Poker Night 161: Knowing Me, Knowing You?

When a poker night only has enough players for two tables, getting to the final table should be easy. And if you're a regular player, you're likely to be around people you know. Know their tendencies, get a read on their actions -- easy, right? Let's see if it worked tonight at The Red Barn....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: 9-6 offsuit

It's early in the evening, and we're in the small blind. No one raises ahead of us, so a call is relatively harmless....

ON THE FLOP: 9-6-2 (6 is a spade)

....and potentially profitable. A dreamy top two pair land in our lap, so we bet 400. A man to our immediate left pauses for a moment at this.

"You ought to be thankful I'm just calling," the man then says. A couple of other people call as well.

ON THE TURN: 5 of spades

It's still top two pair, so we remain confident: "400 sounds good again." But now, the man to our left raises to 1,300. Other players fold, and now it's our turn to think. This man isn't afraid to bluff in a move to shove people off pots. That's what we think he's doing, so we call.

ON THE RIVER: 10 of spades

Three spades are now showing. But we still aren't persuaded our opponent has anything substantial, so we check. That's probably a bad tactical move, as we let him engage in some creative betting. He bets 1,050. We call, unconvinced.

"I had a straight, and it's now a flush," he says matter-of-factly. Ouch! Our opponent has 7-8 of spades, and truly has us overwhelmed. That hand cost us substantially.

We were down to about 1,800 chips near the one-hour mark. But then we gained a big double-up, and picked up a couple more big pots. Yes, we made it to the final table -- and we survived for quite awhile, reaching the two-hour break with 25,000 chips. But the man to our left did it to us again, persuading us to call his all-in bet. We had A-10, but his pocket Jacks brought a Jack on the flop and eliminated us in fifth place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Several players figured out our card protector of the night -- a small restaurant packet of salt. They knew if referred to being "the salt of the earth."

"I try to be a light of the world," one woman responded.

"I think you can be both," we answered. After all, Jesus mentioned both traits together in Matthew 5:13-14. What do you think?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 65 final tables in 161 nights (40.4%), 11 cashes.