Poker Night 103: Giving Away Too Much

"Freely you have received, freely give," Jesus said in Matthew 10:8. We didn't purposefully try to do that at Lil Kim's Cove tonight -- it only seemed that way.

Only one small pot fell our way in the first 45 minutes of play. Like last Thursday night, the cards coming our way didn't inspire us at all -- and people were making big bets all around us, anyway. But we waited for our patience to be rewarded....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: 10 hearts-Q spades

We're dealing. We have about 2,625 chips. And we finally have a passable hand to play. So we call, hoping to get in small. The good news is that a few other players get in without raise.

ON THE FLOP: 10s-7c-3c

Top pair -- but bottom of the betting order. A man across the table bets 1,200, leaving us with a big decision.

"I don't really have much choice," we say. "So I'll call and go all-in...."

"You can't do that," a spectator to our left points out -- and he's right. We said "call," so that word settles the bet. We've seen this happen enough times in tournaments to know that. Shame on us.

"I'm sorry," we admit. "I'll call, and shut up." Our remaining 1,025 chips stay put.

ON THE TURN: 6c

Our opponent is the same man who's been guessing at our hands in recent weeks, with a good amount of success. "You've got the 10 of clubs," he says (incorrectly) -- then mumbles, "I've got two pair. I'll check."

"Since you said that...." we mumble in reply. And we check -- yes, taking a poker player at his word. Dangerous, isn't it?

ON THE RIVER: Q (not a club)

Our opponent apparently gave away his hand, and now gives us a break. "I'll check, because I don't want to take your last." We also check -- and sure enough, he has 7-3. He made the bottom two pair on the flop.

"Thank you for keeping me in the game," we say to the man who corrected us. By listening to the people around us, we survived -- and obeyed part of Proverbs 15:10: "He who hates correction will die."

Our tournament death came a couple of hands later, when we were dealt A-10. "I'm all in," we announced. "I didn't say call; I said all in." Maybe we should have simply called -- because our 1,025 had a couple of takers, and they wound up with pairs while we didn't. Final result: about 23rd place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed a man our "Jesus as your Savior" coin tonight -- and not only did he agree with the message, he asked if he could keep it. We agreed to check with the motorcycle ministry which makes them about their availability. This could be worth the $8.50 it costs for a full package of 25 -- to keep on giving, you know.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 41 final tables in 103 nights (39.8%) - 9 cashes. Uh-oh, we haven't been below the 40-percent mark in a long time. We've missed the last table five times in a row.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - down $37. (We set another personal record Monday, at almost $13,900.)

NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 29-34-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 21 final tables in 167 games (12.6%), 2 cashes.

Our latest final table came earlier in the day -- with an eighth-place finish, and one opponent challenging whether anyone really reads this blog. (He admitted he had not.) If you do, please leave a comment or contact us.