A Beginner’s Guide for Poker Players

Poker Streams to Watch

Poker streams on Twitch, YouTube, Kick and other platforms are a solid sources of knowledge about poker games and their formats. They also can help you better understand how individual each poker journey can be.

Educational poker streams are all characterized by a few key traits:

1. Streamers explain their actions, shares thoughts and willingly answers questions about their plays. 
2. Streamers use off-session solvers, calculators or other learning software live to study with the viewers.
3. Streamers set goals as they progress and share their results. 
4. Streamers do not consider themselves universally right when it comes to poker strategy.

While not many streamers will match all of these boxes, we still have a few solid suggestions: 

• Aaron “abarone68” Barone – a player that streams an abundance of tables at the same time, never forgetting to explain the methods behind his actions.
• Christopher “CeegeePoker” George – a player who regularly streams study sessions with solvers as well as classic poker sessions.
• Nick Walsh – a player who occasionally streams Spin&Go sessions with comments on the PokerStars Twitch Channel.
• Fernando “JNandez” Habegger – a player who not only streams but publishes educational videos for Omaha players.

However, not every stream and streamer is meant to be useful for educational purposes. Some streamers are there solely to entertain, create a safe space for players and have a good time.

A good example is Bert “girafganger7” Stevens, whose streams are considered hilarious by some but unbearable by others. And yet, they lack an educational component. Another two examples would be Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg and Lex Veldhuis whose streams are laid back but do not go into any detail.

How to Choose the Right Poker Streamers?

First of all, remember it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.

Before you go on exploring what’s out there, it would be good to decide what your motive is for even watching the streams. If it’s educational, then great, you have an abundance of streamers to choose from. If it’s just a pass-time, than even better, there’s even more poker content to go about.

Poker Personalities and Blogs

Not every experienced poker player tries to maximize their fan potential. Some of them sincerely want to help the poker community expand and become more professional and ethically cleaner space.

They share thoughts, tips and other pieces of advice from their own experience and analysis in the form of VODs, posts, tweets or articles, but also sometimes come on as guests on specialized podcasts. Examples of a few of the most well-known poker players with content for all level of poker knowledge but specifically for beginners are:

• Phil Galfond has a personal blog with a huge amount of helpful articles, an X account with useful threads and a YouTube Channel.
• Benjamin “bencb789” Rolle has an X account and a YouTube channel.
• Jonathan Jaffe hosts a GTO Lab podcast on YouTube where a lot of top poker players share their tips and advice.
• Chance Kornuth regularly posts tips on his X account.
• Jonathan Little has a YouTube channel.

How to Choose a Poker Player or Blog to Follow?

Just like with streamers, you need to do your research. Go to players’ accounts, blogs and channels and read titles to get a better feel for the content they produce. You also can also scroll through random posts in players’ accounts and determine the usefulness of their content for yourself.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to learn directly from players, check out

Poker Books for Beginners

It’s no secret that in 2024, books about poker aren’t as popular as they used to be. With that said, they’re still a useful source of poker knowledge, especially when it comes to the fundamentals.

The best poker books for beginners are:

• The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky. It is one of the pillars of poker knowledge and the ultimate guide of poker fundamentals.
• The Mental Game of Poker by Barry Carter. It is a detailed instruction on how to build a poker mindset from the first day of play.
• Building a Bankroll Full Ring Edition by Pawel Nazarewicz. It is a guideline for beginners that can be used to understand the concept of bankroll management and the importance of following it in the right way.

You can find other best poker books in the Essential Poker Books Shortlist.

How to Choose a Book About Poker?

Before you go off filling your shelves with poker books, consider what information you want to take away from the book.

Remember, this source of information is solid for grasping the

Poker Schools, Coaches and Groups

If you have difficulty studying poker on your own, there are always poker communities more than willing to help you out. At the moment, the three biggest poker schools that successfully help players become better are:

• Run It Once teaches NLHE and PLO cash players and tournament players including Sit&Go.
• Pokercode teaches NLHE cash and MTT players.
• RaiseYourEdge teaches NLHE cash and MTT players.

All of them have free articles and starting courses available for poker beginners.

If you’re an individual learner, you can also hire a personal poker coach or become a part of an independent coaching group by searching offers on TwoPlusTwo or the Octopi Forum.

Finally, you can also join Discord servers of any streamers who offer educational discussions or any poker schools — PokerCode for instance — to communicate with other players and gather some poker knowledge. 

How to Choose a Poker School, Coach or Group?

It’s fairly simple. You first need to decide what format of game you want to study and which study technique works the best for you.

Then contact an eligible poker school, like Octopi Forum, and carefully choose the most convenient offer.