Thursday, March 26, 2009

Poker Night #64: W.W. K-Q D.?

Our apologies for not mentioning in advance we'd be out playing poker tonight. If you need to know, please tell us and we'll return to advance mentions. The Thursday night game at Lil Kim's Cove had a tense moment, but we wound up back at the final table with an eighth-place finish.

We started well, using slow-played pocket A's to win a nice pot and advance from a starting 5,000 chips to 10,500. But a couple of chases fell short, the blinds went higher, and we wound up in a pinch at semifinal time:

BLINDS: 1,000/2,000

IN THE POCKET: K-Q of spades

Our chip stack is down to about 4,000, so it's time to put up or shut up. We go all in, and two other players call us. A man to our left goes all-in as well, covered by a woman to our immediate right.

The man has K-8. The woman has K-J. It's a race, and we narrowly lead. The spades turn out to be a moot point.

ON THE FLOP: A-Q-10

"I like that," the woman says. Why not? She seizes the lead, because she has a straight.

ON THE TURN: A small card (we forget which). Uh-oh.

ON THE RIVER: J.

Now we like that. The woman -- well, not so much. It's a three-way "Broadway" straight, and we all split the pot. We gain about 2,000 when all is said and done.

"I was ahead," the woman tells us. Indeed -- and for awhile, so were we. But all they count is the order at the finish line.

The finish for us came after a color-up, which left us with one solitary 5,000 chip. We tried it on A-2, and 3-4 came up on the board -- but no pairs and no 5.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We took something different for a card protector tonight -- a little packet of salt, like you'd get at a fast-food restaurant. Someone asked about it early in the evening.

"I read in a book once that I'm the salt of the earth," we explained. No one commented farther. You might say we put out a bet, and no one called it.

Then at the final table, we showed the salt packet to a young man at our immediate left. We repeated the quote, then pushed the issue. "Do you know who said that?" He didn't -- but the answer to the question happened to be on his wrist.

"Jesus," we dared to add.

"Really? What book was that in?"

"The Bible." This is a "Jaywalking" moment waiting to happen, until....

"The Bible? That's my favorite. Which book is it in?"

"It's in Matthew."

"That's my favorite book!" Good for him. He simply hasn't memorized it all yet.

Moments later, we noticed the man was wearing a W.W.J.D. wristband. So for a nice change, the final table had two believers. We'll continue our conversation with him in our next post - and maybe spread some "salt" as well.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 26 final tables in 64 nights (40.6%) - 7 cashes.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $11,925 - up $43. (Spring cleaning is limiting our online playing time right now.)

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