Poker Night 105: Fourth of Jolly

Now that we're back from the road, we can tell you more about some big winnings on the road. They came last Monday night at the Ebro greyhound park and poker room northwest of Panama City Beach, Florida.

Ebro has cash game poker 12 hours a day, seven days a week (and we do mean cash; no checks or credit cards are allowed to play). It also has nightly tournaments with big cash prizes; we played on the night with the least expensive buy-in -- $35, plus $5 house fee.

We'd guess about 40 people participated. And careful play on our part led to small early gains. At one point, a pair of Kings was good enough for us to eliminate two players. So our chip stack was healthy enough to reach a nine-player final table -- but not dominating. Tentative betting with large blinds hurt us, and led to a big moment....

BLINDS (as best we remember): 300/600/75 (The 75 is an ante everyone pays, whether in the blinds or not)

IN THE POCKET: A-9

Six players are left, and only the top four will be paid -- but one man has proposed splitting the prize money evenly among all remaining players. That sounds good to us, but men with big stacks object so the game continues. So with our stack low, it's time to go -- as in all-in. One player calls us, and leads with J-J.

ON THE FLOP: J-10-8

Ouch -- the opponent has three of a kind. We're in trouble. But then the dealer notes we have an open-ended straight draw.

ON THE TURN: 7.

We can't resist praising the Lord aloud, and clapping our hands a little! The straight is made -- and the river card is an inconsequential 3.

We were struck by how many players pushed all-in at the final table with big chip stacks, as if to get things finished to go home. Enough players did it that we made the final four, to finish in the money! After another prize-splitting proposal was vetoed by a player, we went all-in and failed. (And of course, then the remaining players agreed to split the prize money.)

But still, fourth place earned us $186 -- more than we've ever made at a poker table. (Yes, we did leave a nice dealers' tip.) Our $40 investment paid off fourfold, and Ebro more than made up for the money we lost trying a cash game at Harrah's in Kansas City last year. We resisted the temptation to try another cash game this time. Why spoil a dream poker night, which came true?

MINISTRY MOMENT: This area was every bit as nice and surprising as the tournament result. Two people at the starting table agreed with our "Jesus as your Savior" coin message -- one of them the manager of a Panama City bar which has free poker several nights a week.

At one point a man to our immediate left needed "change" for big chips, and we happy to take care of it for him. To which he said with no prompting from us: "Grace is what it's all about." Absolutely. We'll say more about that another time.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 43 final tables in 105 nights (41.0%) - 10 cashes.