How to Realistically Improve at Poker as a Beginner (2026)
Video Overview & Insights
Get my free poker cheat sheet: https://www.blackrain79.com/p/free-guide.html
If you want to go a lot deeper into my strategy as a 10+ year pro, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet: https://www.blackrain79.com/p/free-guide.html
Enroll in my Elite Poker University: https://courses.blackrain79.com/p/elite-poker-university
Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. Use my proven elite poker strategies to start winning fast.
I've never played poker, it never interested me, until i decided to do a full completion playthrough on rdr2 and had to play. I'm hooked lol
Get $100 OFF with code: 100OFF
Join Play Fearless Poker: https://courses.blackrain79.com/p/play-fearless-poker
Thank you Nathan for putting out these videos. I've been playing poker with friends for the last couple of years and only won a couple of times.
After watching these videos at the start of the year I'm now winning regularly because I now fold when I should, bet small when I don't have much and go for the kill when I have good cards and don't let people limp in on the flop. It's still taken 3 months to refine my skills, and learn when to bet and how much I should bet, but I think I'm the best player now in our group of 7. I've won 4 out of the last 5 weeks and now my friends are very cautious of me.😊
Yeeha.🎉. I believe I now have a reputation of being good, so I can bluff a little more with success as well
Learn the PROVEN bluffing system to win more pots without the best hand. Use these simple strategies to crush strong players even when you have nothing at all.
Get $100 OFF with code: CRUSH100
The biggest trap for beginners isn't bad strategy — it's studying your fifth pot odds article instead of just playing another 500 hands, because the discipline Nathan's talking about only becomes reflexive through volume, not more reading.
In this poker lesson I break down several key strategy fundamentals — including which hands to play and when to bet, raise, bluff, or fold.
If you're new to the channel, my name is Nathan "BlackRain79" Williams and I am a 10+ year professional poker player and 3-time best selling author.
I don’t wanna be a fish anymore 😂
Poker is fundamentally a game of skill and I believe that focusing on the basics is the most effective way to improve your game.
IG: @officialblackrain79
The last tip is one I felt. I didn't get emotional, but somehow the flop was always the opposite like a flopposite. I get red suited, board gives black suited. Others get handed flushes and straights (1 card) I can't get them if I try. I have a great hand of any sort, I get a bad flop of every sort..
Lost a lot that day, thankfully not real money.
--
Disclaimer: This video does not include any real money gambling or promote any gambling sites. It is intended for educational purposes only. Most people lose at poker over the long term. The information provided here is not a guarantee of success. Individual results may vary.
Love to take your money
More User Perspectives
My most dreaded hand is AJ offsuit and I am always afraid to play it as I never seem to win this hand in pub poker. What is your advice?
@MotorYachtMisterBojanglesDude. Ive been playing for a while for no money and winning like a shark thanks to you. Ive been watching games on acr for about a week now and i think im about ready to try for money. Thanks again man!
@elliotw5918This is great and easy to follow info. Looks like I will be cutting out Q plus anything lower than a 10. Mike Sexton (RIP) was such a great teacher of Poker. I looked him up online and he was a TAG player. ie Tight /Aggressive. Just like this info. I started playing less hands, but my strong hands I play aggressively. If you don't at least 1/3 the time, you get out drawn. I practice alot on Poker Stars. Holding my own at the $100k game level, soon to go for the $1Mil game buy in. You can practice this Tight and Aggressive style even on Free Poker sites. You can also play loosey goosey and wee what happens! You will win a few hands you normally wouldn't, but the pain comes in losing hands you NEVER should have been in. I wish, Blackrain would mention how he incorporate sthis into when you are forced into a hand with big and small blinds.
@GoodByeCigsBookmarking this video for later.
@HotSuperAMCTip nr.1 never copy,learn fundamentals....go to hungry horse and you'll be fine.
@dihillen#5.....Playing an AJ goes against your "Only play these hands" rule.....
@ryansessions6278geez, if only there was a way to make this list "easier".....such as: play ANY pair and play ANY 2 cards that are 8 or higher and next to each other, except AK
@ryansessions6278This guy is giving good advice but its bery specific to his play style and where he plays.
This game comes in many different ways for example philysical or digital lets assume this advice applies to digital well that means irl players using real cards are taking bad advice.
Ok how does this go differently in digital?
Well theres open tables with minimum to maximum buy ins then theres set buy ins like tournaments.
His advice to me sounds like tournament games in a digital world.
Id be broke otherwise.
Basically, if you are a true gamer (pc for me) .... apply your learning techniques to this game and you will do very well.
@NonnyStrikesYour awesome man. Straight forward, easy to understand, and not charging 19.99 for a course. Love it and you earned a sub
@ianbartley-x6dAJs
@AceKINGME24Thanks bro, your tips have most definitely improve my game, I appreciate you.
For a guy in Cali, what is the best online site to play on?
This guys advice is terrible
@strangecrimeworld9402No AK suited ? In a cash game? No AQ suited?….
@strangecrimeworld9402What poker sites are good? I was told Poker Stars has the most players. Back in the day I uaed to play Party Poker and then Full Tilt and there were always a LOT of Sit n Go tables and tournaments with 1000's of people in them. Poker Stars has NEITHER!!! Plus there were people from all around the WORLD playing. Is this the issue?
@ridemotorcycles-2003congrats now u became the best bunker player all time
@bendocash9364>don't play trash hands
>next example is trash hand by this definition
Blackrain is such a nit reg.
Bullies fish, but gets crushed by capable pros.
Guess he prioritises table selection. Fair enough.
The best lesson to take from this video is that selling a book with a poker system is how you are most likely to make money at poker.
@PickpocketJonesDon’t play AK suited?
@garrettcrow8943What if the turn came a Q are you shutting down with check fold
@tange-lq5jgThis guy is one of the very few people who win while playing "the right way". Internet poker is a series of computer-generated programs. Mathematical probabilities are not a part of those programs. A human can't put probabilities into a program. Most likely, a program designed by someone who can't win playing real poker. Therefore, their designs are based on mathematically improbable card lay-outs.
"Random cards" can't be possible on a website using hundreds of hands at a time. It's a program that is randomly used.
How many hands have you lost to the "one card" on the river? Use the math. You have lost to the 2% card more than 2% of the time, right?
"Variance' is a term used by those who have that mathematical term on their side. If you are like most, 2% of the time is actually 80%.
If I won 80% of the time I was to win 80% of the time, I would make positive videos. I lose 80% of my favored hands. Therefore, I complain.
A computer can be programmed. Your IP address can be isolated in a program. Therefore, you can be programmed to NOT WIN.
I think.this guy is the best poker teacher he is very practical all this gto range remering is usless in lowstaeks
@royalflush8173How about.AK AQ AJ AT
@renoververaofficialSo you sit around waiting for these hands, and your blinds are gone, have you played online lately, have you seen the dramatic change in game play, when are one of you so called education players going to have the balls and say NLH online has had its day😳
@kissmystainedglass7155How is the 2 a safe card in ex 4?
@bsfatboyI have 19 free credits for 19 online poker games sooooo I’m researching before I waste my chances at some free money 🤞😋
@GymPirateZangariLol you said at the end if you had 3 of a kind they gonna have 4 of a kind in order for them to have 4 of a kind you had to have a boat. So technically you didn't just have 3 of a kind.😂😂
@christiandaniels3902First two example hands literally don't follow the first rule he gives.
@erkmerkk2950You missed AK
@AmbereenEstheticsThe comment section always kills me. Like did you guys come to receive information or give it🤣🤣
@DarylJr214you say only play those hands but I get one of those hands like one out of twenty hands.
@lloydabovelifeIf you take poker seriously, poker hand tracker software is a must. Even at NL5, it is worth to buy.
@MarySmith91925Don't play Ak, AQ, AJ, A10s got it
@indigo73871:00 so AK is a trash hand. got ya
@TheNonFungibleDegenขอบคุณครับอาจารย์ ได้ความรู้มากเลยครับ💕
@realsatirathornjayGreat videos mate, thanks
@Fuyoualliamjacpacyour content awesome!! Would love to see more like "neighborhood game" breakdowns, you've talked about how the monthly friend game often has different dynamics, where ppl play more hands, and don't fold as much. Need to conquer my monthly friendly game
@JimmieCochranTip 3 is basically the same as one of the theorems an online pro came up with back in online pokers heyday i forget his name but he had a few theorems and one was "if you get called on the flop and raised on the turn, then top pair is no good."
@tumbleweedconnection7906How do I get the free cheat sheet?
@ThemessagewithDPAre you really saying not to play AK in the first rule (#7) - or did you just forget to leave out all the A# monsters?
@Chiberia@0:57 is AK missing?
@stropheumSo never play AK, got it!!!
@JW-vo5gs