The Poker Blueprint: Learn to Play Good Poker

Learn Overarching Poker Concepts and Theories Essential to Becoming a Long-Term Winning Poker Player

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🎓 Membership-Only Course

This course is available exclusively as part of the MicroGrinder Membership.

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Build a Strong Mental Foundation and Understand the Core Concepts of Poker

You can learn all the tactics in the world.

You can memorize HUD stats, hand ranges, and optimal bet sizing.

But if you don't understand the overarching concepts that separate winning players from losing players, you'll still struggle.

This course covers what most poker courses ignore: the mental framework and fundamental truths you need to become a long-term winning player.

Why This Course Is Different

This isn't a course about pre-flop strategy, post-flop play, or specific situations.

Instead, it covers the high-level concepts that determine whether you'll actually beat the game over time. Things like managing emotions, avoiding common mental traps, understanding variance, and developing the mindset of a winning player.

Some might call this "fluff," but these concepts are just as important as knowing when to three-bet or how to play a flush draw.

What You'll Learn in This Course

Basic Poker Truths

Understand the fundamental realities of poker that every winning player must accept. You'll learn why chance favors the prepared mind, why poker is a game of imperfect information, and why your only job is to make fewer mistakes than your opponents. You'll discover the traits that successful poker players share and why you don't have to be the best player to be profitable.

Why People Fail to Beat the Game

Learn the common pitfalls that keep players stuck at their current level. You'll understand why applying ineffective strategies, overthinking situations, and getting emotionally involved lead to failure. This section helps you avoid the mistakes that prevent most players from ever becoming winners.

Seven Common Beginner Mistakes and Solutions

Identify and correct the mistakes that cost you money: playing too many hands, playing too passively, bluffing without solid reasons, under-betting the pot, and playing scared poker. Each mistake comes with practical solutions you can implement immediately.

Know Thyself: Understanding What Matters

Develop self-awareness about your game. You'll learn to know your fundamentals, understand the mathematics that drive profitable decisions, and recognize your opponents' patterns and tendencies.

Winning Poker Basic Game Plan

Create a framework for consistent success. Learn the importance of patience, how to set realistic expectations, why you should always have a plan at the table, and how to strike a healthy balance between poker and life.

This Course Complements Your Technical Training

Think of this course as the foundation that makes all your other poker knowledge more effective. You can know perfect strategy, but if you're tilting, playing scared, or making beginner mistakes, that knowledge won't help you.

This course addresses the mental and conceptual side that determines whether you'll actually apply what you know correctly.

What You Need

  • Basic Understanding of How Poker Works
  • Desire to Improve Your Mental Approach to the Game
  • Willingness to Examine Your Own Poker Mindset Honestly

What You'll Get from This Course

  • Understanding of the Fundamental Truths That Drive Poker Success
  • Awareness of Common Mental Traps and How to Avoid Them
  • Framework for Making Better Decisions Under Pressure
  • Mindset of a Long-Term Winning Player
  • Ability to Identify and Correct Beginner Mistakes
  • Realistic Expectations About Variance and Results

Who This Course Is For

  • Beginning Players Who Want a Strong Mental Foundation
  • Experienced Players Who Struggle with Tilt or Emotional Control
  • Anyone Who Feels They Know Strategy But Still Aren't Winning
  • Players Looking to Develop a Sustainable, Long-Term Approach

Who This Course Isn't For

  • Players Looking for Specific Tactical or Strategic Advice
  • Those Who Want Hand Range Charts and GTO Solutions
  • Anyone Expecting Quick Fixes or Secret Strategies


Your Instructor


Alton Hardin
Alton Hardin

Alton Hardin is the founder and lead instructor at MicroGrinder Poker School and a former college professor. He’s an Amazon #1 best-selling poker author (including Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition), has published multiple poker books and courses, and has been featured on the nationally syndicated poker industry radio show House of Cards. Alton focuses on practical, fundamentals-first strategy for micro stakes cash games and continues to play and teach 6-max No-Limit Hold’em (25NL and below).


Course Curriculum


  Section 1: Course Introduction
Available in days
days after you enroll

Frequently Asked Questions


What if I am unhappy with the course?
If you're not 100% satisfied, contact us within 14 days of your enrollment and we'll issue you a refund.

This course is closed for enrollment.