How to use Discord for poker

July 21, 2021

Features

by Jack Stanton

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4 Minute Read

You’ve probably heard of Discord, but what is it exactly?

Discord is a free app designed for creating communities. Users of the platform can communicate with voice calls, video calls, and text messaging (as well as sending media and files) in private chats or as part of communities called “servers”.

Joining a Discord is as simple as downloading it and clicking an invite. It can be used on mobiles, PCs, even game consoles, making it ideal for gamers.

But it’s also perfect for poker players. Here’s how to use Discord for poker.

FIND A COMMUNITY

The young Phil Ivey making his EPT debut

Before the internet changed everything, poker players found a community of like-minded individuals in the cardrooms they frequented. Take the ‘Young Crew’ of the late 90s and early 00s for example. Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda and Allen Cunningham became close friends on the poker circuit because they were all young guns of a similar age with a shared desire to succeed. They travelled together and shared strategies to defeat the old guard.

Then things went digital. The popular twoplustwo forum became the place to find your poker people, leading to new crews popping up around the world. There was the ‘Panorama Towers’ crew of Isaac Haxton, Scott Seiver, Justin Bonomo and Steve O’Dwyer–famously chronicled in a Maxim article–and the ‘Ship It Holla Ballas’ comprising Andrew Robl, David Benefield, Tom Dwan and Phil Galfond, among others.

These days, Discord is the place to go if you’re seeking like-minded poker players who want the same things you want: to get really good at poker.

Thankfully, just about every popular Twitch streamer has their own personal Discord channel where viewers can discuss everything from hand analysis to what they ate for dinner. So whether you’re part of the Lex army or Fintan’s Team ATB, you can chat to fellow viewers in their Discords.

Poker is a tough game but it’s even more difficult if you’re attempting to go it alone. Join a community today.

Lex Veldhuis (and Spraggy) meet members of Lex’s Discord community at Lex Live

GAIN INSIGHTS

When it comes to poker, Discord isn’t just about making friends. Every training site out there has its own Discord channel where students can not only pose poker questions to fellow users but gain insights from the coaches themselves.

For beginners, there’s no better place to start than with the PokerStars Discord. There you can make friends, learn all the basics, and discuss poker fundamentals without fear of judgement from more experienced players.

You could then join more advanced poker communities on Discord. Take Benjamin “Bencb” Rolle’s RaiseYourEdge Discord, for example. It’s a very active community allowing you to put your ideas in front of others. If you’ve purchased a course you can also join an exclusive Discord. The more you participate, the more you’ll get out of it.

Then there’s BBZ Poker’s Discord which features specific channels for ICM strategy, cash games, and general hand reviews. You’ll get your poker questions answered by elite coaches like Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet and Jargo “bungakat” Alaväli.

Discord is free and this kind of insight is priceless.

USE IT AS A STUDY TOOL

Unlike other online communication tools, Discord was designed with gamers in mind.

“You can keep a voice or video chat with your mates open while you’re playing,” says tech store currys.co.uk. “That makes it easy to strategise when you’re playing team games… or just have a natter. And your mate doesn’t need to ring to join a voice chat–they just hop on.”

Discord has proven extremely popular for team games like Among Us, but it’s also valuable for individual games like poker.

While you wouldn’t speak to your poker friends during play itself (you need to focus, after all), Discord is a great study tool as you can go over hand histories with friends by sharing your screen.

SHARE YOUR SUCCESSES

Perhaps you’re a shy person who doesn’t want to post on social media every time you have a great poker score. That’s completely understandable.

But you know what? It sure is nice to share your successes and have others feel genuinely happy for you.

Discord channels focusing on poker are the perfect place for acceptable brags. BBZ Poker’s Discord even has a channel called BBZBrags for this very purpose.

So share your scores with pride. You won’t be met with bitterness. If anything, you’ll only inspire others to succeed too.