BLINDS: 25/50
IN THE POCKET: A-K offsuit
It's only the second hand of the night -- but a big bust occurred on the first hand, so we realize anything could happen at this table of five. A man next to us raises to 250. But waking up with these cards this early, we decide to wait and see if this man will do something rash. We simply call, as does most of the table.
ON THE FLOP: 2-K-7
Top pair plus top kicker equals a good bit of confidence. But the man to our right makes a continuation bet of 250. We choose to keep following the leader, and call. Three players remain in the hand.
ON THE TURN: 8
The bettor to our right now checks -- and we decide to step forward, with a bet of 200. But a woman across the table raises to 700. She says she's been at Lil Kim's Cove since 12:00 noon, building a huge chip stack by purchasing drinks. In fact, she tells other players a few minutes after this hand she's "buzzed." So we're leaning toward concluding she's bluffing.
The bettor next to us thinks it over, and folds. That surprises us, but we're committed to that King -- so we call.
ON THE RIVER: 3
There's no threat of a flush on the board, so we still feel confident and say, "500 more." The woman across from us calls.
"I have two pair," she announces. Ouch -- she shows 7-8, proving she knew what she was doing. We wind up losing about 1,900 chips.
That woman topped us again only minutes later, when we both had three 7's; her Ace kicker topped ours. We rallied a bit to win one pot and split two more in the first hour, then "triple up" early in the second hour when 4-4 brought a 4 on the flop. But higher blinds and missed flops did us in -- and finally we went all-in with 9-2 in the big blind and a 9 showing on the flop. But two 4's eventually appeared, and a chip leader had a third to knock us out. We improved to 12th place, but missed the final table.
MINISTRY MOMENT: "Don't tell a lie, or God will strike you dead," a man across from us said during the first hour. This man knows about this ministry, and may have said those words to provoke a response from us.
"I've never seen it happen," the scoffer added. To be honest, neither have we.
"I've read about it, but I've never seen it," we said. We didn't cite the chapter and verse, but we could have done so. It's in the New Testament....
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money that you received for the land?.... You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. - Acts 5:3-5
Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. - Acts 5:11
These members seemed to conclude God was behind the sudden end of this couple. While those were physical deaths, the New Testament adds an even graver warning about lying:
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars -- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. - Revelation 21:7
You may consider the Bible a giant religious bluff -- but these words serve as a warning to all of us. Do you want to take a risk, which could leave you disqualified from eternal life?
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 102 final tables in 279 nights (36.6%) - 16 cashes. Lil Kim's Cove tends to be closed on Thanksgiving, which is next Thursday. Stay tuned to see how we adjust to that.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 175 point wins in 767 games (22.8%), 60 final tables, 7 cashes. We finished fifth in a 71-player tournament Wednesday night, to qualify for the November Seniors Championship.
POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $68,567, up $985. We briefly topped $70,000 Monday night, after several big gains.
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