Poker Night 166: Step Right Up

Are you one of those poker players who insist on making top pair on the flop -- and nothing less will do? Sometimes it's OK to start on the second step, and climb up. A hand at Lil Kim's Cove tonight showed us that....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: A-6 of clubs

It's early in the game, but this is the second time we've been dealt this hand. The first time didn't work, as we missed the flop and a player made a run-us-off bet. This time we call again. Several players join in.

ON THE FLOP: 6s-2s-Jh

We have middle pair -- so what should we do with it? We're early in line to bet, but we check. Then a player ahead of us bets 200. We call, largely because we have an Ace.

ON THE TURN: Ah

Nice and timely! But we notice there are two hearts and two spades showing. We decide to bet big, in hopes of running off anyone pursuing a flush. The bet is 1,100, and one player calls.

ON THE RIVER: 5c

The flush threat is gone, and we doubt our opponent was pursuing a straight. So we bet 1,100 again -- and he folds.

A few other nice pots came our way, especially after the one-hour break. We reached a high of 34,000 chips, but then had a couple of big losses. In the first hand after the two-hour break, we went all in with A-J of diamonds. A man called with J-5 -- but made a 5 on the flop to knock us out. We came close to the final table, but finished in 11th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: If you've ever ordered a steak or a martini at a restaurant, you may have received one of these -- a little plastic sword. Ours admittedly has a broken handle, but it was enough to raise questions at the table tonight.

"I brought that to remind me," we explained, "that the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword." That's a quote from Hebrews 4:12 -- and it led us to ask the players around us if they read the "word of God," as in the Bible.

The comment of a young man to our left was surprising. "I'm a Catholic. I don't read the Bible."

"Catholics don't read the Bible?!" we answered -- adding we didn't think Roman Catholic ministers would mind if members did. What do you think of the young man's statement? We'll comment on it in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 67 final tables in 166 nights (40.4%) - 11 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 4-9-3-2-0. Full tournaments - 48 point wins in 272 games (17.6%), 21 final tables, 1 cash. Heads-up: 1-1 (total 10-8).

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: One-table sit-n-goes - 2-1-1-1-2-4. Pretend cash games: Up $30; total $11,413.