The Heads'Up Challenge - 2nd Update

Hi,

The second series of 50 games did not proceed as desired. I just won 29 games (out of 50), which means that in the next 100 games, I need to win 80 of them. Hard task, but not impossible and I am here to do it.

State of the challenge:

• games done - 100/200;
• victories - 60/140.

See you at the tables!

The Heads'Up Challenge - 1st Update

Hello everybody,

Here is the first update after 50 games done:

• 31 games won;
• 19 games lost.

I have to win more games in the next series of 50 games. This challenge did not start as desired with some bad beats at the beginning. The things are now going well and I hope that will continue like that.

The modality of Heads'Up requires a lot of patience and attention, things that I am trying to improve.

State of the challenge:

• games done - 50/200;
• victories - 31/140.

To finish, give a look on what frequently happens in these games (all-in pre-flop).

See you at the tables!

The Heads'Up Challenge

Hi everybody!

I am back and I've decided to test again my capacities in a new challenge: The Heads'Up Challenge. Since this is the modality that I am playing more, due to the fact that it is much more faster to get money, I think that I can get success on this challenge.

The challenge consists of play 200 Sit & Go 2,20$ NL Heads'Up (in PokerStars) and win at least 70% of the games (140 games). Every 50 games, I am going to do the actualization of the challenge.

See you!

Mission Failed!!!

Once again, sorry for the long time without update this blog.

As the title of this post suggests, I didn't reach my goal.

I was with more then 40$ on Wednesday (22nd December, 2010) and then, I finish the week with about 6$. The most incredible things happened, as usually, and the result was this...

I don't have time now to speak about the statistics, but I am going to do that by the end of February or beggining of March.

I will also think about a new challenge, but this time, a "real" challenge.

See you at the tables,

Mr. Keysson

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!