PlauZee.com – HU SNG Poker Blog

Day 2 – Tuesday, Author: Tanja

Today’s second day of the challenge. Yesterday I started reading the book Chris gave to me. Through night I also got to know the main rules of poker by playing with his real poker set. So far, it seemed pretty simple.

But today, real work began: We installed Poker Stars software on my laptop and I started my first game – with play money.
Well, I don’t think, there are words, which can describe the way I played. Chris told me, that players, who gamble very poor, are named fishes. Well, I played like a pollywog. First of all, I struggled with handling the software. Moves were shown too fast for me to analyze them. And the button between “fold” and “raise” liked to change between “check” and “call”. Well, I had to learn the hard way, that there is a big difference between checking and calling $800!
The people I met where also some kind of crazy. Some of them were mainly chatting with me as doing on a dating platform – instead of playing the game. Some others only seemed to know two moves: Fold and All Inn.

During my first 3 games Chris was watching and helping me while the lowest card I got was a 7. I asked him why he did’t tell me before, that it was not possible to have hands from 2 up to 6 – he just answered with a look, like being on his wit’s end.
The next game I wanted to make it better. I told him: “I’ve got a Royal Straight” – unfortunately he did not look much happier…
He only said I had to play on my own as soon as possible – what he mend was “right now”. So I did.

To sum up my second day in challenge: There is a lot for me to do!

Little Statistics:
Level: play money
Total games: 18
Won: 12
Lost: 6

Edit by Chris:  Message of the Day: “Checking is free”

1st Day – Monday, August 09 2010, Author: Tanja

Ok, think it’s my turn now. I’m Tanja “JoooZee”, the crazy girlfriend, who could not hold her tongue while drinking and talking about poker .

Today is the first day of the challenge. I’ve got no idea about playing poker or about playing any other card game. I’m also not used to gamble strategy-games on the computer and I even have nothing to do with mathematical science at the university – my main study subjects are law and social sciences.

My boyfriend is playing HUs over and over and now I finally wanna know: What is he doing all day? What’s up with this game, fascinating people for years?

Is there a possibility for someone like me, who has no idea of playing poker, to learn the principle and a bit strategy of this game? Do I have the chance to get this knowledge in just 14 days training? Can I be taught to beat small level in such a short time?

Now I wanna find out: Can I beat $11 turbo HU SNGs just within a fortnight?

Today we’ll start with basic poker rules with his real poker set. Chris also gave me a dictionary to look up poker-definitions – seems to me like a complete new language! By the way, wtf is the difference between limp and call???

Chris also gave me the book “Mastering No-Limit Hold’em” by Russell Fox & Scott T. Harker. He said, it’s some kind of basic book, to get a first idea of the game.

I just read the introduction: “..we assume that you have some poker knowledge, and are most likely an experienced limit hold’em player..” “..you’ve probably read a book or two on the game, and perhaps you’re even a winning player..”

Oh my god – how can I ever cope with this??? – Ok, if I want to have any chance, I have to start right now!

Link to: My Challenge

Imagine you get asked for a coaching by a friend who never ever played poker before, but who wants to learn to beat the $11 HU SNGs within only two weeks. Imagine it was not just a friend of you, but your girlfriend. Seems odd?! It is. And it happened to me without any time for preparation. Yesterday!
We were drinking, talking and laughing with another friend of us while I was railing the FTOPs HU MTT (“treezer” became 5th for 14k) from time to time. After the friend of us left she asked me if I could ever imagine to coach her beating the game. “Sorry? What?! I can coach you a lot honey *hrhr*. But you aren’t talking about POKER, right?!”
She never played a poker hand before. Of course I tell her a lot about my game and she reads my blog regularly, but she doesn’t even know the hand strengths so far. She is everything, but a gambler. And I honestly have no clue, if there is any chance to teach her enough during this 14 days to accomplish her goal beating the $11 HU SNGs regularly. She’s a very fast learner, pretty intelligent and always wants to reach the goals she is looking for. If there is any guy who has zero knowledge about the game, but could beat the game within 14 days, it’s definitely her!

I’m sure it’s gonna be a lot of fun and know there are some guys reading this blog who always wondered if there was any way to beat the game within a very short time of learning. Even to me the story seems super weird and funny and I’m pretty sure you will like it as well. Follow Tanja on PokerStars where she will start playing with PlayMoney and in about one week trying to beat the $2 HU SNGs with the screenname “JoooZee”.

The challenge: beating $11 turbo HU SNGs (>52,3% Wins)
The time: 14 days, Aug 9 2010 – Aug 23 2010
Updates: daily
The challenger: Tanja “JoooZee”
The coach: Chris “PlauZee”

First lesson:
The rules. Uhmm.. wtf?! I don’t even have a clue if I have ANY book about the standard rules and basics of Texas Hold’Em. Well, I will find some stuff online. But it’s true, I don’t have any plan how to start, yet. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. I still can’t believe she really wants to learn it.

From now on, it’s her story and her site and I will only add some comments or photos from time to time. Follow her story on “Challenge” in this blog where she will update her ongoings daily.