The Christmas Challenge

Hello everybody,

A few months passed since I did my last post here. I am sorry that I couldn't write for so long, but I've been very busy in the last few months.

I've decided to do my first challenge: The Christmas Challenge.
During the Christmas Holiday (that unfortunately is just one week and some days for me) I am going to put 10€ (13,15$) in PokerStars and try to finish the week with, at least, 40$. In order to complete my Challenge, I am going to play Sit and Go Tournaments (of any kind) and Multi-Table Tournaments (MTT), always in NL Hold'em.
During the week, I am going to post the results that I am getting, the statistics and some "funny" hands.
I know that this is nothing special but, in my opinion, is very good to start and to play for a goal.
So, the Challenge starts today!

I take this opportunity to wish everyone a...

Poker terms

Sometimes, when we are playing Poker, we face with a lot of terms that we never heard before or we simply don't know what they mean. According to that, a brief description of the most common terms used in Poker is presented.

All-in - to push all your money or chips into the pot

Ante - refers to the minimum amount that each player is required to put into the pot before a new hand begins

Bad Beat - this term is used when somebody as a hand that is the clear mathematical favourite and it lose against another lower value hand

BB - abbreviation for "Big Blind"

Board - refers the community cards placed on the table

BR - abbreviation for "Bankroll". Is the total amount of money a player has for a gaming session

Bubble - name given to a player that finishes a tournament in the spot nearest the money

Button - is the disk that represents the Dealer in a given hand

Buy in - is the amount of money that is necessary to play a Sit and Go or a Tournament

Double Up - this term is used when somebody wins a heads-up pot in which you have put all your money or chips

EMP - abbreviation for "Early Middle Position"

Fish - refers to a poor Poker player, relative to their competition

Fold - term used when a player declines a bet and drops out the hand

Kicker - is the card used as a tie-breaker, when two hands are nearly identical

MTT - abbreviation for "Multi Table Tournament"

NL - abbreviation for "No Limit"

Nuts - is the best possible hand, based on the board cards

Offsuit - cards that are not of the same suit (colour)

Outs - are the cards remaining in the deck that will help your hand win a pot

PF - abbreviation for "Pre Flop"

Pot - is the amount of money that accumulates each player antes, bets and raises. The pot goes to the winner of the hand

Raise - this term is used when a player raises by matching the previous bet and then betting more

SB - abbreviation for "Small Blind"

SNG - abbreviation for "Sit and Go" tournament

Stack - is the amount of money or chips that you currently have at the table to play

Tilt - term used when somebody is playing recklessly, usually as a result of a Bad Beat

UTG - abbreviation for "Under the Gun". Is the first player to act in pre-flop

The hand ranking

Below, you can see The Hand Ranking in Poker. It starts in the highest hand and finish in the lower hand.

1 - Royal Straight Flush - Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same colour

2 - Straight Flush - is a Straight with all the 5 cards of the same colour

3 - Four of a kind (Poker) - also as know as Poker, it consists of 4 cards of the same kind and another card which not combines

4 - Full House - it consists of any 3 cards of one kind and any pair of another kind

5 - Flush - it consists of any 5 cards of the same colour

6 - Straight - it consists of any 5 cards, of some colour, in sequence of rank

7 - Three of a kind - any 3 cards of the same kind, together with 2 other cards which do not combine

8 - Two pairs - consists of 2 cards of one kind, more 2 cards of another kind and one more card which not combines

9 - One Pair - any 2 cards of the same kind, together with 3 other cards which do not combine

10 - High card - any high card

The beginning

Hello everybody.

I've just decided to start writing a Poker Blog. I am a Portuguese Poker player and I really want to improve my skills in No Limit Texas Hold'em and that's the main reason why I am doing this.

In this Blog you will find some information about this game, challenges that I am going to propose myself, some moves, bad beats, and so on.

I hope you will really enjoy it.

See you!