Poker Night 147: Tell It All, Brother

It had been more than three months since we played midweek poker at Soho Bar and Grill. While we didn't play that well tonight, the evening was eventful. A free tournament sometimes has a more friendly atmosphere than a cash game, and that helped us out several times....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: 9-8 offsuit

A few hands before, a big bettor to our left scared us off a nice high pair -- then showed a measly 2-7 of a bluff. We're anxious to atone for that, so we play this hand despite his raise to 500. A man across the table calls the 500 bet as well.

ON THE FLOP: 9-6-6

Two pair looks nice, so we offer a bet of 200. That man across the table raises 2,000 -- or nearly half our stack. Could he be bluffing, too? We're thinking so, and call.

ON THE TURN: K

"I'm all in," the man across from us announces -- and he has our remaining 2,300 more than covered. But then he shows how friendly the table is.

"If you don't have a 6, you do NOT want to call." He actually turns over the 6! Yes, he has three of a kind -- and we don't need to see anything more.

"Well, I don't, so I'll fold." Many players at other tables would not have been that gracious and generous. (P.S. the last card wouldn't have helped us.)

We rallied from that setback by going all-in with pocket Kings, and jumping from 2,200 to more than 11,000. But we never won another hand -- and daring to push with middle pair left us steamrolled by another player's full house. Final result: about 34th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Soho is primarily a rock music nightclub, and someone put money in the jukebox for a couple of songs which sounded like "death metal" -- or even construction equipment. A young man across from us was glad, when that music stopped during the one-hour break.

"It was like they were calling up demons or something," he told us.

"That's why I have this," we answered -- tossing our "Jesus as your Savior" coin across the table, for him to examine. "Do you believe that message? Is Jesus your Savior?"

The young man with a giant spiderweb tattooed on one arm said he believed it. "He's the best out there," he answered -- and he's right about that. Compared with Jesus, who else really is there?

"Covet earnestly the best gifts," Paul recommended in I Corinthians 12:31. The best gift God could give sinful man is a perfect sacrifice, to pay our penalty. Have you accepted it -- namely, the Son of God?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 59 final tables in 147 nights 940.1%) - 11 cashes.