Poker Night #81: Am I Bothering You?

"How are you tonight?" we said to a man joining us to our right as Wednesday night poker began tonight at Lil Kim's Cove.

"Irritated," the man said. This was the same man who expressed his irritation toward us one week before (Poker Night #79) because we brought a Canadian flag to the table. We tried to tell him we brought a U.S. flag on Thursday night which he missed, but that didn't help.

The Iraq combat veteran later explained irritations had built up for him all day. In one early hand, we didn't help matters....

BLINDS: 25/50.

IN THE POCKET: K-5 of hearts.

The night is young, the tournament director has given everyone 5,000 extra chips simply for showing up (starting stacks 10,000), so plenty of people call -- including us.

ON THE FLOP: K-9-7 (no hearts).

The action checks to us, and we bet 200 with top pair. A couple of people fold, but the irritated vet calls.

ON THE TURN: 3.

Play checks to us again, and we offer 200 more. A couple more players fold, but our veteran calls again.

ON THE RIVER: 5.

Both our cards have paired, so now we bet 600. Everyone remaining in the hand folds except the veteran, who calls once more.

"Kings and 3's," he says and shows.

"Good," we say quietly. "Kings and 5's."

The pot is ours. The veteran seems reluctant to congratulate us: "Lucked out on the river." Do you notice poker players never talk about "lucking out" on the turn?

We win the next pot as well in the same way, then turn to the veteran. "There are some nice rivers in Columbus." We sailed on rivers early, but cooled later -- yet we wound up at the final table and finished eighth on the night.

The second "color-up" break caught us at a terrible time, as we were left with three gold 5,000 chips coming to a 5,000/10,000 big blind. Facing 10-9 of clubs, we went all-in when Q-10-8 came on the flop -- but the man to our immediate right had a Queen, and it held up.

MINISTRY MOMENT: It turns out Harry (also mentioned here last Wednesday) is not yet in the hospital. He sees a doctor next Monday, then will check in for what he calls "minor" thyroid surgery.

We told Harry we had a group of people pray for him, during a Tuesday night telephone conference call Bible study. Harry seemed to really appreciate that. We'd ask you to keep praying for him as well.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 36 final tables in 81 nights (44.4%) - 8 cashes.