Poker Night 156: Portland Pilot

Some poker hands have traditional slang names, such as "rockets" for A-A. We've created a few nicknames of our own, which might puzzle opponents if we mentioned them at the table (or maybe even throw them off the track). Take one hand we were dealt at Lil Kim's Cove tonight....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: K-2 of hearts

We call this hand "Portland," after a TV station in that Oregon city. It's the last hand before the one-hour break, and normally we might be inclined to dump it. But before the tournament began, the director decided to throw in a twist.

"If you win a hand with King-deuce," he announced, "you get 5,000 bonus chips." A player at another table already has earned the K-2 bonus -- and now we've been dealt it! So we call and hope. Good sign #1: no one raises. Only four players are in the hand.

ON THE FLOP: K-7-8 (no hearts)

Good sign #2: top pair! But you have to play a bonus hand to the river to claim the prize, so we check. Good sign #3: the entire table checks.

ON THE TURN: 5

We check again. Good sign #4: no one bets again.

ON THE RIVER: 3

With the river card showing, the bonus is ours if we win the hand. So still holding top pair, we bet 600. Only one player calls.

"Jackpot!" we announce, showing our K-2 -- and indeed it's a winner! The pot plus the bonus give us 16,000 chips at the break.

We won one hand after the break, but didn't gain many favorable cards the rest of the evening. We held on to have 10,000 chips at the two-hour mark, then went all-in with A-K right after the break. But K-J landed on the board, and another player had them to make two pair. We settled for the semifinal table again, finishing 13th.

MINISTRY MOMENT: In a moment of exasperation late in the tournament, a young woman at our table declared, "Jesus Christ!"

"He's my hope of salvation."

"What?!"

"He's my hope of salvation," we repeated for the woman. "Since you mentioned Him."

The young woman smiled. She knows we like to bring up matters of faith at the table. And we're ready with one-liner responses, when people around us mention the Savior's name in something less than an honorable way.

So is Jesus your hope of salvation? The apostle Peter declared at a major conference long ago, "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved...." (Acts 15:11) We say nothing else will do. Agree or disagree?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 60 final tables in 156 nights (38.5%) - 11 cashes.

Now this is a serious slump: one final table in the last 13.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Heads-up games: 6-6. Full tournaments -- 34 point wins in 218 games (15.6%), 14 final tables, no cashes.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: One-table tournaments - two wins in 11 games. Pretend cash games: $12,973, up $430.