Poker Night 224: Rock the Boat

"Are you putting this on your blog?" When a poker player asks us this in the middle of the hand, it's a sign he's confident he can beat us. Trouble us, we felt confident about the hand we had at Lil Kim's Cove tonight as well. A big clash was destined to happen....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: A-3 offsuit

We're dealing the last hand before the one-hour break. We won an early pot, and have about 6,000 chips. No one raises, so we call with our Ace. Several players join in the hand.

ON THE FLOP: A-K-K

A man across the table from us jumps back at this, excited for a moment. Then he calms down and checks. When our turn comes, we bet 600.

"Only 600?" someone asks. Yup -- because we don't have a King, so we're exploring a bit. Two players call, and then the excited man asks that question about blogging it. To prove we might, we turn our pocket recorder on as we deal.

"Are we ready to do this.... and see, there's the turn card...."

ON THE TURN: 4s

"And what do you say to that?" The excited man puts out 600.

"Y'all play with each other," the other man in the hand says -- but he calls.

"I'll call 600," we say.

ON THE RIVER: Kh

"There is a third King!" we say to the recorder in our play-by-play. "Now what's he gonna do?"

"I'm in the hand. I want y'all to know that," says the second man in line. The excited man is first to act, and he thinks for a while. "If you're gonna get 'em all, you bet."

"You ain't gonna bet," player #1 says. "You ain't got the guts to put it out there."

"Ooooo," a woman out of the hand responds. "He called you a coward."

"No no, I didn't say those words."

"Not exactly, no," we semi-agree. Then the excited man bets 2,500.

"What the h**l do you have?" the alleged coward asks as he folds. Now we have a big decision to make.

"Well, either you have quads," we say examining our full house, "or we're going to split this pot. So I will call. And you can show me your quads and embarrass me."

Our opponent shows A-K. Sure enough, he had reason to be excited -- quads to beat our full house! He takes not only a huge pot, but a 5,000-chip bonus.

That slashed our chip stack to 1,975 -- and after the break, we were eliminated quickly. We pushed all-in with A-4 and saw a 4 on the turn, but a man next to us with a 9 made a higher pair.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "When I deal, I never give myself good cards," the man who knocked us out said earlier.

"That shows you're a giving person," we replied. "Giving is a good quality to have." Then we threw in a punchline. "It won't win you a lot of poker tournaments, but it's a good quality to have."

We've heard it said that hearts is a better card game than poker for practicing the "way of give." The fewer hearts you collect, the better your score. But as we read the Bible, we find God is both a giver and a taker....

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -- John 3:16

The greatest gift God could offer was Jesus Christ, by whom we can enjoy salvation from sin. But what's the taking side?

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. -- Psalm 73:24

God plans to take His believers into a beautiful new place....

And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. -- II Peter 1:11

A life built around giving will reflect God, and lead to the greatest takeaway of all.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 91 final tables in 224 nights (40.6%) - 15 cashes. Heads-up record: 9-17.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 106 point wins in 567 games (18.7%), 40 final tables, 2 cashes.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Full tournaments - three "top ten-percent" finishes in 15 games (20%). Pretend cash games - $37,862, up $3,280.