"I'm new at this. You've gotta help me out," the woman across the table from us at Lil Kim's Cove said several times tonight. She'd played poker online, but apparently was new at in-person live tournaments. She needed help figuring out chips, figuring out how much to bet -- and the fact that she had a bottle of Corona in front of her probably didn't help matters.
Sometimes newcomers can be the most dangerous players at a table. They do unorthodox things, not knowing any better -- but if you think they're completely out of their minds, you're asking for trouble. Yes, we learned this the hard way....
BLINDS: 25/50
IN THE POCKET: Q-J offsuit
The table is full, and we're late in line to bet on only about the third hand of the match. The new player starts the action by throwing out a green 500 chip. A couple of players wonder if she meant to do that. Yes, she did. We're not really sure, and decide to call. One other player joins in.
ON THE FLOP: A-10-6 (not really sure about the last card; it doesn't matter)
The newcomer seems to have trouble seeing the cards, but then bets 500. We have a straight draw, and recall she bet big and lost on the last hand with J-5. Based on that knowledge, we call. The third player folds.
ON THE TURN: 8
The newcomer drops down and bets 100. We don't think she's scared of us; we think she's having trouble figuring out which chip is which. But slowing the pace works for us, so we call.
ON THE RIVER: Q.
No straight, but a nice pair. The newbie starts to say she's checking -- but a player next to her senses a lack of logic here.
"You go from 500 to 100 to check....?!" he says. The newcomer, perhaps thinking she's done something wrong, bets 100.
"Raise to 400," we say. This is a bet based mostly on skepticism in our opponent, and partly in hopes of scaring her off the pot.
It doesn't work. The woman checks -- and shows an A-K to win. Ouch.
The newcomer was eliminated a few hands later -- but not until after a wild hand (which we folded) in which she tried to raise 300 on top of a bet of 3,700, which sparked a long loud argument.
As for our night? It turned out better than that one hand. An all-in bet at the one-hour break with K-K improved us from a weak 2,850 to 11,500. But then came a bad beat where we had A-Q, an opponent was all-in with A-J, and he caught a Jack on the river.
The final outcome: an elimination in 10th place, missing the final table by one hand for the second week in a row. (So close to four consecutive final tables, but yet so far.)
MINISTRY MOMENTS: For a change of pace, we took a promotional card to the table tonight. "Le Tour de Faith" was a series of messages last year at a Columbus, Georgia megachurch on the Apostle's Creed. It sat at the table all evening, but no one commented until we showed it to a neighbor at the one-hour break.
"What do you think?" we asked the man. "Do you have faith in God?"
The man said he did, and wished we had told him about the series back when it was given.
Then there was the player who admitted he was out of sorts. His mother died a couple of weeks ago, and it became so emotional for him that he "busted a window on my pickup" recently. As we left for the night, we told the man we'd pray for him. We don't know his name, but he wears a University of Tennessee hat -- so if you'd like to join in prayers for his comfort, mention that to God.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 28 final tables in 70 nights (40%) - 7 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $12,430 - up $215 to a RECORD high! (We were as high as $12,504 in one session.)
NBC POKER TOTAL: Five-player games - 6-13-1-1-1. Cash tournaments - 1 final table in 9 games (11.1%), no cashes.
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