NLOP Championship 3: Saves and a Slap

We haven't mentioned the fact that we qualified for our second Sunday night championship in a row at National League of Poker. A second-place and a fourth-place on consecutive days gave us a chance at the $500 top prize. So here's what happened....

:02 IN: We have 7-8. The flop of 5-Q-8 gives us middle pair. Then the turn is a 4. We call a $200 bet, hoping for a big river -- but it's a 10. We take a big loss, and fold.

:12 IN: Just in time after another big loss shrinks our stack to 320, we're dealt pocket Aces! We push pre-flop, and survive a caller to rebuild. But at that moment, this chat exchange occurs:

Dealer: flopblogger wins Main Pot ($730) with Three of a kind, aces
Me: PTL
Drewster: SMD
Me: Uh oh , stumped me with that one

We checked an acronym web site later, and came to the conclusion this was not a polite compliment by our opponent. In fact, it spelled out something vulgar. But people who "praise the Lord" really shouldn't be surprised by such things.

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted," Paul writes in II Timothy 3:12. While verse 13 mentions "evil men," we have no way of knowing if this opponent is evil, good or something in between.

"If they persecuted me," Jesus said in John 15:20, "they will persecute you also." Compared with what Christians in some terror-laden countries face, a vulgar acronym online is microscopic.

Whatever the level of challenge, pray to God for patience to endure it -- and remember other words of Jesus: "He who stands firm to the end will be saved" (Matthew 24:13).

Now back to the game....

:22 IN: We have A-K of spades in the big blind, and raise to 300. The flop is Js-9s-A. Then 8s on the river gives us a nut flush, and we're up to 1,360.

:46 IN: With blinds climbing, we have a lowly 10s-2c in the big blind. But the flop brings two more 10's! We push, an opponent folds and we gain a $1,085 pot.

:55 IN: Another big blind brings us Q-5 of diamonds. The flop is Q-4-4, and we go all-in. An opponent calls, but only had pocket Jacks. After a 2-8 appear, we hit a high of $2,445.

But then came high blinds and no help from the deck. A-9 led to two Kings on the flop, and we had to fold a big bet. K-J of spades brought an all-in dare by another player pre-flop, and we folded fearing the worst. (Yup, the opponent had A-A.)

1:12 IN: With only 420 chips left, we're forced to go all-in with 9s-3d. The flop is A-6-2. Then come 6-7, and we're topped. Out of 1,412 players, we finished a respectable #230.