Poker Night 149: Couples Dance

Pocket pairs seemed to come up often tonight at Soho Bar and Grill -- at least at our table. One man used pocket 4's to make a full house, eliminating two players on the third hand of the night. But a higher pair should have the edge.... right?

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: Js-Jc

Another player jumps in ahead of our jumping Jacks, raising to 475. We join several players in calling, unsure of our chances.

ON THE FLOP: K-10-7

We're early in the betting order. If we held an "overpair," we might bet at this point -- but the King tops our Jacks, so we check and probe. The entire table checks.

ON THE TURN: Q

This card opens the door for an open-ended straight draw. But the man who had 4-4 awhile ago bets first, and throws out 1,000. We call solely on the hope of a straight. Only one other player remains.

ON THE RIVER: 3

When the man ahead of us bets 1,000 now, the decision is easy. We fold, presuming he has a King or Queen. We're wrong -- he had something even better: 7-7. His lower pocket pair made three of a kind on the flop.

Clearly we needed a more powerful pocket pair. When we dropped to 1,000 chips, it came -- and A-A allowed us to make two pair and jump to 5,000. But with higher blinds, a comeback couldn't really happen. Our last push with A-J brought two Aces on the board -- but a man to our left topped us with a flush. Final position: about 25th.

MINISTRY MOMENT: As we entered Soho, the Tournament Director at the door did NOT ask us to sign in. He did that for us, directing us to Table 4. "You're the man," he said.

"No, I'm not," we answered.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not." Then we added a sentence he understood. "Ask who That Man may be?"

The Director knew the answer -- remembering a hymn that's almost 500 years old. We didn't get the question line exactly right, but the answer Martin Luther wrote is: "Christ Jesus, it is He."

The Director didn't name Jesus aloud, but he offered a follow-up question. "We're next to that Man, aren't we?" How would you answer that? Our answer is coming in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 59 final tables in 149 nights (39.6%) - 11 cashes. We've missed six final tables in a row. But the way play tends to go for us, that means we're about due to hit a big one.