"There is a time for everything...." the Bible says. Even "a time for war and a time for peace" (Ecc. 3:1, 8).
When chip leaders at your table start acting like Goliath and making huge bets to chase the "little people" away (with apologies to BP), sooner or later a smaller stack has to put his or her foot down. That was our challenge tonight at Lil Kim's Cove....
BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: A-9 of spades
The two players to our immediate right have built big stacks, then have used them for massive pre-flop and post-flop bets to claim pots. Those two men are first in the betting order. One simply calls, then the second counts out 4,750 for a raise. When we see our cards, we have two choices: fold again to let the slow drain continue, or....
"All I have," we say counting our chips, "is 3,575." We go all-in, knowing our opponents sometimes bet big with very little. Other players fold, except for one (we think it was the first man) who calls. The dealing now comes all at once, with none of the waiting and drama of TV games:
ON THE FLOP: 5-J-A
ON THE TURN: 6
ON THE RIVER: 6
No one has anything better than our two pair. (As we recall, a sidepot went to someone with King high.) A timely Ace builds our stack to more than 12,000.
We had to hold on from there -- winning a couple of small pots, and enduring a couple of testy arguments involving betting rules and attitude-overloaded players. But another all-in bet with 10-8 took a pot with two pair, which led us to the final table.
Yet the most logical all-in moment of all proved fatal -- pushing with K-K, and called by a man with A-K. An Ace fell on the flop. We finished in sixth place, thankful simply to have survived that far.
MINISTRY MOMENT: After one all-in success, we dared to praise the Lord aloud. One of the big bettors to our right noticed we were thankful for "blessings."
"Are you thankful for God's blessings?" we asked him. "What are you thankful for?"
"I woke up this morning," the man answered. After that, everything else is a bonus.
"A faithful man will be richly blessed," promises Proverbs 28:20. So how faithful toward God are you these days?
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 72 final tables in 174 nights (41.4%) - 13 cashes. We've made final tables in three of our last four live games.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: One-table sit-n-goes - 4-9-4-3-2. Full tournaments - 55 point wins in 312 games (17.6%), 25 final tables, 1 cash.
POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: $10,618 - unchanged (no play).
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