Poker Night #49: Straight is Not the Way?

Dennis Eastgate won the World Series of Poker main event this week with a "low-ball" straight - A-5. Tonight we hit a "Broadway" straight, A-10. But it doomed us to the rail, with a very early exit at Lil Kim's Cove.

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: J-10 of spades

Calling goes quietly around the table, and we join in.

ON THE FLOP: Kd-Jd-trash (we forget).

We hit middle pair. More calling occurs at the minimum, and we stay in.

ON THE TURN: Ace of clubs.

Three players keep on calling at the 200 minimum. With others folding, we're unofficially on the button.

ON THE RIVER: Qd.

One player at the table speaks up about a straight being in play. To be honest, we hadn't even noticed it until he said it -- and hey, we have one. Another player points out a flush is possible.

The two players ahead of us check. Playing last, we bet 1,000. Then the first man in line raises 2,000. Uh-oh.

Could this guy be bluffing, or thinking we were? We were chased off one pot earlier in the session by a different man who bet big with an Ace high, and shoved us off a winning pair of 3's.

"I'm all-in," I announce -- holding about 2,975 in the stack. We guess this man is being a bully. But no -- he rolls over two diamonds for a flush. Ouch.

We did take a couple of pots tonight -- one with a pocket pair of Queens which held up, another in the big blind with K-5 when K-3-3 fell on the flop to give us two pair.

But while we tried to be more conservative in not chasing marginal hands, we were tempted to try a couple which fell short. And another man escaped when we put him all in, as he had three of a kind to beat our two pair.

Oh yes -- if our title sounds familiar, it should. Jesus said in Matthew 7:14: "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life...." A different spelling from the poker straight, admittedly. That's a big difference.

In poker, going "straight as a nail" (to borrow another player's phrase tonight) sometimes gets you into trouble. We hit a "Broadway straight" -- but Jesus also said in verse 13: "Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat."

The strait Jesus said means "narrow" in Greek. Are you walking that way? If you're not, perhaps we can help. Leave a comment with an e-mail address, and we'll contact you -- no names needed.

(NOTE: We'll hold our Ministry Moment of the night for this weekend.)

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 21 final tables in 49 nights (42.9%) - 6 cashes. Six misses in a row: not good.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $8,670 -- up $310 to a record high, thanks to one amazing Thursday afternoon session. Details on that are coming, too.