Monday, November 29, 2010

Poker Night 211: Your Wheel Be Done

It was couples' night at The Red Barn -- at least at our table. We started with seven players, and we were the "single" surrounded by three husbands and wives (or at least boyfriend/girlfriend). We don't want to ruin any romances. We simply want to win....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 5-4 offsuit

We're in the big blind, with cards which are appealing solely because they're "connected." A man across the table raises to 150. That's modest enough; we join most of the table in calling.

ON THE FLOP: A-A-2

Two big cards -- but hope for us, in the form of a straight draw. After we check, the man across from us makes a tempting continuation bet of 300. Most players at the table don't take the bait and fold. But the game is early, so we decide to take a chance and call.

ON THE TURN: 7

We miss. We check. Our opponent probably would win the pot here with another bet, but he does us a favor by checking.

ON THE RIVER: 3

Wow -- the "wheel" straight rolls in! Now we want to bet, and we test whether our opponent is in a gambling mood by plunking down 1,100. He isn't, and folds. We never see what he had, but people are guessing about our cards.

"What did you have?" a man asks.

"Some'un," we quietly say with a smile.

We showed a "nut flush" a couple of hands later, to win an even bigger pot. But that was the last pot we won, as we held onto our chips far enough to reach the semifinal table. That's when we pushed all-in for 13,000 with A-10. The small blind called with 2-2 -- but our cards didn't come, and his little pair took a big pot to send us home in 12th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We know a few local players are catching on to our poker ministry. Consider what one man said when he saw us walk in tonight:

"Jesus, Jesus, He's our man! If He can't do it, no one can!"

We agreed with that man, of course -- and come to think of it, there are many things Jesus can do for you and me. Open question: what's the greatest thing Jesus ever did for you? We'll offer our answer in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 86 final tables in 211 nights (40.8%) - 15 cashes.

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