The move came when our big blind came around -- as we pushed with A-Q, and a pair of Queens led to a "sextuple-up" to 15,500. But as this semifinal table dwindled, another drama was yet to come....
BLINDS: 2,000/4,000
IN THE POCKET: King of diamonds - 10 of clubs
We're in the big blind at a table of five; ten players remain overall. Three players fold, and we're heads-up with a leadoff man whose stack isn't much bigger than ours.
ON THE FLOP: 5h-10s-4d (Not exactly sure about the first two suits)
Top pair in heads-up play is worth a bet to us. So we toss out 5,000.
"How much do you have left?" our opponent asks. Uh-oh. Before we start counting, he goes all-in with about 12,500.
"That would put you all-in," another man says to us as we count.
"All I have is 11,500," we confirm. But we decide to call.
Our opponent advises against it (after the fact). "I have two pair," he says.
"Oh really," we say modestly - fearing he played 5-4. But our opponent then turns over Q-5 of diamonds.
"That's not two pair," we note in semi-surprise. "That's not even top pair" -- and we turn over our 10. "He needs diamonds." For a flush, that is.
ON THE TURN: 7d
Uh-oh again. "I don't want to see another diamond," we declare. I don't want to see...."
ON THE RIVER: 3d
"OHHHHHHH!" we say along with the majority of the table. On this night of Game 6 of the World Series, runners came around to score on the diamond! We're stunningly eliminated -- and the final table forms after that, so we miss it by one hand with a ninth-place finish. Ouch.
MINISTRY MOMENT: For reasons we can't recall, the talk of an early all-male table turned to homosexuality. Let's put the discussion this way: the words came quickly - and while no profanity was used, the talk was more negative than positive.
We sat quietly through it all, then told the men on either side of us: "I'm choosing to wait until marriage." To have any sort of sex at all, that is -- and we'd have it with women, instead of men. We realize how controversial this subject can be, so we'll simply quote what a Biblical apostle wrote about it:
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the man also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. - Romans 1:26-27
Why did God "give them over" to this kind of behavior? Back up a few verses for Paul's answer....
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.... Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen. - Romans 1:21, 24-25
We'll leave room here for you to comment if you'd like -- and we'll go deeper into this subject in our next post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 101 final tables in 275 nights (36.7%) - 16 cashes. On a night when there were barely enough players for three tables, this miss (especially the way it happened) hurt a little harder.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 171 point wins in 755 games (22.5%), 58 final tables, 7 cashes.
We finished fourth in a 71-player Senior qualifier Sunday afternoon. And we're NOT counting the "top ten percent" finish in the Tuesday night Senior championship (tempting though it is), because no points were awarded there.
POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $63,252, up $830.
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