The 4 Best Poker Courses for Beginners

As the poker boom breathed new life into poker in the early 2000s, people began to see the focus on the skill component of the game, especially when pointed out by commentators for the World Series of Poker and World Series of Poker. Those interested in learning poker began to watch the shows more closely, read poker books, and watch pros play online poker on sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

There were some poker education courses online already. PokerPages was one of the first with its proprietary Poker School Online, which had thousands of members paying about $15 per month for the information. And as a result of the poker boom, sites like CardRunners, Bluefire Poker, and Deuces Cracked appeared on the scene, offering various levels of instruction from some of the winningest players in the world.

Poker expertise became a big business and remains so to this day. It comes in many forms, from online simulators to videos and personal lessons from top poker pros. Aspiring pros and even some recreational players will pay top dollar for these types of poker courses, as the structure and resources can change a person’s approach to the game.

Why Take a Poker Course?

Anyone interested in learning poker can pick up the basics from any poker website. They can easily learn poker rankings, and concepts like pot odds and equity are available as a part of most poker content. However, a poker course provides a structured way of learning, a course carefully put together by players who have proven their own successes.

Depending upon the depth and intensity of a poker course, it can inform about everything from math-based strategies to mindset, from larger concepts like GTO (game theory optimal) to focused lessons on topics like heads-up play.

Most of today’s winning poker players have taken some sort of organized course or invested in personal poker training at some point in their careers. As recently as the summer of 2024, the winner of the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event, Jonathan Tamayo, wore a Jaka Coaching patch during the action and famously consulted poker education materials on a computer during the final table playdown. It is rare to find a successful pro in today’s poker environment who hasn’t employed some type of private coaching or consulted online poker education tools.

What to Look for in a Poker Course

With the plethora of poker courses and educational tools available in the market today, it can be overwhelming to glance through all of the options and pick one. That presents the need for some guidelines with which to narrow down the choices.

The first step is to ask for recommendations. Take to social media and poker forums to ask friends and colleagues if they have a particular poker course or training site to recommend. Personal references and suggestions should carry the most weight, especially from those whose poker journeys are similar to your own.

The next steps will then narrow your choices:

• Set your parameters regarding financial ability. Determine what part of your poker bankroll or entertainment funds that you can allocate for poker training.
• Outline your specific goals, what you want to learn and achieve. For example, perhaps you want to be able to transition from cash games to tournaments or from Hold’em to Omaha. Maybe you want to move up in stakes or overcome a particular leak or hurdle, address preflop or post-flop play, or improve mindset to be able to handle swings. Everyone’s goals are personal to them and their poker experience.
• Research courses and instructors that match your goals. Check their offerings and pricing to ensure they line up with your needs and financial abilities.
• Read student reviews and recommendations, and check the results of those students and instructors as able, such as via the Hendon Mob database for live tournament data. You can also ask instructors that you’re considering working with to provide references.

Some poker courses can be inexpensive but not worth the time or pricey but too much to handle. Always try to match your goals with available training and find the best overall combination for your situation.

Top Online Poker Courses for Beginners

This list we compiled is not an exhaustive one by any means. We have chosen the best courses for beginners through our research and experiences. These are geared toward players at the initial stages of their game and wanting to improve on the basics.

LearnWPT: Decades of Experience

LearnWPT is the educational arm of the World Poker Tour. The affiliation alone ensures access to more than 20 years of video footage and analysis, all done with the high production quality that poker players have come to expect from the WPT. This option is geared toward No Limit Hold’em tournament players, as that has always been the World Poker Tour’s focus.

There are several options as a part of the LearnWPT program. The LearnWPT Launch Course is specifically for those at the start of their poker journey, a four-part master class on tournament poker. There is also a GTO Trainer membership option.

• The one-time price for the interactive video master class provides access for life to the hours of structured lessons, strategy concepts, downloadable GTO range charts, and a private strategy forum.
• The GTO Trainer membership program costs just $5 for the first month and $29 per month thereafter, complete with more than 40 GTO solutions, a hand input tool, an on-demand video strategy library of more than 450 videos, and live workshops. There is no long-term contract, as it is cancellable at any time with no penalty.
• Instructors include Brian Altman, Tony Dunst, Vanessa Selbst, Nick Binger, Michael Gagliano, and Andrew Lichtenberger. Famed mental game coach Jared Tendler also provides more than 45 coaching videos.

The biggest perk of the LearnWPT training options is the reputation and experience of the World Poker Tour, and thusly its players and coaches.

Jaka Coaching: Showing Success

Faraz Jaka is no stranger to tournament poker, having been a winning player online and live for nearly two decades. What sets Jaka apart is his ability to explain concepts to players at all different levels of their game. Jaka Coaching has been a reliable source for poker education for years but has caught fire in the past several years with proven successes in players like Angela Jordison, Lily Newhouse, Francis Anderson, Jacki Burkhart, and Veronica Brill.

While Jaka Coaching offers instruction for players at many levels, many of its students are mid-stakes players at the beginning and middle stages of their poker journeys. Monthly and annual plans provide options, as does the free seven-day trial.

• The MTT Crash Course provides 11 hours of instruction for recreational and pro players, covering 80% of spots in multi-table tournaments.
• Access to all videos comes with annual or monthly payment options, the monthly priced at $129 per month but the annual reduced to $99 per month. In addition to more than 160 specific lessons, there are weekly live webinars.
• Courses appeal to men and women alike, with a Discord forum providing a friendly place for hand and game discussions.
• Faraz Jaka is the featured instructor, and the lineup also includes Dara O’Kearney, Scott Baumstein, Sylvain Loosli, and Alex Fitzgerald.

The highlight of Jaka Coaching is the community, a supportive group of players with a head coach who personally champions students as they succeed in tournament play.

3. Run It Once: Foundations and Essentials

Phil Galfond has been a poker instructor for nearly as long as he’s been a player. He has a way with words, not to mention the connections with other A-level players with whom he has formed coaching teams. His latest endeavor is Run It Once Training, which has been a source of poker education since 2012. It launched an online poker site in the years that followed, and Run It Once Poker then sold to a US-based company called Rush Street Interactive. That poker site will launch in Delaware in the coming months.

There are many levels to Run It Once Training, with Foundations as the course aimed at beginners in poker. Essentials is a monthly training site for player improvement, and Elite is directed at the next level with coaches like Dan Smith, Justin Bonomo, Jeremy Ausmus, Jason Koon, and Ryan Leng.

• Foundations offers a one-time price of $50 to gain access to Galfond’s 49 videos, 21 charts, and bankroll management tools aimed at the fundamentals of poker.
• Essentials features No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha pros creating new videos each week on everything from major game types to mental game stability. It has more than 3,000 videos in its library already and a forum for $25 per month.
• Newsletter signups receive three free videos to start learning and discover the tone of the training.

It helps that Galfond is one of the most respected players in the game and has a very soothing voice to listen to. His ability to explain concepts in easy-to-understand language for beginners and technical detail for pros contributes to his longevity in the business.

4. Pocket Queens, Affiliated with Octopi Poker

Founded by Rachel Giocopuzzi and promoted by Victoria Livschitz, Nan Min, Dayanna Ciabaton, and others, Pocket Queens was a product of a gap in poker education. There were no training sites built by women and featuring women as instructors. Pocket Queens has filled that gap by creating a study group with lessons and conversations to help women improve their poker skills.

Livschitz was one of the minds behind a new math-based poker platform that focuses on GTO (game theory optimal) training. Octopi now offers Pocket Queens members a discounted rate, while the original study group remains free and an evolving place for women to feel comfortable learning more about poker.

• Pocket Queens operates on a Discord channel, offering free discussions and weekly featured speakers on various poker topics.
• Octopi users receive a discount on memberships by connecting via Pocket Queens.
• An annual leave is free to play and offers practice in everything from No Limit Hold’em to mixed games. The league runs on a US-friendly platform called ClubGG.

Octopi Poker is available to all players, but Pocket Queens is restricted to women only.

Additional Resources for Poker Beginners

There is a plethora of resources for poker players to learn the basics and take their games up level by level. Many of the major poker sites offer free tutorials and lessons, including PokerStars.net, which is available to all players at no charge and comes with free-play poker on which to practice.

Poker forums like Two Plus Two offer multiple threads related to all things poker, including groups like general poker discussions, coaches and schools, staking, poker software, home poker, psychology, and even poker theory and GTO.

There are many poker books, blogs, social media accounts, YouTube videos, Discord channels, forum threads, free-play poker sites, and livestreams. Players need only determine their preferred method of learning and search in that direction for the content they desire. Much of the aforementioned information is free and available to the public.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Poker Courses

The key to making the most of any poker resource, whether free or a paid membership, is to participate. Instead of just watching videos, take notes. Instead of just trying to soak it all in, ask questions and request clarity on certain concepts. And don’t be afraid to submit hand histories to anyone who can help you analyze and improve your game.

Remember to take feedback with the spirit with which it is intended. Be open to criticism in order to use advice to improve your game, especially if said information will be helpful.

Ultimately, you must put new concepts and lessons into practice. Free-play sites for poker are venues for this practice, but there is no substitute for real-money poker. The stakes must be at least somewhat meaningful in order to provide incentive to play seriously. Online poker rooms like ACR Poker provide a platform – open around the clock – on which to practice using new poker tools at micro stakes and low stakes someone anonymously.

Conclusion

One of the best aspects of poker is that its possibilities are almost endless. No matter what level a player begins at, there is always room for study and improvement. It is a challenge that most players embrace.

Poker education is for players who want to learn how to play, improve on their play, earn more money, move from recreational status to semi-pro or from semi-pro to full-time pro, and make their hobby or career more enjoyable. Poker courses provide the best opportunity to do that and explore the options available to you.