New to churning? Read these five guides in order. Each one builds on the last, from the big picture to your first redemption. The community version of this order is the churning flowchart.
Torn between Chase and Amex as system 1? The head-to-head comparison settles it.
Prefer the whole first year in 1 post? Read 5 moves for your first churning year, in order.
New to flying on points? It helps to skim the current TSA rules so the security line is the easy part of the trip.
What to read first
Read the Chase 5/24 rule before anything else, even if you have no interest in Chase cards. It is the one constraint that decides the order of everything that follows, because five new accounts in 24 months closes the best Chase cards to you for a while, and most people burn through that allowance on cards they could have taken later.
Then the complete guide for how the whole system fits together, and minimum spend for the part that actually trips people up. A bonus you miss by $400 of spend is worth nothing.
What to skip for now
Sweet spots and award charts are the fun part and the wrong starting point. They matter once you have points to redeem, and reading them first tends to produce a card application aimed at a trip you have not planned.
Manufactured spending is a later topic too, and for most people never a necessary one.
Before you apply
Run the bonus eligibility checker against the issuer rules, then the application order planner for sequence. Confirm the current welcome offer at the issuer before you apply.