Dexas · The Long Game · Foundations
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01
Course 01 · Eight Chapters · Beginner

Foundations

For someone who has never played a hand. By the end you'll know what poker really is, what hand beats what, why position matters, how to read pot odds, and how not to embarrass yourself at a home game.

~3 hours reading 22 interactives 40 quiz questions Free · no signup

"The hardest part of learning poker is unlearning what you've assumed. This course is structured to do that unlearning first, before introducing anything you actually need to do."

— Course overview
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

What this course is.

It assumes nothing. If you've never sat at a poker table, this is where to start. If you've played a hand at a friend's bachelor party and got bluffed out of a pot you should have won, this is still where to start.

Each chapter takes roughly twenty minutes to read carefully and another twenty to work through the interactives. You can skim, but you'll get more out of going slowly. The interactives are not decoration — they're where the real learning happens. We've designed them to be just hard enough that you'll fail the first time, which is the only way you'll remember the lesson by Friday night.

Most chapters end with a five-question quiz. Get at least three right and the next chapter unlocks. There's no account, no email signup, no leaderboard — your progress is stored on this device only. We made it this way because we don't want to be in the business of grading you. We want you to play poker better.

The Syllabus

Eight chapters, in order

01
Chapter 01 · Available
The Bluff That Built a Game

Stu Ungar's 1997 comeback, the strange history of card games, and the most important sentence in this course: poker is a betting game played with cards. With an interactive timeline of poker history, a decision puzzle, and a hand-strength flash quiz.

14 min
3 interactives
5 questions
02
Chapter 02 · Coming soon
The Anatomy of a Hand

The fifty-two cards, the ten possible hand categories, and the brutally specific order in which they beat each other. With a hand-ranking drag-and-drop puzzle and a "what's stronger" speed drill.

16 min
4 interactives
5 questions
03
Chapter 03 · Coming soon
Position is Everything

Why the order of action is the single biggest under-appreciated edge in poker. The blinds, the button, what each seat at a 9-handed table actually does. With an interactive position visualizer.

14 min
3 interactives
5 questions
04
Chapter 04 · Coming soon
Counting Outs

The cards that improve your hand, how to count them quickly, and the "rule of 2 and 4" that lets you estimate your equity without doing real math. With a draw-spotting flash drill.

15 min
3 interactives
5 questions
05
Chapter 05 · Coming soon
Pot Odds Without Math

How to look at a pot, look at a bet, and instantly know whether you have a profitable call. The three or four heuristics every beginner needs and the math behind them, in plain English. With a "would you call?" puzzle set.

17 min
3 interactives
5 questions
06
Chapter 06 · Coming soon
Reading the Board

Wet flops, dry flops, paired boards, monotone boards. What each kind of flop favors and how to adjust without thinking too hard. With a board-texture identification drill.

16 min
3 interactives
5 questions
07
Chapter 07 · Coming soon
Bet Sizing 101

Three sizes you should know. What they mean. When they're appropriate. Why your bet size is its own kind of communication. With an interactive sizing slider that shows what each amount accomplishes.

14 min
2 interactives
5 questions
08
Chapter 08 · Coming soon
The First Tournament

A capstone. Ten realistic decisions from a small home tournament. You answer each one, then we score you and explain why each was the right or wrong move. Pass with 7+ correct and you've finished the course.

22 min
10 decisions
Capstone

Ready to begin?

Chapter 01 takes about fourteen minutes the first time through. You won't need a deck, a notebook, or anything else — just a willingness to actually do the interactives instead of skipping them.

Start Chapter 01