Poker Night 207: The Other Golden Rule

The Biblical one is commonly mentioned as: "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12, NIV; the traditional Old English wording is NOT in the King James Version).

The other golden rule is: "He who has the gold, rules." And two players with bright 5,000-dollar gold chips had quite a battle for control at The Red Barn tonight....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: Q-7 offsuit

We're dealing, and the blinds are about to go up. Sitting with 5,400 chips after starting with 6,000, we normally fold this combination -- and so we do. Only one player calls the big blind, who checks (the small blind is absent).

ON THE FLOP: A-A-A

Wow -- flops don't come more powerful than that! A man sitting to our right grabs his stack of chips and fakes dropping it all-in. But he's not playing first; the big blind starts, and bets 1,000. His opponent sees that and only calls.

ON THE TURN: 6

Both players quickly check.

ON THE RIVER: 4

Both men check again.

"Gimme that gold chip," the man to the left says. He shows an Ace, confirming he hit the jackpot -- quads on the flop for a 5,000-chip bonus.

As for our night: it was another uphill fight, as players around us bought plenty of drinks and food to gain bonus chips exceeding ours. We took a big loss when a top pair fell short, then rallied with A-2 when an Ace came on the turn to give us two pair. Pocket 7's brought another big gain after the one-hour break -- but 8-8 minutes later proved our undoing, as the quad-maker with A-Q paired them both. We were gone in about 19th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We learned tonight the man who made quads is Catholic. He talked about the main door to the church he attends having big gashes on it -- "like Satan trying to break into the church."

The devil certainly would like to tear down the church Jesus started. In fact, the apostle Paul admitted he "persecuted the church of God" (I Corinthians 15:9). But God changed him in a miraculous way (see Acts 9) -- and Jesus promised even before that:

....On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. -- Matthew 16:18

Stay close to God's church -- but make sure the church group you attend is actually close to God, following what the Bible instructs.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 83 final tables in 207 nights (40.1%) - 15 cashes. We can't remember the last time we had a streak like this: 12 missed final tables in a row.