When you're trying to play serious poker to win prize money, it can help to have distracted opponents. That happened for us at Lil Kim's Cove tonight. Many players were more concerned about the Bowl Championship Series title game, as the club is practically on the other side of a bridge from Alabama. But we were looking for A's at places other than Alabama flags and caps....
BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: A-3 offsuit
We're content to call in the lead position, but an admitted "gambler" to our left raises 500. We've barely played any hands and have about 5,400 chips, so we decide to call. A couple of other players stay in.
ON THE FLOP: A-A-8
Very nice -- but we're wary of that gambler, because our kicker card is weak. We bet 400, and he calls. So do the others.
ON THE TURN: 6
We turn up the heat by betting 1,100. The gambler has seen enough, and bails out. One other player stays in, and our bet puts him all-in.
ON THE RIVER: Q
"I have an Ace," we announce. No one else does. The gambler says he knew we did. It's a pot which increases our stack by about 3,500.
As the evening wore on, the A's kept coming. Sitting with 6,000 chips after the one-hour break, pocket Aces came -- allowing us to gain to 8,500. But we were more cautious at other times, folding A-3 and A-4 when others made bets in the thousands.
We held on long enough to make a nine-player final table, finishing in a three-way tie for 6th when our all-in bet with 8-8 was outgunned by Queens. (Officially we were declared eighth, because two other players pushed with us and we had the fewest chips.)
MINISTRY MOMENT: With the football game (mixed with alcohol) on many people's minds, it was hard to have one tonight. But we admittedly became annoyed when one tipsy player called another tipsy player the "N-word" several times.
"Why do you call someone by a racial slur, when he isn't even a member of that race?" Both men happened to be white.
"Did I call someone by a racial slur?" Booze can affect people's short-term memory, as well as their tongues.
Yet here's the strange thing: a couple of African-American players were at the table, yet said nothing. Who would like to explain this?
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 49 final tables in 126 nights (38.9%) - 10 cashes. This was our first final table in four weeks.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 3-7-3-1-0. Full tournaments - 8 final tables in 93 games (8.6%), no cashes.
(Yahoo and Poker Stars had no play in the last week.)
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