It was a roller-coaster ride for us tonight. First we made a big raise with a straight on the river, only to lose to a woman who made a flush. Then we made a top flush to climb back in. We had 3,150 at the one-hour break, but split a big pot with A-6 to improve to 6,000. Then came our wildest hand in quite some time....
BLINDS: 2,000/4,000
IN THE POCKET: Ace of hearts - 3 of diamonds
We're dealing, and facing a big decision. We have only 2,000 chips left. Do we hope for something better? We decide not, and go all-in with the Ace. Five players get in the hand, so 10,000 is all we can win while a sidepot is at stake for the rest.
ON THE FLOP: Ad-Jd-9s (unsure about last card, but it was NOT a diamond)
We make top pair, but our kicker card doesn't thrill us. And we quickly realize if a "diamond war" breaks out, we have very little hope. As we recall, the other players checked (this part admittedly is a blur).
ON THE TURN: Kd
Uh-oh -- now three diamonds are showing. As we recall, a young man to our right bet 5,000. One player folded; the others called.
ON THE RIVER: 8d
Oh no -- we probably dealt ourselves right out of the game. The young man to our right bets 20,000. The Tournament Director is to our immediate left, and now he faces a big decision.
"I've got a diamond," he admits -- and he holds his cards so we can see it's the 9. "The question is whether it's high enough." If he calls, we're sunk. He thinks it over -- then decides to fold! A woman across the table folds as well.
"Top pair, but low diamond," we say as we turn over our cards.
The young man laughs a little, and tosses his cards face-down into the center of the table. Does this mean he made a big bluff with nothing?
"You've got to show your cards to win the pot," the woman who folded says. The young man seemingly forgot we were all-in. Now he turns over his cards: Jh-4d. His low diamond barely topped ours -- but wait a second.
"You know, I could argue he mucked his cards," we point out. With other players at other tables, a shouting match would have erupted here -- but we speak in a moderate voice.
The Tournament Director sees our point. "Since you mucked your cards," he says to the sidepot winner, "all you can have is that. He gets this" -- as in us taking the 10,000-chip main pot. An inattentive moment keeps us in the tournament!
With that, we were moved to the other semifinal table. We survived to the two-hour break, but had to go all-in again immediately afterward in the big blind. Our 6-8 almost made a straight, but ended up with nothing. A man took two players out with two pair, leaving us tied for 11th place.
MINISTRY MOMENT: "I like your card holder," a woman said to us as that big hand unfolded. Again we took a piece of matzo, and we explained how Jesus is "the bread of life" during the Passover/Unleavened Bread season. (One man figured out that Biblical message even before the tournament began.) Which reminds us of this comment which was said to Jesus....
And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. -- Luke 14:15, KJV
What do you think that statement means? Offer a comment here, and we'll compare notes in an upcoming post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 94 final tables in 242 nights (38.8%) - 15 cashes. (The final table slump reaches 11.)
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 125 point wins in 624 games (20.0%), 46 final tables, 4 cashes.
POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $43,727, down $795.
PokerStars.net still works for us, apparently because it's the "play for free" site. PokerStars.com is the one the U.S. government shut down -- and two "tickets" we've earned to play in big-money games there may now be worthless.
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