Poker Night #41: Exciting Second

That title is what Second Baptist Church in Houston used to call itself. And it describes tonight's outcome at Lil Kim's Cove.

For the first time since April 24 (three months to the day), we finished in the money. Second place earned us a "bucket of beers" -- and while we were assured it was going for six sodas, we went ahead and sold it to a final-table dropout for $10.

Things were going along modestly until we won three big pots in a row, knocking out a couple of semifinal table players along the way. In one hand, we had Q-10 -- and with a K-J showing on the turn, we dared to call a $5,000 bet. We looked hard for an ace on the river, but a 9 came up instead. OK by us.

The player immediately to our left had two high pair, and cursed a bit when he could not believe what he saw. "You don't have to apologize," he said when we tried. "I just want to see you make that play in a cash game."

"It's not real money," I assured him. But would we have made that play? Hmmmmmmm....

That man wound up busting out one hand later, beaten by us again. "I'm on tilt," he admitted as he went all-in in the wake of the hand before. I could be wrong, but I think we had pocket 3's and a third 3 turned up on the board.

We took a huge stack of chips to the final table, only to see a young man named Clint knock it down and take it all away. He was so pumped by his final table seat that he was yelling on big hands. (Well, he was shouting when two tables were still going for that matter.)

"Poker After Dark doesn't come on until 2:05 in the morning," I reminded him. That calmed him down a bit.

Clint talked about winning $12,000 online recently at Ultimate Bet. But a $50 win at Lil Kim's Cove thrilled him nonetheless. "I love this game," he said.

"I can tell," I quietly answered with a smile.

In heads-up play, we both made some cautious lay-downs -- but Clint kept gaining ground. It came down to this, as we were dealing:

BLINDS: 10,000/20,000

IN HIS POCKET: Q-Q

IN OUR POCKET: Jh-9h

Clint raises all-in with 12 gold chips, worth $60,000. After a moment of thought, we call -- and Clint jumps to his feet as if he's already won a WSOP bracelet.

ON THE FLOP: 10h-K-7

Clint gets scared for a moment. I have three hearts on my side, and one more Queen gives me a straight.

ON THE TURN: Ace, not a heart. My hopes diminish.

ON THE RIVER: Another 7. Clint wins with two pair.

Clint notes that heads-up play began with him holding Q-Q (I folded) -- and it ended the same way.

MINISTRY MOMENT: A frustrated player next to us said early on, "Jesus Christ."

"The way, the truth and the life," we answer. (Jhn. 14:6) Nothing more comes of the discussion.

UPDATED SCOREBOARD: 20 final tables in 41 nights (48.8%) - 6 cashes (14.6%)

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $4597 (Up 86, up 106 in poker games)