Poker Night #65: Mike Said No

"I'll see you at the final table," a man to our left said when we were moved for the second time at Lil Kim's Cove Thursday night. "It happened that way last week."

"I'm not so sure tonight," we replied -- because blinds were rising, and we only had about 2,100 chips. Yet that man turned out to be more accurate than we were. We almost reached the final table, being eliminated in 10th place.

(The man to our left was NOT named Mike. We'll get to him.)

We played a bit more aggressively than usual tonight, and took a couple of big chip losses early as a result. After the "color-up" break rounded our stack up to 2,500, the big blind was approaching and we needed a bailout....

BLINDS: 500/1,000

IN THE POCKET: A-6 of diamonds.

We're the big blind, and that alone cost us 40 percent of our chips up-front. A player ahead of us raises 2,000. "It's time to go," we say going all-in with the last 1,500. A third man is in the action as well.

ON THE FLOP: 2-3-4.

None of them are diamonds, but that's OK. We have hope in a couple of ways.

ON THE TURN: A.

Top pair -- but big trouble. If someone has a 5, our goose is cooked. Unless, that is....

ON THE RIVER: 5.

"Straight to the 6!" we declare. It's over the top of the board, and no one else can top it. The other two players split a small sidepot, while we more than triple up.

We won the next pot, too -- and just like that, our weak 2,500 chip stack was above 11,000. But a few hands later with blinds higher, we took one dare too many. A man across from us went all-in, and we called him with 9-9. We suspected he had two high cards, but nothing more. We were wrong, because he had J-J -- and his higher pair held up.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Mike was sitting to our immediate right, before that man to our left made his prediction. He saw our "Jesus as your Savior" coin and said, "What happens when you call that phone number?"

Amazing -- Mike noticed the toll-free number on the edge of the coin, and not the important stuff in the middle. "I don't know. I've never called it," we responded. We did call after the tournament, and reached the office of the Christian Motorcyclists Association. (A member of the group gave us that coin last year.

"I may have asked you this before," we said to Mike, "but do you agree with the message in the middle?"

Mike thought for a moment. "No."

What would you have done at that moment? Let out an audible gasp? Immediately started preaching to Mike?

This was the first time someone flatly said no to the Jesus message on our coin. But we chose to "slow-play" it. We said nothing, and the table talk moved in other directions. Had we reached the final table side-by-side, I was ready to ask why his answer was no. But that didn't happen.

By having Mike merely read the message, some would say I've done my part. It's up to him to accept or reject the "witness," and he rejected it. Should we play together again, we'll probably advance that discussion further.

By the way, the man wearing the WWJD bracelet was missing from Thursday night's poker tournament. Our apologies for skipping over his story; that's coming soon.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 26 final tables in 65 nights (40%) - 7 cashes. Please note we will NOT play next week, due to religious commitments (more on that coming up).

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $11,853 -- down $72.