Poker Night 141: Ain't as in Paint

We've been on quite a "Big Monday" roll at Club Eighty-Five -- making six final tables in a row. But after missing last week's tournament due to a road trip, the momentum clearly was lacking tonight. Good cards simply didn't come -- even when we thought they had....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: King diamonds-Jack hearts

This is about our best deal of the night -- but trouble develops immediately. A man across the table raises to 1,000. A man to our immediate right raises all-in with 1,250. We're hoping and hunching it's finally our turn to win something.

"I'm gonna try. I call."

"I'll raise," announces a woman to our left who usually plays tough. She doubles the stakes to 2,500. The man who started this calls. We've committed so many chips already that we feel compelled to call again. This leaves us with about 2,800.

ON THE FLOP: Kh-Qd-3h

"I'm all-in," the woman who raised to 2,500 declares. "I admit, I'm scared of hearts," she adds. We suspected before the flop she might have pocket Aces, and now we're sure of it.

"You've got me outkicked," the man across the table decides. He folds.

"I think I know what you have, so I have to fold," we say next -- conceding a big loss.

The big betting woman is left heads-up with the man who pushed all-in. No more hearts appear, but a 3 does on the river.

"Two pair," the woman says.

Huh?!?! Then she shows A-K. We were only half-right -- but right enough, as her Ace had everyone outkicked. (The man who pushed originally conceded, without showing his cards.)

Another big loss later left with only 500 chips, which we were forced to throw in the big blind after the one-hour break. A-2 of diamonds was promising, but not enough diamonds came and the woman who won earlier had a pair while we did not. Amazingly, we survived to tie for 11th place -- nearly earning points.


MINISTRY MOMENT: We were given this whale pencil sharpener years ago, while working with the American Red Cross. It became our card protector and conversation-starter tonight.

"This whale reminds me," we told a young man as we were being eliminated, "that Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth -- like Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish's belly." That's what Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, referring to His death before the resurrection.

"Do you believe in Jesus? Is He your Savior?" we asked the young man.

"I'm a believer," he answered, "but I haven't attended church in years because so many churches seem.... blood hungry." At first we thought he said money-hungry, which is a common complaint many people have against established churches.

What would you say to this young man? We'll tell you what we said in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 57 final tables in 141 nights (40.4%) - 11 cashes. Because of a busy schedule, it's highly unlikely we'll play any more this week.