Fool's Gold

We've said here before that poker is a game that can keep you humble -- sometimes in ridiculous ways. Consider what happened a few minutes ago in an NBC Sports poker tournament:

BLINDS: 30/60

IN THE POCKET: A-K offsuit

We're doing well, with more than 2,300 chips from a starting 1,000. So we "double up" and raise to 120. The player next to us triples up, raising to 180. Then someone across the table pushes all-in with 780.

As other players get out of the way, we realize what "the book" says here. You simply don't fold A-K. So we call an additional 660. Then the man to our left also goes all-in, with about 3,500 chips -- even more than we have.

"How far-fetched is this?" we write as we call. Then everyone shows their cards. We have A-K. The player across the table has A-Q; we can't blame him for pushing with that. But the player who pushed beyond that has 7-9 of spades. What was he thinking -- that everyone else was bluffing? We like our chances.

ON THE FLOP: 9-5-5

Aw, c'mon! The man who bet too much has the lead, with two pair. But one Ace or King could change things.

ON THE TURN: 3.

Oh no, please don't tell me....

ON THE RIVER: 9.

"Incredible," is all we can write. The man who pushed with two simple suited spades winds up with a full house, and takes out two players with far better cards.

Would this happen at a live tournament with big bucks on the line, as opposed to an online game for $20? We frankly doubt it, unless the player with 7-9 was practically out of chips and desperate for a comeback. But in online poker, players sometimes do illogical things -- and sometimes succeed.

"A fool utters all his mind," says Proverbs 29:11 (KJV). And sometimes throws out all his chips as well. Occasionally it works -- and it leaves us shaking our heads in disbelief.

We think it's better to follow the advice of Proverbs 13:11 (NIV): "He who gathers money little by little makes it grow." That worked with investments for decades (until admittedly last September) -- and is a patient approach to building a chip stack as well. What do you think?