Poker Workbooks

Nobody plays poker with the goal to breakeven. You play poker because you love competing, you love running profitable bluffs, and you love using your intellect to earn money. But the difference between losing and breakeven players is studying SOME poker strategy. The difference between breakeven players and solid winners is A LOT of studying.

So over the years I’ve put together a variety of workbooks to help you study the right concepts in the right way.

This includes everything from basic math, to hand reading, to advanced analytics that help you understand poker at a more technical level.

My latest batch of workbooks includes answer keys, at least 800 questions each, and even companion courses so you always know how to answer questions in a particular chapter. Here they are from easiest to most difficult…

Hand Reading Workbooks

The issue most players find with studying poker is that it requires a lot of time. That, and it’s easy to sink a lot of time into studying the wrong things. Improving your river check-raise bluff frequency doesn’t much help you light 3bet, and knowing how to size your preflop open-raise doesn’t much help you develop a better double barrel range.

But there is one skillset that you use in every single hand: hand reading.

The ability to put your opponent on the correct range of hands is the skillset that makes all the difference.

My goal, when I started creating these workbooks, was to help players like you develop your hand reading skill set through guided exercises. To help you work through the same repetitions that I did when I was growing as a player. To help you explore the spots that impact your win rate in every session. And to layout your poker study so that you always know what to work on.

To that end, I’ve created 3 workbooks. One for live players, another for 6max players, and one for tournament players. These books all use a similar layout that ensures you stay on the right track and get the most from every minute you put into studying poker. Remember, every play you want to run, and every move you want to make – boils down to understanding your opponent’s range and being able to objectively say, “yup, this play will be +EV.”

THE WORKBOOKS

The first section in each workbook will guide you through hand reading yourself. Most players have never written down their own poker ranges, understood how often they CB on certain textures, how often they check instead of barrel, etc.

These exercises guide you through your ranges so you can objectively say “OK, this is what I’m currently doing and this is where I’m certainly leaking.” When you understand your own ranges better you get an automatic legup when trying to hand reading players who implement a similar strategy to yours AND you develop an intuition about combos and frequencies that you can use to find extra plays in real-time.

The second section is twice as long as any other section. Each exercise is built to help you explore your opponent’s ranges from a technical perspective. This includes analyzing combos and blockers, % of previous range, and meticulously dissecting the strength of the hands they continue with.

These exercises are the backbone of off-table study. Understanding how to build ranges better and practicing to quickly dissect and understand them will allow you to make better real-time decisions. Use the guiding questions in each example to not only complete the exercise but to have a list of questions that you can ask yourself in real hands to ensure you keep your mind focused on the right variables.

The final section puts everything together to create the most complicated exercises in the book. You will build your range AND your opponent’s range in each hand to explore range advantage and other advanced concepts.

While this section is not necessary when playing against fishy players, it’s the crux of playing against other strong players. If they are also trying to put you on a range, understand who’s perceived range is currently ahead is your guiding light when choosing your real-time lines.

Get the double the range building practice and take a peek at the advanced range analysis that only the top 1% of players are doing.

I’m new to hand reading. Are workbooks for me?

Yes. Whether you are new to hand reading or super confident assigning ranges, these exercises will help you build and refine your skill set. Since every play you want to make requires solid hand reading skills, this is the stuff you need to be studying between sessions.

Are 3bet pots explored?

Yes. Each workbook has exercises that cover a variety of pots including single-raised, 3bet, multi-way, double barrels, preflop all-ins, etc. If you complete a workbook and feel like an important spot was missing, let me know and I might create that exercise for you ♥

How long does each exercise take?

This varies. An exercise could take just a few minutes, but realistically you should spend 30-60 minutes per exercise. Take your time, focus on the exploration, and don’t rush to get an answer. The exploration is what helps you digest the technical elements AND help you internalize it for later usage.

Can I get a physical copy?

Yes. You can find paperback versions of each on Amazon.

Is there an answer key?

No. It would be impossible to create a timeless answer key for these workbooks since I could never suggest a river range without first knowing what range you assigned preflop. That being said, there are two things to be aware of:

* Each workbook has its own forum where players share their answers, discuss ranges, and you are invited to read or join in.

* Each workbook has an upgradable version that includes videos where coaches share their answers and process for select hands in the book.

How many exercises are included?

Each workbook contains 40 exercises in total (10 from section 1, 20 from section 2, and 10 from section 3). There is also a proposed ‘challenge mode’ for turning these 40 hands into an infinite number!

Can I complete this in a week?

Yes, but you shouldn’t. I suggest doing one exercise per day, and even great hand readers should limit themselves to 3 exercises per day. You want to give space between exercises for maximum benefit.

Below are resources, software, and links to things you will find helpful when completing these workbooks.

Poker Software

Equilab: A free must-have piece of poker software. Equilab allows you do basic-to-advanced equity calculations and can perform some of the basic functionality of Flopzilla.

Flopzilla: My go-to software for range building and exploration. It’s incredibly simple to use and gives you the flexibility you need to do complex range assignments. If you are not sure how to use this software, watch my free Flopzilla video tutorial to get acquainted with it.

HoldEQ: This Flopzilla add-on is the most powerful way of doing complex range-vs-range analysis. It allows you to pair multiple instances of Flopzilla so you can control your range AND your opponent’s range while getting precise range advantage output. This software makes doing section 3 a breeze and you can watch my free HoldEQ video tutorial for tips on using it.

Holdem Resources (HRC): Built for tournament players, HRC is the perfect tool for tournament ranges AND ICM calculations. This pairs perfectly with the Final Tables workbook to make your mathematical exploration so much quicker.

Poker Videos

Building live poker ranges: In this 5 video series, I break down a hand from the live cash games workbook. I share the ranges that I would assign, why, and follow it all up with an extended Q&A.

Building 6max poker ranges: This series breaks down a 6max workbook hand (#27) and showcases ranges on a street-by-street basis. Concepts include building call-vs-3bet ranges, removing aggression ranges, and why that overcard on the river isn’t always that bad.

Workbook Resources

Templates: These editable poker templates allow you to store and review your workbook answers. I personally use Adobe Acrobat to modify them, but you can use any PDF editor software. The templates are a ‘name your own price’ product and you can get them for $0 if you’d like!

Extra tournament payouts & structures: Built for the Final Tables workbook, these extra MTT structures & payouts allow you to customize the workbook experience. Use a payout table that mimics the tournaments that you play so that your ICM calculations become more personal to your limits.

Getting more from each workbook (guide): In this guide, I walk you through the extra takeaways available in each workbook. Concepts include understanding the inverse line, building COMPLETE ranges, and how this process allows you to find easy bluffing opportunities in every session.