So what happened with that race to sundown? We qualified for tonight's monthly National League of Poker Senior Championship -- and things started amazingly well.
In the first ten minutes we saw 4-A, K-A, K-K, A-K and A-J! Four of those five gave us modest pots; A-K fell to a diamond flush.
At the first break we stood at 1,220 chips (everyone starts with 1,000). Nothing came our way in the second period, dropping us to 870. But then....
BLINDS: 75/150
IN THE POCKET: A-6 offsuit
Since we're below "sea level" (the starting amount), we're admittedly playing tight. We call to get in small, as do a few others.
ON THE FLOP: K-A-6
One player is ahead of us, and bets the minimum. Nope, sorry -- with two pair, we dare to push all-in. Two players call us. The first player joins in with K-5; the other opponent has A-4. So we lead by one pair.
ON THE TURN: 8
No harm there.
ON THE RIVER: 6
"PTL" we type - because the full house jumps us to 3,060.
Our stack rose to 3,935 at the third break, as we hit pairs on the flop and scared people off with early modest bets. But then we made two safe choices that wound up hurting us. A player pushed all-in when we had A-6; our fold cost us a split pot with an Ace on the board. Then we folded A-8 to an all-in bet -- and 4-5-6-7 came on the board.
We finally pushed ourselves with A-2 of clubs and only 820 chips left. A flop of 9-K-K didn't help us top an opponent with pocket Jacks. Our final score: 55th out of 809. A moneymaker in a real poker room -- but only the final table won money in this tournament.
As we folded those two potential big hands in the second hour, we asked ourselves: "Am I playing scared?" There's a fine line between cautious conservative decisions and "playing not to lose."
"For God has not given us the spirit of fear," Paul advises in II Timothy 1:7; "but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
If you're looking for a rule beyond that in handling challenging poker moments.... well, we're not sure what to say. What advice would you offer someone in our situation?
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