The Official Red Chip Poker Podcast

If you play #poker to make money, you have more to manage than your bankroll. To get better at the game, you need to study. That takes time and money. Serious students of the game require poker software and training material.   The purpose of this podcast episode is to outline how you manage the time and costs that are associated with treating poker like a business. How do you assess which softwar...

Online #poker is a very different beast to twenty years ago. Essentially all poker sites have taken the decision to clip the wings of the professional grinder, ostensibly to encourage the survival of recreational players. Table caps, minimal rake back, and HUD restrictions require the pros to make concessions.   In this episode of the podcast, coach w34z3l discusses how the online grinder can navi...

Any #poker session you play can be thought of as a series of decisions. The "correct" decision in any spot, such as whether to bet and how much, in principle has an objectively-correct answer. This has some players erroneously seeking perfection.   In the real world, the information you use to make each decision contains uncertainty. You simply do not know the precise range of your opponent, and e...

An increasing number of people rely on ChatGPT summaries to explain complex topics. Is this a good idea if you're looking for tactical and strategic information about #poker? This fun episode of the podcast explores the question.   As you may have found in other disciplines, one of the problems with relying on any LLM is that the accuracy of the information they return can be extremely unpredictab...

Hollywood promotes the notion that top players "read" their opponents from their body language, or their unique method of eating Oreo cookies. But do such live tells have any place in today's mathematical game of #poker?   In this episode, coach w34z3l gives an overview of how your opponents may leak information that you can use to beat them. Equally important, we discuss how you can prevent other...

The element of luck in #poker means that weak players can having winning sessions and strong ones can go on extended downswings. One can argue that this variance is necessary for the game to survive at all, since without it donators would quickly drop the game.   Appreciating how extreme poker variance can be is important for two reasons. First, understanding that downswings are a feature of the g...

The block bet is a play from the pre-solver era of #poker which many players view with suspicion. Making a small bet in the hope of avoiding a much larger one from an opponent certainly lacks a firm theoretical basis. Like many classic plays, however, modern theory reveals that there is a place for the block bet in today's game. While the rationale is rather different, the old block bet has experi...

Much of modern #poker strategy revolves around the battle between poker ranges; our own and that of our opponent. But is ranging always the best approach to reaching a decision, particularly since our opponent's range is at best a guess.   In this podcast episode, coach w34z3l looks at strategies that largely ignore traditional ranging. These data-driven approaches are based on how our opponents p...

Do you equate the mental game of #poker with tilt avoidance? Then this episode of the podcast will be a huge eye-opener. Sure mental resilience is a critical part of playing winning poker, but there are many other edges you can develop through mindfulness. Directed study moves more concepts into unconscious competence, making decisions faster and more accurate. Creating a flow state will optimize...

Maximizing your #poker hourly rate extends well beyond simply playing well. If playing online, for example, how many simultaneous tables gives you your best results? What is your optimal session length? How do you even survive the poker grind?   While the answers to many of these questions depend on the individual player, there are many commonalities that can greatly boost the hourly rate of most...

In the previous episode of the podcast, we discussed how GTO #poker requires mixing. Typical solutions returned by solvers include using multiple bet sizes in a given spot, with each size being used at a specific frequency.   While this is all very well in theory, how does one handle mixing in practice? If GTO tells you to bet pot 30% of the time, and half-pot 70% of the time, what do you actually...

Have you heard high-stakes #poker players claiming that they play a GTO strategy? That is a myth that is quickly disproved; the general GTO solution to poker is currently unknown. Even if such a solution was available, memorizing solver output and its mixing frequencies would be impossible. It is also the case, however, that GTO solvers have radically improved our understanding of the fundamentals...

Playing #poker well can be viewed as making the highest-EV decision at every opportunity. In some situations, such as facing an all-in, calculating EV is relatively trivial. But what about more complex situations, particularly on early streets, where the EV formula is hard to apply? Enter EV modeling; an approach that estimates the EV of different actions by modeling multiple branches of the game...

In the season premiere of season 8, w34z3l breaks down the concept of minimum defense frequency, with an emphasis on how MDF can lead to inappropriate defense frequencies in certain spots. GTO solutions frequently involve defense frequencies that violate MDF, suggesting such lines allow us to be auto-exploited. And yet GTO solutions are generally understood as being unexploitable. This episode rec...

Unlock the key pillars of  exploitative poker strategy in this exclusive audiobook preview from The Exploitative Edge . In Chapter 4, you'll learn how to maximize profits against imperfect opponents by adjusting your play beyond rigid GTO theory. From knowing when to build monster pots to avoiding low-confidence traps, this episode lays out six powerful strategies that will elevate your game and p...

Is your understanding of position in poker costing you EV? In this season 7 finale of the Red Chip Poker Podcast, you'll learn why thinking in terms of position alone is no longer enough—and how the concept of formational awareness can bring serious clarity to your strategy. Coach W34z3l takes you deep into the subtle yet critical differences between various formations—like Button vs. Big Blind or...

In this episode of the Red Chip Poker Podcast, Coach W34z3l dives into one of the trickiest spots in no-limit hold'em: facing a double barrel out of position and deciding whether to check-raise the turn. If you've ever second-guessed a check-raise with a gutshot, flush draw, or even second pair, this deep strategy breakdown is for you. Using a K98 flop with a blank turn as the foundation, you'll e...

Online #poker has changed—and not always for the better. While you're battling regs and fish, there's a whole new opponent sitting quietly at the tables: poker bots. In this eye-opening episode of the Red Chip Poker Podcast, Coach W34z3l breaks down the current state of bots in online poker and gives you the tools to protect your winrate—and maybe even boost it—by identifying and exploiting these...

Were old school poker players better than today's GTO-inspired up-and-comers? In this episode of the Red Chip Poker Podcast, Coach w34z3l explores the dramatic evolution of poker strategy—from the gritty, intuition-fueled grind of old school poker to today's GTO-obsessed solver era. Whether you started playing poker in the last year or two decades ago, this conversation sheds light on what skills...

If you've ever heard someone say "I'm raising a polarized range on the flop" and thought wait, that doesn't quite make sense — you're not alone. In this episode of the Red Chip Poker Podcast, Coach W34z3l introduces a new term you'll want to add to your poker vocabulary: pseudo polarization. While traditional polarized ranges make perfect sense on the river—where you're typically betting either yo...

If you've ever struggled with poker math mid-hand—fumbling with ratios, converting to percentages, and second-guessing your decisions—this episode is going to feel like a breath of fresh air. In "Bad Poker Math", Coach Weasel breaks down one of the most common sources of confusion at the tables: relying on outdated ratio-based math. Whether it's calculating pot odds, implied odds, or bluff-to-valu...

If you've ever struggled to know when to check-raise the flop—or felt unsure whether your current strategy is leaking EV—this episode is for you. We break down one of the most common and instructive spots in poker: big blind vs. button on a dry flop. Using solver-informed analysis, you'll walk away with a clear understanding of which types of hands check-raise profitably, where these hands fall on...

Can we discuss "equity retention" and why it's not an optional concept to learn for every poker player? In this episode of the Red Chip Poker Podcast, we break down one of the most overlooked yet essential postflop concepts: equity retention. You'll learn what it is, how it impacts your decisions postflop, and how to use it to build stronger bluffing lines and value strategies. Whether you're new...

Poker is already a complex game—but many players try to make it easier by using simplified poker strategies. Whether it's range c-betting 1/3 pot, 3-bet-only from the small blind, or avoiding donk bets entirely, the goal is always the same: reduce decisions & reduce errors. But is simplifying your strategy actually helping your win rate? Or is it quietly costing you chips? In this episode of the R...

In this episode, you'll sharpen your understanding of poker strategy and tactical execution — two sides of the same coin that every winning player needs to master. Whether you've ever wondered "am I making the best decision here?" or "do I even know the EV of this play?" — this discussion gives you the tools to confidently find the answer. Coach w34z3l breaks down the critical difference between s...