You know it's a slow night at a sports bar when one of the screens is showing the Cartoon Network. Yet we joined three tables' worth of poker players at The Sports Page tonight, trying to end Memorial Day on a strong note. Not that it would be easy....
BLINDS: 50/100
IN THE POCKET: A-2 of hearts
We're still waiting to win a hand, and start with about 3,800 chips. With the bottom rung of suited connectors, we try to get in small -- but the woman who's dealing raises to 500. We dare to call; only one other player does.
ON THE FLOP: Jh-10h-5c (not sure about the last suit, except it wasn't a heart)
No pair, but a big flush draw. We check -- and the dealer does us a big favor by making a small continuation bet of 200. We call it; the other player folds.
ON THE TURN: 4h
The "nut flush" is ours -- but we "check to the bettor," hoping she'll be overconfident and give us a big payday. She stares at us for a moment as if she's looking for hints. Then she checks.
ON THE RIVER: Js
Now we're ready to bet -- and when we offer 2,000 (more than half our stack), she shakes her head no and folds.
We won a pot and gained close to 1,000 chips. But we're left to wonder if we played this wrong. Did our expression on the turn steer her away from betting? Should we have bet a "c'mon in" small amount on the river? Should we have gone all-in, since this was a "bounty" tournament, with 5,000 chips for eliminating a player? It's easy to second-guess.
We won and split a few modest pots, but never hit the "big one" to give us a substantial chip stack. In the second hour we pushed with 7's and 5's on the board and an Ace in our hand -- but the man to our left had a 7 to make a full house. He surprised us, and left us out in 16th place.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Two people at the table noticed our "Lord's Supper" card protector tonight -- the one with a portrait of a long-haired Jesus on the side we keep face-down.
"I don't think Jesus really looked like that," we said to a man to our left.
The man seemed to agree, but suggested people should think of Jesus as "looking like you". What do you think of that idea? We'll share our thoughts in an upcoming post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 97 final tables in 253 nights (38.3%) - 15 cashes.
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