Poker Night #71: Trippin'

At least the man was consistent. On the first several hands tonight at Lil Kim's Cove, the man immediately to our right bet 500 early -- even with the blinds at 25/50.

And amazingly, he was a consistent winner -- getting three of a kind on the flop three times in a row, in the first four hands.

His betting (and winning) kept us close to the vest for most of the evening. We took him once, calling a 500 bet -- but we missed a flush draw. But eventually, a little of "Mr. Trip" rubbed off....

BLINDS: 200/400.

IN THE POCKET: Ah-7s

It's our best hand in awhile, so we call before the flop. A few other players do.

ON THE FLOP: A-Q-3, all clubs.

We bet 700 with top pair, hoping to scare away people dreaming of a flush. It works for all but one opponent.

ON THE TURN: As.

The "trip" has moved our way. We have 3,150 chips, but we only bet 3,000 -- holding back 150 in case another bad beat happens. Our opponent calls.

ON THE RIVER: J -- not a club.

Before we can bet our remaining 150, the opponent folds his hand. He missed it. We never even have to show that we "hit it" -- but we do to a neighbor.

Sad to say, that was the only pot we won all evening. But it put our total at 11,650 chips -- and we held on tightly to them from there to reach the final table. An eighth-place finish means we've come within two little hands of FIVE final tables in a row.

We made a couple of bad chases at the final table, with blinds at 500/1,000. Bailing out after the flop was still costly. We wound up going all-in with 3,500 when our Queen turned out to be top pair on the flop -- but a woman holding pocket Kings wound up defeating us.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We had a couple tonight, but we're going to backtrack to an NBC Sports online poker tournament earlier in the week. For some reason we're not sure about, another player wrote after a hand: "You're not believin."

"I'm a believer," we replied, "in the K of K's. If you know Who I mean."

The other player never replied to that. In fact, no one did. Do you believe in the K of K's? That's what Jesus will be wearing on His robe at His return -- "King of Kings and Lord of Lords"(Rev. 19:16).

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 29 final tables in 71 nights (40.8%) - 7 cashes.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $12,990 -- up $560. (We hit a record high of $13,144 on Wednesday!)

NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player tournaments - 10-14-1-1-3. Cash tournaments - three final tables in 15 games (20%), no cashes.

We're counting computer kickouts in five-player tournaments as a last-place finish -- and we're blaming an annoying "mal-ware" advertisement for booting us. But on Memorial Day, we finished 10th out of 276 players in a tournament. That amazing moment is worth a post all by itself -- soon.