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 the pot, your pot odds and strategic incentives change. If you're playing the same regardless of the rake structure, you're likely leaving money on t...
May 15, 2024•21 min•Season 4Ep. 7
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-selling courses made by millionaire tournament pros during the World Series of Tournaments sale at UpswingPoker.com. Article Version of this Episode 0...
May 08, 2024•25 min•Season 4Ep. 6
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 made by millionaire tournament pros during the World Series of Tournaments sale at UpswingPoker.com Written Version of this Episode 00:00 Introductio...
May 01, 2024•11 min•Season 4Ep. 5
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-high flop. Get Gary Blackwood's master class on making money with overpairs inside the Upswing Lab training course. Use coupon code LEVELUP to get $50 o...
Apr 24, 2024•19 min•Season 4Ep. 4
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. In all of these spots, you will play as the in position player who 3-bet before the flop. Upgrade your poker game by practicing against a "perfect" op...
Apr 17, 2024•17 min•Season 4Ep. 3
[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 loose, splashy live poker games. Sign up for the new Lucid GTO Cash Game Trainer to upgrade your poker game by practicing against a perfect opponent!...
Mar 06, 2024•36 min
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 study poker. He teaches how to build your own game using modern tools and train your skills with mental exercises. If you get Precision Poker during b...
Feb 21, 2024•14 min•Season 4Ep. 2
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 playing the river alongside Mike Brady. If you want your bluffs to work more often and your strong hands to bring in as many chips as possible, listen close...
Feb 07, 2024•22 min•Season 4Ep. 1
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. Sign up for the Lucid GTO Trainer waitlist at https://upswingpoker.com/lucid-waitlist/ Episode Transcription **Hand #1** $0.50/$1 on GGPoker. $131 s...
Dec 13, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 16
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 with Pocket Aces in both tournaments and cash games from Level-Up Host Mike Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood. Episode Transcription 00:00 Introduct...
Nov 22, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 15
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 pro Gary Blackwood gives you the answers to those key questions and more in this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up. Episode Transcription 00:00 ...
Nov 15, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 14
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 Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood walk you through the optimal open-raise, 3-bet, and 4-bet sizes in this episode. Plus, sizing adjustments you shoul...
Nov 08, 2023•29 min•Season 3Ep. 13
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 Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood walk you through how to battle back against check-raises on 4 different flop types in this episode of Upswing Poker Lev...
Oct 18, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 12
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-heads-up games throughout his career, and he owes a lot of that success to the skills he gained playing heads-up. Mike Brady is joined by Doug to run thr...
Oct 11, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 11
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 not, because Mike Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood are about to walk you through the fundmentals of playing hands with 3+ players in the mix. Join the...
Oct 04, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 10
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? Mike Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood cover the fundamentals of paired flops in this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up, including some tips for mu...
Sep 27, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 9
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 defensive strategy. If you're continuation betting too often in these spots, you're likely leaving a lot of money on the table. Mike Brady and poker pro G...
Sep 20, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 8
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 Hristivoje "ALLinPAV" Pavlovic joins the Upswing Level-Up Podcast to share some bounty tournament wisdom and help you capture more EV in this popular format. I...
Sep 13, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 7
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 scenario. Then, get tips for playing it after the flop (3 tips for when you hit, 3 tips for when you miss) from poker pro Gary Blackwood alongside Mike Brady...
Sep 06, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 6
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 of Upswing Poker Level-Up will help you answer those key questions. Mike Brady and poker Gary Blackwood teach you the fundamentals of range betting th...
Aug 30, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 5
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 takeaways for early stage tournaments. This lesson was taken directly from his Deep Stack Dominance course on UpswingPoker.com, which helps tournament...
Aug 23, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 4
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 high stakes PLO specialist Dylan Weisman joins Mike Brady. Get a winning PLO strategy fast with Dylan's PLO Launch Pad course and save 25% with coupon co...
Aug 16, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 3
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 episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up. Mike Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood will cover the basics of probe betting to help you extract value and bluff effe...
Aug 09, 2023•22 min•Season 3Ep. 2
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 2023 WSOP Main Event. If you really want to take your tournament poker skills to the next level, join the Upswing Lab and watch the "How to Win the WS...
Aug 02, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 1
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 Blackwood walk you through the optimal approach from the Small Blind in this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up. If you really want to take your poker sk...
May 17, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 8
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 final table and eventually close the deal heads-up? Darren Elias is an elite player who could answer yes to all of these questions, and he joins Mike...
May 10, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 7
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 flop from the next and how those factors should impact your strategy. Learn those subtle factors and the strategies you should use on Ace-high boards f...
May 03, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 6
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 bets into the pot in this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up. Pre-register for the upcoming Road to Victory tournament course by Darren Elias and Nick ...
Apr 26, 2023•26 min•Season 2Ep. 5
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 Brady and Gary Blackwood cover the factors that should push you towards betting small and cover specific hand examples in this episode of Upswing Poker ...
Apr 19, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 4
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 understand the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Upswing Poker Level-Up. If you really want to take your poker skills to the next le...
Apr 12, 2023•22 min•Season 2Ep. 3
