Poker in general and online poker especially have become much tougher than during the golden era of early 2000s. Nowadays, if you want to make money playing poker, you need to put in a lot of hours studying the game and improving your skills. For most people, there is simply no way around it.
This fact gave rise to many training sites, offering knowledge-hungry players a chance to significantly improve their skillsets at fairly affordable prices. The Red Chip Poker Pro section is one such place, offering a wealth of strategy resources.
Since there are so many training sites available online these days, it’s hard for players to make a choice and figure out course or program fits their particular needs. The goal of this Red Chip Poker Pro review is to provide you with all the important information about this particular course so that you’ll be able to make a more informed decision.
Table Of Contents
Red Chip Poker Pro at a Glance
Different poker courses take different approaches. Some offer a very structured course that tells you exactly where to go after watching a particular lessons. Others are more free-style, giving players an opportunity to explore and absorb knowledge at their own pace and focus on the topics they’re particularly interested in.
Red Chip Poker Pro is definitely in the latter category.
Instead of a rigid structure that focuses on a particular theme, you’ll find a wealth of videos covering a wide spectrum of topics. These videos are created by many top pros and poker book authors such as Ed Miller, Adam Jones, Doug Hull, and, of course, James “SplitSuit” Sweeney, the founder of the Red Chip Poker site.
If you keep up with the poker scene or just do a quick Google search for some of these names, you’ll quickly realize that Red Chip Poker Pro has a very strong core of professionals. They are all experts in their respective fields with proven track records, so you can rest assured the quality of the content on the site is very good.
What’s Inside Red Chip Poker Pro?
With the introduction out of the way, it’s time to look inside Red Chip Poker Pro and see what the site actually offers to its users. As mentioned, lessons in the Pro section aren’t organized in any larger groups so you’ll be able to access many individual videos as you choose.
This has its good and bad sides.
The good side of this approach is that it gives players a lot of freedom in terms of what they want to learn and how they want to go about the learning process. If there is a particular area that you feel you should study more, you can simply pick a video on that particular topic and go with it.
However, if you’re new to poker, this kind of structure may not be the best fit. Someone looking to get started with the game will probably prefer a course that’s more structured and takes them from one point to another in a more organized manner.
Red Chip Poker does offer these types of courses as well, especially with their Core platform. The Pro section, however, is more aimed at those who are beyond the beginner’s level and are ready to take a systematical approach to improving their game in particular areas.
To give you a better overview of Red Chip Poker Pro, I’ll try to summarize the content by a couple of main areas that are covered.
Poker Theory & Meta Game
Many of the videos found in the Pro section belong to this category. You’ll find many great lessons on things such as:
- Hand reading
- Building a poker mindset
- Poker myths, etc.
These are good general videos that are going to help you regardless of whether you prefer cash games or tournaments and the advice contained within is applicable across various stakes. For example, Doug Hall’s two-part series called Stone Cold Reads teaches you how to best exploit the information you have on your opponent to really push the envelope and improve your profitability.
Creating an Unbeatable Mindset by Dr. Tricia Cardner is a great video on how to set up proper foundations for your poker career. In it, you’ll find advice, suggestions, and strategies that go beyond just learning the game. It will help teach you how to build a strong mindset and deal with everything that comes with playing poker seriously.
In the Busting Poker Myths video, Alex Jones hosts a webinar coaching session where he discusses some of the most popular poker myths and misconceptions. If you are interested to know more about why online isn’t rigged (and why many players seem to believe it is), this video offers some very good explanations, among other things.
All in all, there is a nice number of videos covering different concepts that fit under the meta game and theory heading. These are well-made and easy to follow and you don’t necessarily have to go into the full focus mode for them. Many of these videos are more about you hearing about some interesting concepts and then thinking about how to apply them to your game or to your life in general.
Strategy Videos: New content added regularly
The number of strategy videos available for Red Chip Poker Pro members is quite decent and the library is constantly growing. New videos are added regularly, at least once a month, often in a form of coaching webinars that include interaction with the players and answering some of their questions.
In fact, there is a counter on the page, showing you when the next video is scheduled for a release.
Some of the topics covered in strategy videos so far are:
- Recognizing and fixing leaks
- Continuation betting
- Play in the blinds
- Understanding and exploiting ranges, etc.
Clearly, these videos focus on some of the more important aspects of poker strategy and, as such, they’re relevant to a majority of the players looking to acquire new knowledge. Mike Gano’s video on Playing from the Blinds, for example, offers a detailed guide on how to build your ranges in the blinds and how to adjust your strategy from these positions, providing many examples along the way.
Then, there is the continuation betting mini-series from Alex Fitzgerald and Adam Jones, covering everything you need to know about c-betting both in and out of position. Continuation betting is a huge part of the game today and understanding what you should and shouldn’t do in various spots is paramount to your success at the tables.
There are several other interesting videos you’ll find in this section, such as Exploring Omaha from Chris Wallace. For those looking to make a transition to PLO, this coaching seminar provides a wealth of information about differences between Hold’em and Omaha, finding good games, and adopting a playing style that will yield the maximum profit.
Although the video library is quite good and each video has a high level of detail, there are many topics that aren’t covered in this particular section. This isn’t to say that Red Chip Poker Pro isn’t good. There are simply so many things to discuss when it comes to poker strategy that it’s virtually impossible to cover it all. However, the site is doing a very good job adding new content fairly frequently.
Crash Courses
In addition to single or two-part videos, Red Chip Poker Pro membership will also give you full access to the Crash Courses section. As you might figure out from the name, these are actual courses aimed at covering a particular game type, be it tournaments, cash games, live play, or other somewhat broad poker topics.
Courses are much more structured and represent a great resource for learning in a more organized and paced manner. Currently available courses cover topics such as:
- GTO
- MTT
- 3-bet Shoves in MTTs
- Aggression
- Live $1/$2 Games
Like the rest of the Pro videos, these courses are done by the professionals who have a lot of experience with particular topics and the results to back them up. While these crash courses aren’t as lengthy as some you’ll find on the other sites, they provide a lot of useful information presented in a clear and concise manner.
The GTO crash course is the latest addition to Red Chip Poker Pro. With the GTO concept becoming more and more important in the modern games, it is definitely a valuable addition that many current and new members will know how to appreciate. Created by Andrew Brokos, Ross Glover, and Doug Hall, it starts with basic concepts and explanations and builds up from there so even if you’re completely new to GTO, you’ll be able to keep up.
I find the course for live $1/$2 games particularly interesting. Many online coaching programs seem to completely neglect the live aspect despite the fact live games can be much more profitable. The course is taught by several pros, including Sweeney himself, and although it covers $1/$2 and $1/$3 games, it is useful for all small and mid-stakes live cash games out there.
Another great thing about these courses is that they’ll provide links to various articles and other videos that further explain certain concepts mentioned in the lessons. This makes it very easy to quickly find additional information about any concept you might be struggling with.
Review Summary: Is Red Chip Poker Pro Worth it?
To become a Red Chip Poker Pro member, you’ll need to put aside $50 a month. Depending on your particular circumstances, this might not seem like small money. It’s $600 a year and when you look at it like that, you have every right to ask if the money you’re going to invest is going to pay the dividends.
I’ve mentioned throughout this review that Red Chip Poker Pro does have certain drawbacks, primarily when it comes to structure and that’s one area where they could do better.
But, looking at it as a whole, you’ll gain access to some really top quality information. Once you start watching a particular video, it will become apparent that lessons themselves are very well organized and easy to follow. Coaches creating content aren’t just great players – most of them are also quite good teachers, so you won’t struggle to keep up with them.
If you’re just starting up, I wouldn’t suggest buying Red Chip Poker Pro. You’ll be better served by their Core program or maybe a different option for beginners. The Pro section may seem overwhelming and confusing for someone completely new to the game.
However, if you’re already a semi-experienced or experienced player who is able to recognize the areas where they need to improve, this course is well worth the money you’re going to pay for it. As you might well know, getting rid of one small leak or improving your play in the blinds will easily make you much more than $50 a month. And with the advice, examples, and strategies provided in these videos, you’ll be able to improve many aspects of your game, I have no doubt about that. If you are interested, you can check out the Red Chip Poker Pro program here.
Content Organisation: Content is organised well in subcategories such as crashcourses and core, however, there is no real structure to the rest of the Pro program. This is the main downfall of this program.
Content Depth & Comprehensiveness: Advanced strategies are covered very well. Almost top marks
Video & Audio Quality: Audio and video quality is top notch. A lot of time has been spent on this.
Value for money: This course is great value for money with a wide array of content available for only $50 per month.
Free Trial/Money Back Guarantee: No trial is available but the upfront payment is very low in comparison to other sites.