My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. - Proverbs 1:10Romans 3:23 reminds us we're all sinners, so we're not pointing fingers. But we thought of this verse tonight after playing at Lil Kim's Cove with one of those big raisers -- a man throwing out a lot of chips pre-flop, and daring you to see if his cards are serious or a bluff. It pays to be patient, and wait for the right moment to make a move. One of those moments fell in our lap fairly early....
BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: 8-4 offsuit
"Nobody raised?!" we say with mock surprise before looking at our cards. We're in the big blind by ourselves, after Mr. Big Bettor knocked out a player -- and that man does us a favor by "taking a hand off," folding under the gun. So with nothing to lose, we happily check instead of folding.
ON THE FLOP: Q-5-8
We make second pair, but realize other players could be limping in with face cards. We check, and about four others in the hand check as well.
ON THE TURN: 7
Based on what we learned from the flop, we feel better about second pair after seeing this lower card. So we bet 500 to see where our opponents really stand. Two players call.
ON THE RIVER: Q
Now we have top two pair -- but we're still reluctant to be overzealous. Yet we're first to act, so we offer 700 in hope. A woman across from us folds. A man to our right calls.
"I was chasing," he admits -- and shows A-5. We think he was on a flush draw. But his miss is our gain, and we win about 2,000 chips.
A second "big blind special" came our way in the second hour with pocket 7's, bringing us up to 15,000 chips. We played tightly after that to reach the semifinal table. Then with ten players left (two tables of five) and the blinds at 2,000/4,000, Mr. Big Bettor announced: "If anyone calls, I'm raising."
We happened to look at A-10 of clubs, and dared to take him on -- going all-in with 12,000 left. He called, of course. Then he showed 8-8. The flop had K-9 and the turn was J. But we missed everything when the river was 9. He won the race, and we narrowly missed the final table with a tenth-place finish -- but it was still our best live tournament result in two months.
MINISTRY MOMENT: A fascinating discussion about religion and habits developed during the one-hour break at our table. It started with talk about drinking wine during pregnancy.
"The Bible says Jesus turned water into wine," a woman across from us said.
"That's true," we agreed. "It doesn't say grape juice." If you need proof of that....
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.... and the master fo the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. - John 2:7, 9The master of the wedding feast went on to tell Jesus in verse 10: "You have saved the best till now." If that drink wasn't wine, why would the master have said that?
Meanwhile, back at the table: "I know some church folk who say they don't drink, but they stand outside the church smoking cigarettes," a woman said. She made a valid point. Some people don't seem to consider tobacco use a "sin" because the Bible doesn't mention it directly, as opposed to drinking alcohol. Yet the apostle Paul warns:
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought a a price. Therefore honor God with your body. - I Corinthians 6:19-20The context of these verses refers to physical conduct - whether it be sexual immorality (verse 18) or other activities. There's plenty of scientific evidence to show smoking can harm your lungs. So what's the difference between that and drunkenness from wine? We'll examine that (and other topics which came up during the break) in upcoming posts.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 100 final tables in 270 nights (37.0%) - 15 cashes. We came close, but now have missed nine in a row.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 163 point wins in 734 games (22.2%), 56 final tables, seven cashes.
POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $59,933, up $1,515. Our total was above $60,000 before a small loss Wednesday night.
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