Poker Night 213: A Tens Moment

Today was a long day at the office for us -- if you call poker tables an "office." It started with a "turbo" online tournament which lasted nearly six hours (a topic for another post). Then about one hour after we were eliminated from that game, we were at The Red Barn for the second half of a Texas Hold 'em doubleheader. At least we were warmed up for this....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 10-10

We tried to be a bit aggressive early, but it didn't work. Now we have about 4,200 chips, and another player raises to 200. It's a high enough pair to give it a call. Several players join in.

ON THE FLOP: 6-Q-2

A man to our right tosses in 200. Hmmmmm. We lean toward thinking he has a Queen, but we lean more toward thinking our "luck" is about to turn around. We call, as does one other player.

ON THE TURN: Q

The bettor now throws in 300. If he had a Queen before, this seems like a wimpy bet now. We're actually more confident about the board pairing, so we call again. No one else remains in the hand.

ON THE RIVER: 7

The bettor simply checks. Now we're puzzled. Is this a move to lure us into an overconfident bet? We're more comfortable checking this.

"Pair of tens?!" we say as we flip our cards over. Yes, it's good enough! Our read is right, as our opponent has A-9. Our stack rebuilds to above 6,000.

Several good hands came along for us, especially in the second hour. We started with 4,500 chips -- but after making a flush and making top pair out of an Ace, we jumped to more than 22,000. That led us to the final table, where we held A-9 and saw an Ace on the flop. We moved all-in with 7,500 -- but the man who semi-bluffed earlier made a straight to eliminate us.

We finished seventh in both games. The online game had 580 players, so that was a bit more of an accomplishment. But neither one earned us money, so moral
"victories" would have to do.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We wound up sitting tonight next to the "drunk woman" who eliminated us in heads-up play Saturday night. Her story sounds even more dire than we first thought -- as among other things, she's unsure about having money to pay the rent and utilities.

It's cold in our area right now, and she noted "heat rises" from her natural gas heater. "So I'm sleeping in the car with the motor running" -- apparently because she considers that warmer. Yet she had to "borrow" money from strangers at a convenience store to fill her fuel tank today. "Someone gave me ten dollars," she said with a bit of a smile.

The woman added she also talked today to her preacher about her plight -- and the minister gave her a blanket to sleep warmly. "I've prayed and prayed," she told us -- yet somehow this woman had money to buy drinks during the game (non-alcoholic this time).

It's nice to know this woman apparently has a "church home," where she can turn for support. But does this whole picture seem confusing to you? It does to us. Perhaps she needs to pray for something other than money....

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. -- Ephesians 1:17

God's wisdom is valuable for all aspects of life. We think this woman could use some for dealing with limited finances -- prioritizing where to spend money and where to cut back. We'll keep praying for God to bless this woman not only with steady income, but a wise approach to handling it.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 87 final tables in 213 nights (40.8%) - 15 cashes.