Blockers are an intermediate concept that tends to be used incorrectly by many players. While they can be important in making close decisions, there are some situations in which using blockers will actually diminish your results.

Find out when and how to use blockers by listening to the final podcast episode of Season 6.

RELATED LINKS

• GTO Poker Gems (Book Site): https://redchippoker.com/gto-gems-book
• Poker Combos And Blockers 101: https://www.splitsuit.com/poker-combos-blockers
• How To 3-Bet With Blockers: https://www.splitsuit.com/how-to-3-bet-with-blockers
• The Advanced Poker Workbook: https://www.splitsuit.com/advanced-poker-workbook

Join us on Discord: https://redchippoker.com/discord

Are you utilizing position to its maximum benefit? From preflop isolation raises to postflop lines, playing in position confers a significant advantage.

If you understand the power of position, but also think you might be missing some spots, give this episode a complete listen.

RELATED LINKS

• Playing Preflop When Fish Never Fold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwXZcLHs1Y8
• The Best Preflop Plays, Lines And Strategy: https://www.splitsuit.com/best-preflop-plays-lines-and-strategy
• Floating (PRO/CORE Subscribers): https://redchippoker.com/courses/postflop-ii/lessons/calling-postflop/topic/floating/
• The Advanced Poker Workbook: https://www.splitsuit.com/advanced-poker-workbook

Join us on Discord: https://redchippoker.com/discord

MAD

MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) is a military strategy designed to avoid conflict by ensuring any war completely annihilates the countries involved.

In this episode of the podcast, coach w34z3l draws some provocative parallels between the traditional concept of MAD and its application to situations arising in poker.

*LINKS*

• GTO Gems (eBook): https://redchippoker.com/gto-gems-book

• Leveling And GTO Strategy: https://www.splitsuit.com/leveling-poker-strategy

• The World Of GTO Poker: https://redchippoker.com/the-world-of-gto-poker/

• Red Chip GTO Ranges App: https://redchippoker.com/gto-ranges-app

*JOIN US ON DISCORD*

Join our free poker Discord today: https://redchippoker.com/discord

Jack Effel, tournament director for the World Series of Poker, drops by this week to talk about what goes into putting together the biggest and most famous tournament series in the game. For their 50th anniversary, the WSOP is pulling out all the stops this year, and we get the inside take on what players should expect this year as they chase their poker dreams.

Zach Elwood has dedicated much of his life to deciphering poker tells so us players could make sense of them. This week, he shares some of his most profitable insights and breaks down exactly what goes into extraction information from verbal and nonverbal tells in poker.

Jeff Platt is famous for his poker commentating and podcasting chops, but he's also a player, with a 60th place WSOP Main Event cash for $113,764. In this wide-ranging interview, we learn what it's like to call the action from behind the commentator's desk, as well as what it's like to tussle on the felt with the best.

Chris "Fox" Wallace is a PLO and mixed game specialist with the WSOP bracelet to prove his poker mettle. His Next Level Poker and iNinja Poker Tour ventures are taking the poker world by storm, and he's on the podcast today to share an exciting behind-the-scenes look at how a major poker tournament tour comes together.

Tommy Angelo has written some of our favorite books on poker, period. He blurs the line between strategy and storytelling, teaching countless players how to succeed through mindfulness and self-reflection. Plus he's damn funny! Hear why 'Waiting For Straighters' might be the most entertaining way to up your game this year.

Greg Vail is a split pot scholar who makes crushing Big O and O8 look easy. As he explains on our podcast, these games are growing in both popularity and profitability. Wondering what these Omaha games are all about? Listen and you'll wonder why you're not playing them.

Ross Glover is author of the upcoming strategy masterwork Unbeatable Poker. He drops by the podcast this week, taking us behind the scenes on the journey of authoring a poker strategy book. He shares his experiences as a serious student and sage of the game. Many winning poker players create their own unique system to dominate the game, and Glover's approach synthesizes the best poker strategy of the last decades into a single fascinating framework.

Joe Stapleton is one of the most-loved and most-recognized commentators in poker media. This week he joins us to entertain and entrance with tales from behind the scenes of poker's biggest stages. Tune in if you've ever dreamed of hearing Stapleton say your name on a broadcast (even if he's telling joke about you!)

Moneymaker. What more do we have to say? Listen to this week's podcast to hear our interview with Chris Moneymaker, 2003 WSOP Main Event winner and man whose storyline gave birth to the golden age of modern poker. 

Travis Moss struggled for years to gain a foothold in the game, but his passion for poker drove him to keep studying and competing against the best. Today, he's a solid winning player at $2/$5 taking shots at $5/$10, thanks to his serious study of the game (including being a Red Chip Poker member). Hear how he did it on this week's podcast.

GTO CBets

In this episode, coach w34z3l takes a macro-level look at GTO c-betting across each of the major flop textures. The goal of such work is to identify actionable heuristics that enable us to c-bet (or not) profitably and with confidence.

Discover what the solver prefers, in terms of frequencies and sizes, on various boards and formations.

*LINKS*

• GTO Gems (eBook): https://redchippoker.com/gto-gems-book

• More GTO C-Betting Advice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OXUNxh4QLA

• Continuation Betting In Multiway Pots: https://www.splitsuit.com/cb-in-multi-way-pots

• C-Betting Out Of Position: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twfr3h4C0cY

*JOIN US ON DISCORD*

Join our free poker Discord today: https://redchippoker.com/discord

Rich Muny just finished his run as President of the Poker Players Alliance, and he joins us for a behind-the-scenes look at the legal landscape for online poker. Muny shares stories of fighting on behalf of all poker players to banish the legal demons of Black Friday and bring the game we all love back to the masses. It's a fascinating look at the past, present and future of the poker industry.

Doug Hull has been grinding $1/$2 professionally in Las Vegas for years, and now he's ready to share the ugly the truth about going pro. He's seen the poker scene chew up and spit out 'baby pros' who come to town with a few buyins and a dream, and his message is "Beware." His bottom line? If you have the skills to excel in poker, you can profit more by applying those skills to non-poker career pursuits, and then you might have the bankroll to retire early and play poker professionally like Hull does.

We like looking down at ace king, but there's often the underlying feeling of dread that decisions are about to get tricky. It's true, ace king is arguably poker's most complex hand to play, and that's why James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney and Adam 'w34z3l' Jones wrote an entire book on it. This week, we share an chapter from Optimizing Ace King: The Right Strategy for Playing Poker's Most Complex Starting Hand. Enjoy!

The importance of exploitative play can easily get lost in the modern GTO world. But as Adam "W34z3l" Jones explains this week in an excerpt from one of our PRO Membership videos, the fundamentals of exploitative play go largely unstudied. In this episode, Jones presents a fully integrated strategic framework for approaching exploitative strategies and tactics in poker. It's accessible and advanced, so grab a notepad and get ready to learn!

Recreational, unstudied players love to limp, especially in live games. Us clued-in players know that 'never limp' is an edict best respected. But when is it actually OK to limp? This week, we take a page out of our CORE training platform to give you a quick lesson four very specific spots where limping makes sense.

When faced with a table full of aggression, what is the most effective counter-strategy? James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney joins us to give his answers to your questions on how to beat tables full of players who are unafraid to raise, re-raise, and shove.

What do I buy in for? What stakes do I play for? These may be some of the most fundamental questions in poker, but just like any other fundamental, they deserve well-reasoned, deeply thought-out approach. Luckily, James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney is here to answer your questions regarding how much cash to convert into chips on your way to the felt.

The river doesn't need to be a scary street. This week, get your footing with James "SplitSuit" Sweeney as we answer member questions about thin value, showdowns, and all things fifth street.

Sheree Bykofsky joins us this week to discuss her new book The Kaizen Of Poker: How To Continuously Improve Your Hold'Em Game. We discuss using checklists to make sure you're plugging leaks and playing your A game, as well as the mental and cultural barriers to taking the game more seriously with study. Enjoy another wide-ranging poker strategy discussion on this week's podcast.

Whether you play predominantly live or online, choosing the right room can have a profound impact on your poker career.

Discover how to identify the poker room that is perfect for you, along with other tips on live and online room selection from coach w34z3l.

*LINKS*

• The Truth About Live Poker: https://www.splitsuit.com/live-poker-cash-game-truths

• Game Selection Podcast (S6E5): https://redchippoker.com/game-selection-podcast/

• Playing Poker In A Casino: https://redchippoker.com/playing-poker-in-a-casino/

• Live Poker Game And Table Selection: https://redchippoker.com/live-poker-game-table-selection-podcast/

*JOIN US ON DISCORD*

Join our free poker Discord today: https://redchippoker.com/discord

Mike Gano has been a pro and coach for years, and he's still out there grinding, learning and teaching at serious stakes. We take stock of the modern online poker landscape, strategic considerations for new styles of play, and where the world's top players are finding their edge in an age of unprecedented information and computing power. Enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with a top-tier poker mind.

What you put in your body has a direct correlation to whether you play your A game or your C game. We all know how valuable that difference is. Paul Salter, a nutrition coach to athletes, bodybuilders and poker players, breaks down the small steps we can take to make big long-term changes in our lives and games. A poker player himself, Salter gives tons of advice for optimizing your nutrition and getting a biological edge over less healthy competition.

Pro/coach contributor Fausto Valdez has a keen sense of when and how to make adjustments in any poker environment. We talk to him about his successful tournament grind at this year's WSOP, his return to crushing cash games and coaching up-and-coming poker pros. Plus, listen in as Fausto walks through a hand he played with host Zac Shaw at this year's Red Chip Poker meetup in Las Vegas.

This week's podcast features a hand history breakdown provided by Adam Jones. Lots of strategy concepts are discussed, primarily around planning your bet sizing across three streets. The hand was originally submitted to the Red Chip Poker forum by one of our members, generated considerable discussion, and eventually found its way into our much-acclaimed CORE study program as a Level III lesson. For $5/week, CORE provides all the tools you need in structured lessons to help you analyze your own hands, and to take your game to the next level.

Andreas “Rayo” Kniep provided the Red Chip Poker community with a sweat in this year's WSOP Main Event, running deep into Day 5 and a 173rd place finish. Rayo, a student of RCP coach Luke Haward, has been playing poker for less than two years. His introduction to poker came when his marathon-running hobby was interrupted by a hip injury. Rayo reveals how that starting point eventually saw him at the TV table in the Rio.

This week, host Zac Shaw talks about the biggest pot he ever played at $1/$2, and in the process details over a dozen ideas you can use to analyze your own big hands. Rather than focus on breaking down his strategic decisions, Zac invites you to analyze the hand along with him, and encourages you to try many different methods to better learn from your big hands, win or lose.

This week, Greg Vail, our resident split pot specialist, joins us to answer your questions from the forum about Big O and O8. He's celebrating the release of his new book, Scoop! Big O and PLO8: Winning High Low Concepts for the Hold'Em Mind. Written by Vail and edited by Doug Hull, you'll be the smartest person at your split pot table upon digesting its contents. Heck, you'll probably be the smartest split pot player at your table after listening to this podcast!

Author, consultant and poker player Eileen Sutton has been getting deeper and deeper into the grind, taking on star coach Tommy Angelo and distilling his wisdom down to a strategy to win in the underground NYC poker scene. We take you into her world and mindset on this week's wide-ranging podcast interview.

How do you beat a player that's much better than you? The answer is: Run good. But seriously, there are some winning strategies to taking on tough opponents, and one of the toughest is James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney, who joins us to talk about how you can beat players like... well, like him. Since host Zac Shaw is about to head out and play with Sweeney and the other coaches at the 4th Annual Vegas meetup, he needs all the help he can get in this department. The duo signs off with news on the future of the podcast and discusses the PRO and CORE membership as Red Chip Poker heads into its 5th year of helping poker players of all walks of life improve their games and their lives.

Where does your profit come from in poker? This week, Ed Miller explains why most players get the answer to this question wrong. And don't worry, he shares the right answers too. This episode will get you out of your comfort zone and into the strategic concepts that are actually responsible for you taking money off the table in the long-term.

Game selection

What should you be considering when choosing the exact game to play in? This topic gets little attention and it can really boost your win-rate.

This episode delves into everything from metrics for identifying good (profitable) games, to evaluating games in real time, and knowing when it is time to leave the table for a better spot.

*LINKS*

• Beginner’s Guide To NLHE: https://redchippoker.com/beginners-guide-to-no-limit-holdem/
• Playing Live Poker 101: https://redchippoker.com/playing-poker-in-a-casino/
• SplitSuit’s Live Poker Vlog: https://www.splitsuit.com/1-2-live-cash-poker-vlog

*JOIN US ON DISCORD*

Join our free poker Discord today: https://redchippoker.com/discord

You hear the pros talking about "balancing your range" all the time, but what exactly does that mean in practice? In this episode, coach and cash game grinder Fausto Valdez shares his secrets for thinking about your range and the ranges of your opponents. How do we become less exploitable, while exploiting others at the same time? Valdez walks host Zac Shaw through a $1/$2 hand he played to dissect each decision and coach recreational players to think more like a pro when it comes to ranges.

As poker players, our relationship with pocket aces can be intense. They are a beautiful sight, but we must wait so long for a glimpse. The moment becomes critical. Will our aces get cracked? Will this rare opportunity be squandered? There are a lot of "feels" to be had about pocket aces, and Dr. Tricia Cardner breaks down the science and psychology behind overcoming them. This is a mental game episode you won't want to miss.

Kat Martin has been grinding $1/$2 in Vegas for years, and shares many nuggets of hard-earned wisdom for any poker player looking to take on the sleepless city's live poker rooms. Making a living in a place bent on taking away your money is no easy task, but Martin has made it work by carving out his niche, and perhaps you can too, starting with his tips for doing Vegas as a visiting poker player.

What if everything you thought you knew about pot control was wrong? This week, Adam Jones explains why "pot control" is inherently flawed as a poker strategy concept. Through a series of hand history reviews, he'll show why attempts to keep the pot small through checking can be a big, exploitable leak, and what real profitable "pot control" would actually look like.

When we suspect our opponent is capable of firing double barrel bluffs our way, how do we counter-attack? This week, we take a chapter out of Doug Hull's classic strategy book Poker Plays You Can Use and analyze a hand to answer the question. Hull even illustrates alternate lines, alternate board card scenarios, and dives deep into the math behind his decisions.

If you've never experienced a coaching session firsthand, it can be hard to overstate just how much coaching can change your game. This week, Kris Murray (aka Persaudeo) stops by for a coaching demo that leaves host Zac Shaw floored with new poker strategy revelations. The two review a recent hand Shaw played street-by-street to ask and answer the question, "Why are you making decision X?" Buckle up for an extended episode and a fantastic ride-along with a top coach.

Facing tough river decisions and big bets while holding non-nut hands... it's what no limit hold 'em is all about! Even though this will happen comparitively rarely in your session, these decisions have an outsized effect on shaping your win rate. It's critical you get these spots right. This week, three coaches review three tough river spots and break down each street to detail their strategic thinking.

We've all sat down at the table full of super-tight players and been frustrated by a lack of action. But the key to profiting from these positions is to realize you're in a massively exploitable opportunity, and to get exploiting! On this week's podcast, James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney shares a chapter from his book Unfolding Poker, giving you some solid, specific tactics for crushing tight tables.

This week, we look at the one thing almost no live poker players are doing, yet it could improve their game immediately. And that one thing is taking notes at the table. Host Zac Shaw delivers advice from the Red Chip Team and our member community on how and why taking notes on the hand histories you play can transform your game.

Are you trying to improve your win rate? What about the value of your poker time? This week, James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney joins us to explore the many ways poker players can squeeze more value out of their poker time through simple mindset adjustments. Touching on strategy and mental game, this episode will give you a fresh perspective on how to accomplish your poker dreams and goals.

Understanding and incorporating the Independent Chip Model (ICM) is critical for tournament success. From preflop push-fold ranges to stack preservation, ICM guides most late-stage MTT decisions.

In this episode, we explore what ICM is and how you can use it to improve your tournament results.

*LINKS*

• Final Table ICM Dynamics: https://redchippoker.com/final-table-dynamics-icm-podcast/
• Poker Tournament Push-Fold Charts: https://redchippoker.com/poker-tournament-push-fold-charts/
• Red Chip Poker GTO Ranges App: https://redchippoker.com/gto-ranges-app
• Join Us For Season 7 in CORE/PRO: https://redchippoker.com/

*JOIN US ON DISCORD*

Join our free poker Discord today: https://redchippoker.com/discord

We're back with another episode you'll want to listen to more than once, as Adam "W34z3l" Jones shares four questions that you should be asking before c-betting. We've done a few c-betting episodes in the past, so what's new this week? C-betting is a major part of poker and you can never know enough, but this week, you can take these four questions to the poker room this weekend and notice an immediate change in your game.

In one of the most value-packed episodes of the Red Chip Poker podcast to date, Adam 'w34z3l' Jones breaks down strategies and tactics you can use in each of five common preflop spots. You're going to encounter these spots in practically every session you play, and Jones breaks down dozens of specific considerations and tactics for each spot. This episode is an audio excerpt from a training video included with CORE, Red Chip Poker's new poker strategy training experience, available at redchippoker.com/launch-core.

We'll let you in on a little secret: No single strategy or tactic can make you a winning poker player. You need them all. So the secret to winning any poker game is to study more efficiently and effectively than your competition. That's where Adam Jones comes in on this week's podcast. He produced many of the exclusive training videos you'll find in our brand-new CORE poker learning platform. In this episode, Jones takes us inside his process for breaking down poker's more complex concepts into fundamentals that are easy to digest and apply in the games you play.