BlackRain79

This review of Alec's Academy was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Today I am going to review the brand new Alec's Academy poker course. Alec Torelli is a professional poker player with over 15 years of experience. He specializes in high stakes cash games, but he’s had notable success with tournament poker as well, with total earnings of over $

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Bluffing the river is something a lot of players struggle with, and some of them don’t even do it at all. And it’s understandable. Not only is there so much information to consider, the amount of money in the pot by the river often blindsides players, and they just don’t have the nerve to...

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. The river is the biggest money street in no-limit Texas Hold’em, and playing it optimally is what makes or breaks your winrate. So it’s important to know when to, and more importantly, when not to fire off a bet on the river. As is usually the case in poker, whether or not it’s profitable...

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.When it comes to poker strategy, the turn play is somewhat neglected or glossed over compared to other streets. There’s an abundance of information about preflop play, there are tons of charts and step-by step guides, and there’s no shortage of information about flop textures and optimal c-betting frequencies. But by the turn

Spring is finally upon us. So I am going to drop some deep discounts on all my poker strategy books and my poker video course to help you get crushing the poker games. Everything will be 30% Off until Friday April 9th at midnight EST. As you guys know, I very rarely run any discounts or sales on my poker books and videos....

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. We live in an incredibly fast paced world, and sometimes it feels like there’s just not enough hours in a day. Between your day job, family, friends, chores and increasingly shorter leisure time, it can be hard to find the time to play poker, let alone make it a profitable side hustle. You

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.Poker is an incredibly competitive game, and it seems to get progressively more so every passing year. What used to be a tried and true winning strategy in the past can only bring you mediocre results today.After all, if everyone is doing the same thing, everyone will have the same results by default. With

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Bluffing is definitely one of the most exciting aspects of poker. So much so that it almost became synonymous with the whole game itself. And it’s no wonder. Nothing can quite get your juices flowing like successfully pushing your opponent out of a huge pot while holding complete air. It’s fun, exciting, and it

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.Ace King is the strongest drawing hand in no-limit Texas Holdem, and it should be one of your biggest money-making hands long term, trailing behind only premium pocket pairs, from pocket Tens and upwards. Players tend to either hate or love the Big Slick (Ace King). While

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. “The name of the game is no-limit Texas Hold'em, the game that takes a minute to learn but a lifetime to master.” - Mike Sexton Poker is a deceptively simple game. Everyone can learn to play, but hardly anyone can actually be a long-term winner. After learning the rules and realizing that it’s

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. “Poker is war. People pretend it is a game.” - Doyle Brunson With more than half a century of poker experience, Texas Dolly sure knows what he is talking about. Poker is war, albeit of a more civilized sort. And war, war never changes. So why not learn the lessons from the most famous...

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Playing the river optimally is what makes or breaks your winrate. It’s the biggest money street and you often have to make a decision for your whole stack. The amount of money in the pot by the river often paralyzes players, because they are overly focused on the pot size, which affects their

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Facing a pot sized bet can be a difficult spot to play. We are faced with a big decision, often in marginal situations, and have to decide then and there whether or not to continue and potentially put our entire stack on the line on consecutive streets, or give up right away and relinquish...

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Poker is an incredibly competitive game, and it’s no surprise by any means. Wherever there’s money, there’s people scrambling to get a piece of the action. One great thing about poker is that, unlike many other endeavours, there’s a minimum barrier of entry. Anyone can play, and anyone can win, and it only

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. “There is no such thing as standing still. You either move forward or regress.” - Bohdi Sanders Mastering poker is a lifelong journey, and it’s never really complete. Poker is an incredibly competitive endeavour, and like anything else in life, success comes to those who are willing to work hard to outperform

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. When looking at a high-stakes professional poker player losing a half a million dollar pot, or busting out of a huge tournament “in the bubble” and taking it in stride, the word “stoic” might come to mind. While colloquially referred to as someone who is calm and emotionless in the face

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan. Handling the inevitable swings in poker is one of the biggest obstacles to success for any aspiring poker player. Doing everything right and seemingly getting punished for it over and over again is so incongruent to the human experience and preconceived notions of justice and fairness that most

Something that people ask me all the time is if you can prevent bad beats at the poker table. I am sure you are sick of getting so many bad beats in poker. So am I! So, is there anyway to make them go away? It is completely natural to ask this question because bad beats are actually one of the hardest parts...

It's Christmas and that means all of my poker books and my poker video course will be 25% Off for the next few days. If you have been waiting to pick up one of my best selling poker books or my poker video course (especially as a Christmas gift for someone), now is the time to cash in on some big savings. Don't...

One of the hardest hands to play effectively in No Limit Hold'em is Ace Jack. While it is a very strong hand in theory, and will be a large long term winner for you, it will also often put you in all sorts of tricky spots. You need to know when to bet, raise and most importantly, when to fold with this hand....