Poker Night #43: When Not to Race

I wondered if I would be rusty tonight, after five weeks away from Lil Kim's Cove. Then I took the first hand of the evening, with two pair.

But it was all downhill from there -- as I was the second player to crash out at my table of eight.

I think I bet a bit too aggressively on a few nice-starting hands, hoping the flop would fall my way. In the Yahoo pretend-money cash games, that doesn't cost you much. In a tournament format with no limits, that can whittle away at your chip stack.

There was big-time drama when I held K-J and three queens showed up on the board. The river card was a K, and I went all in -- but a woman across from me had a king as well, so we split the pot. (An older woman also had a full house, but with Q's and 6's. Yet she survived longer than I did.)

It came down at the end to an all-in bet I couldn't refuse, but almost did:

BLINDS: 200/400.

IN THE POCKET: Jh-Jc.

I smooth call as the wave comes around -- but a ponytailed man two seats to my right raises 800. A couple of us go in with him.

ON THE FLOP: Kh -- plus two small cards I forget now, one a heart.

"I'm all in," the ponytailed man says.

I've played this man before, and know he hardly ever bluffs. He probably hit something, and I think I K-now what it was. I have a longshot flush chance, and give it some thought.

"Let's have a race," I say -- and in goes my 2,350. (He has me covered with ease.)

Sure enough, my opponent paired a K. No hearts or jacks come on the turn and river, and I lose the race by two cards.

Because no one mentioned this blog, I give the man who eliminated me the prize I brought -- two movie passes to Carmike Cinemas. He seems to like them. "I can go to a movie this weekend," he says. Now all he needs is a date -- as he said something during the game about splitting from his wife a few hours before.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Turn, turn, turn," the man to my immediate right said as he was dealing.

"As in the book of Ecclesiastes?" I say. He seems to get it -- the 1960's rock song based on Ecc. 3:1-8.

The Moffatt translation has for verse 6: "A time to seek, a time to lose, a time to keep, a time to throw away...." In poker, it's all about the timing. Tonight mine was bad.

UPDATED SCOREBOARD: 20 final tables in 43 nights (46.5%) - six cashes.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $7444 (Up $189, +221 with blackjack ruled out) -- a RECORD high. It was fueled by a $306 gain in a hot streak Thursday afternoon. But things cooled considerably down the street.