bet to use. That's what this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up covers. You will learn: When to 3-bet Which hands to 3-bet for value How to choose 3-bet bl…