Poker Night 278: The Gun Clubs

There was an old-fashioned "stick-up" on the avenue near our home the other day -- as a man was robbed of his wallet, and apparently slugged in the process.  At the other side of the avenue tonight, we carried some weapons of our own from time to time.  It was poker night at Lil Kim's Cove -- and sometimes cards are referred to as "rockets" or "bullets."  But that wasn't what we had....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: J-9 of clubs

We're "under the gun" -- which in poker slang means we're first to act pre-flop, sitting to the left of the big blind.  We haven't won a hand yet, and hold about 4,000 chips.  But something tells us to give this suited medium-high combination a try, so we call.  Several players get in, with no one raising.

ON THE FLOP: Qs-9s-8c

We have middle pair and a draw, so we're not in a mood to stick our neck out yet.  We check; so does the entire table.

ON THE TURN: 10c

That's the right draw for a straight -- and it sets up a potential perfect river card, as we've developed an open-ended shot at a straight flush.  But we're more concerned about taking this pot than hitting that long shot.  When the play checks to us, we bet 1,000.  Several players do the math and fold; one person across from us calls.

ON THE RIVER: Kc

We didn't hit the jackpot, and three clubs are now showing.  But we don't really consider that chance of someone having the Ace of clubs for a "nut flush."  With our straight becoming a flush, we bet 1,000 again -- and our opponent fold, realizing we have something.

But all in all, the night was shaky for us.  We reached a high of 6,000 chips, then lost 3,100 of them in one hand when our pocket Jacks lost to a woman who turned a 3 in her hand into three of a kind on the turn.  Then we folded two low clubs which would have made another winning flush.

We finally pushed in the big blind with A-Q, but the board didn't pair for us and another woman made pocket jacks.  Final standing: a lowly 22nd.

MINISTRY MOMENT: The talk of the table turned to television tonight.  One woman asked an admitted fan of the Twilight movie series, "Do you watch True Blood?"

"No," the fan answered.  "I don't like scary stuff."

The title led us to turn to a man on our left and quietly say, "That title brings me back to this."  We tapped the "Jesus as your Savior" coin we'd shown him earlier in the evening.  The man smiled, and nodded a bit as if he understood.

That's nice -- but do you understand?  Why would True Blood make us think of Jesus the Savior?  Offer a comment if you'd like; we'll explain in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 102 final tables in 278 nights (36.7%), 16 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 172 point wins in 761 games (22.6%), 59 final tables, 7 cashes.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $67,582, up $5,925.  We scored gains in seven of eight sessions in the last seven days, including two with jumps of $2,000 or more.