Poker Night 205: Calle Ocho

After missing the final table in local live tournaments nine times in a row, we went to The Red Barn tonight determined to turn things around. Sitting at a table where players bought shot after shot to add chips to their stacks, this would be an uphill climb -- and our objective was to wait for the right moment:

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: 8c-8h

We're in the small blind, and won a big early pot with a pair of Queens. But now we're back to about 7,500 chips, and the woman we topped before raises to 1,200. A couple of years ago, we probably would have presumed the worst here and folded. But now we call. One other player does as well.

ON THE FLOP: 3c-5c-8d

We have "top trips," but we're not the ones who started piling on the extra chips here. So we check -- and sure enough, a man to our left bets 1,500. The woman across the table folds, and we know we have (at least for the moment) the best hand.

"Raise -- 3,000" we announce. Our opponent isn't flustered by this, and calls.

ON THE TURN: 9h

We check again, wary of what the other man has -- but that might have been a mistake. Two clubs are showing, and he could be on a flush draw. (Then again, the 9 might have made him a straight.) He checks, which makes us feel better.

ON THE RIVER: Kc

Uh-oh -- there's that third club. We check once more, and our opponent bets 1,500.

"If you've got a flush, you've got me," we admit -- yet to be honest, we smell a big bluff. With a good bit of confidence, we quickly call.

"I don't have a flush," he says. He shows pocket Queens. "What do you have?"

"Triple-eight," we say turning over a big winning hand. Our opponent is left frustrated -- moaning aloud to himself about how the river bet was supposed to scare us away. Instead, our chip stack jumps above 17,000.

That was the last hand we were to win all night -- and with mostly tight play after that, we almost reached the final table. Practically forced to go all-in with our last 4,000 chips on A-4 of spades, the woman across the table topped us with Kings and Queens. She took two players out in the process, leaving us tied for ninth (tenth in terms of points) -- one hand away from ending our streak.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We take a small digital voice recorder to the table to note our hands for this blog. After recording the early pot win, a man to our right said: "Talking to yourself?"

"I'm talking to this."

"Talking to yourself -- because you'll be listening to it."

Well, yes.... but: "If God hears everything I say, I never talk to myself."

The man agreed with that perspective -- but later in the tournament, he was cursing up a storm. We would only point out the warning words of Jesus:

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. -- Matthew 12:36-37

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 83 final tables in 205 nights (40.5%), 15 cashes.