Poker Night 124: On Tilt - Me?

The person who first declared, "Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place," apparently never played poker. It happened to a man at our table tonight at Soho Bar & Grill tonight. He bet big against pocket Aces, and wound up bankrupt in a hurry. We had the second A-A to take him out.

But our lesson tonight really was about overconfidence. A top deal doesn't always guarantee success in the end....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: A-J offsuit

We're in the Big Blind - and last time we had this position, we made those pocket Aces. We think about raising pre-flop, but then a man to our right goes all-in with 2,150. We have more than 9,000, so we decide to call and be potentially generous.

"I'm all in," a man to our immediate left then says. He raises the stakes 4,050 more. We ponder this and stare at him, seeking some kind of sign.

"Be careful. Be very careful," he tells us. But this man tends to talk bigger than his hand, so we dare to call. Immediately he shows A-A -- much as we feared.

ON THE FLOP: 2-K-4

We're looking for Jacks, and this does not look good.

ON THE TURN: 10

Still not looking good.

ON THE RIVER: Q.

"STRAIGHT!" a man across the table and out of the hand declares. All we can do is laugh -- because it's our straight, and we didn't notice it at first! We cracked the big bettor's Aces, and we also eliminate the first player who pushed with 3-3.

This put us in the 20,000 chip range -- but then without realizing it, we became overconfident ourselves. In the last hand before the one-hour break, we again were in the Big Blind with 5-9. Standard calling allowed us to check and see a flop, and a 9 came.

Then a man across from us who was talking loud and acting tipsy started betting big -- 2,000 on the flop, then 4,000 on the turn. We admitted we might regret calling, but we did. Then another 9 landed on the river, to give us three of a kind.

"5,000," the aggressive opponent bet.

"All-in raise," we declared with 5,050 more. We felt good. But he called.

"You got a boat?" he asked. No -- three 9's.

"I'm got a straight." From 6-10, and he's drained us away. A promising night crash-lands in about 30th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Our little battery continues to spark discussion at poker tables. Two people asked tonight why we brought it.

"It's a reminder to me," we explained, "that I'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon me." (Acts 1:8)

"That's cool!" a young woman said in response. And she recognized on sight that it was AAA, because she once worked at Radio Shack. But when we told her the phrase was from the Bible, she seemed ready to change the subject.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 48 final tables in 124 nights (38.7%) - 10 cashes. With only one final table in the last 13 nights, this is the most serious slump we've had since starting in 2007.

(P.S. Lil Kim's Cove will NOT have poker Thursday night, because of a New Year's Eve party. Maybe the rest will do us good.)

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,944 - unchanged (no play there in a month).

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 3-7-3-1-0. Full tournaments - 7 final tables in 78 games (9.0%), no cashes.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: One-table sit-n-goes - one top-three finish in eight games. Full tournament - 0/2.