Key Hand
A key hand is the one hand in a session or tournament that becomes a turning point for a player, for better or worse.
The simple explanation
Sometimes one pot decides a whole night. It might be the hand in which you doubled up, or the hand in which you lost most of your chips. That is your key hand.
A closer look
The term is mostly used afterward, when players look back at a session. It is useful for review: finding the key hands in a session shows where your biggest decisions were. Do not judge a key hand only by its result. A good decision can lose and a bad one can win, so study the choices, not only the outcome.
A practical example
After the tournament, a player says that his key hand was a pot on the bubble in which he doubled up with a set.
Full explanation
A key hand is the one hand in a session or tournament that becomes a turning point for a player, for better or worse.
A key hand is a turning point in a session or tournament.
It can be positive or negative.
Review the decisions, not just the result.
The term is mostly used after the fact.