Sometimes the biggest isn't always the best -- whether you're at the used car lot or the poker table. So when a moderately big hand comes our way, we tend to be skeptical. Take this one, from tonight's game at Club Eighty-Five....
BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: A-Q offsuit
We've just sat down at a table where several players are betting big, and talking about as large. Sitting in the middle of the order, we decide to limp and simply call. Several others join in.
ON THE FLOP: Q-J-8
A woman across from us bets 200. With top pair and top kicker, we raise to 400. She calls, and two other players remain with us.
ON THE TURN: 10
Oops -- now the door is wide-open for a straight. Everyone checks, including us. But is someone hiding a 9?
ON THE RIVER: K
If that 9 was hiding, it doesn't matter now. The play checks to us again -- and holding the "Broadway" straight, we bet 1,200 in the hope that will tempt some people with lesser hands to call. Two people do, and they're left disappointed.
We only gained one or two small pots after that -- yet we hung on to make the final table for the fifth Monday night in a row! But we arrived there with a short stack, and our last-gasp all-in try with 8-8 was topped by a man making Q's and 4's. We finished eighth, but continued quite a Monday run.
MINISTRY MOMENT: "The poker gods are not with me," a young woman to our left complained as she folded a hand. She seemed to be a newcomer to poker, yet she lasted until the semifinal tables.
"I believe there's one God," we told her. The young woman looked over our "Jesus as your Savior" coin which we use for a card protector.
"Do you agree with that message?" we asked after she gave it back.
"Yes," she answered -- then made perhaps the most literate comment we've ever heard at a poker table. "My god is Dionysius."
The woman pointed to her mixed drink -- and indeed, she knew what she was talking about. That name is a form of Dionysus, the god of wine in ancient Greece. She was joking, of course. But the reference was absolutely unexpected. (Yes, we had to double-check it in a dictionary.)
But here's a Bible verse to think about, as you consider what this woman said. Exodus 23:13 says, "Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips." So did this woman sin by bringing up Dionysius? We'll address that in an upcoming post -- and be warned, it'll be both deep and thought-provoking.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 55 final tables in 135 nights (40.7%) - 10 cashes.
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