Poker Night 215: Big Blind-Side

"This is your last table," a man across from us said at The Red Barn tonight. He said that for a reason, which we'll explain in a moment. But this was a full semifinal table -- and since we joined it at the one-hour break, we could look around and see we had the short stack at 9,500 chips. Would this man's prediction prove correct?

BLINDS: 500/1,000

IN THE POCKET: 5-10 offsuit

Not a thrilling hand at this point in the evening. But we're big blind, and no one raised ahead of us. One player was eliminated on the last hand, so seven remain and several call. Thus we're happy to check.

ON THE FLOP: 10-5-A

....and we're very happy to see this! The small blind (first in line to bet) checks, and we pounce.

"Three-thousand," we announce. At least one player made a comment in response, which we don't remember at the moment.

"Raise" is the next comment -- from the man immediately to our left. He doubles the bet to 6,000, and suddenly we're concerned. Our first thought is that he has a high pocket pair. But we doubt it's A-A for three of a kind, because he would have raised pre-flop straightaway with that. We conclude he either has one Ace with a high kicker, or a medium-high pair like Q-Q.

"I'll call," we say after a moment. No one else remains in the hand.

ON THE TURN: Q

"Big slick looks good right now," a bystander in the hand says. We agree, but say nothing and tap the table to check.

"Twenty-five hundred," our opponent says -- knowing it would put us all in. We fear he does have "big slick," and made two pair with that Queen. But part of our brain says he's pushing us around to grab the pot. After a moment of pondering, we decide.

"He already predicted this was my last table," we say with a nod toward the potential prophet. "But I'll call."

"I've got two pair," the opponent says -- and he shows A-5. Uggh. We need a river-card miracle, like a 10.

ON THE RIVER: A

"Full house," the winner declares. Sure enough, he had us all along. The semifinal table is the end for us, with a 14th-place finish.

Remember that post titled "Two Pair, Beware"? The take-home lesson for us tonight is to remember that title in the future. A lot of things can beat bottom two pair. But to be honest, we sensed our opponent had something less -- and our sense was wrong.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "What did you bring tonight?" asked the man who made the prediction about our impending doom.

"A man gave this to me Saturday night at heads-up," we said. We used as a card protector a medallion with an artist's depiction of the "Last Supper." (Now you can understand the "last table" prediction.)

Jesus shared a meal with His disciples on the night before He was crucified. The Lord called it "the Passover," since He kept customs outlined in the Old Testament (Matthew 26:17-19). Which leads us to ask a provocative question: can you show us a Bible passage indicating Jesus or the first apostles kept Christmas?

(There's a second side to that medallion; we'll address that in an upcoming post.)

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 87 final tables in 215 nights (40.5%) - 15 cashes.