"You can't be nice and play poker," the woman sitting to our left said early in tonight's game at Lil Kim's Cove.
"I think you can be nice," we answered a moment later. "I mean, I could step on your foot and distract you."
No, we didn't do that. Instead, we were nice in our words and actions -- and it brought a nice result. We finished SECOND in the tournament, for our best result since last December. Our reward at Lil Kim's Cove is a card for a "bucket of beers" -- but we don't drink beer. So we'll either get a six-pack of sodas some night soon (yeah, right), or sell it to another player for cash (going rate $10).
How nice was the evening? Take this odd example....
BLINDS: 50/100
IN THE POCKET: 10-7 of diamonds
Early in the match, it's worth a try. We call, as do several others.
ON THE FLOP: Q-10-8 (only the 8 is a diamond)
The play checks to us. With middle pair, we put out a feeler bet of 175. That runs a couple of players off, but three remain.
ON THE TURN: 7.
The flush dream is gone, but now we have two pair. One player ahead of us checks, so we make a fun bet. "It's a Nashville bet -- 650, WSM." (A man to our right gets the joke.) The player who checked calls, but admits he's not sure.
ON THE RIVER: 6.
"I got a straight!" the man ahead of us declares -- and turns over his cards to prove it. He has K-9. But hold it.
"Then I guess I'll fold," we say -- because the man is supposed to say first if he's checking or betting. Other people at the table point it out to him. He checks. Fine by us. He wins the pot.
"See? He was being nice at the poker table," we point out.
"No, he wasn't." Another player points out the obvious.
"I was like a kid in the candy store," the winner admits. He's not a poker rookie; he simply slipped up. We all have a good laugh about it.
We reached the final table with 4,500 chips, but a couple of all-in wins there pushed our total as high as 32,500. But high blinds and a couple of losses proved too much for us -- and we lost on about the sixth hand of heads-up play to a man with six times more chips than we did.
(So what do you think? Is being nice possible in poker? Is being nice Biblical? Our answers are coming soon.)
MINISTRY MOMENT: At the final table, the player to our immediate right (who eventually won it all) talks to someone about something that "tasted good." That opens a door.
"Be careful," we say. "There was a woman long ago who tried something that tasted good. She gave it to her husband...."
The man loses interest, distracted by a woman on his right. But we finish the thought, for the record. "And we've all been in big trouble ever since."
The woman we're talking about is Eve. Read what happened to her in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. She gave in to temptation. When you play poker, it can be hard -- for instance, when you're dealt K-9 suited and players around you raise.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 30 final tables in 72 nights (41.7%) - 8 cashes (11.1%). We've come within two hands of six final tables in a row!
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,112 -- up $122, only $32 from our record high.
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player tournaments - 10-14-1-1-3. Cash tournaments - 3 final tables in 22 games (13.6%), no cashes.
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