Monday, February 13, 2012

Poker Night 292: Two Too Many

Combine a 50-percent discount at a sports bar with a big college basketball rivalry on TV, and you have an entertaining evening.  Add a poker tournament to that, and it's a trifecta for us.  So we visited The Sports Page tonight for our first Monday night game in several months.

Except.... the discount didn't really happen, because there were conditions not shown on the discount form.  And the poker tournament?  Well....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: 5-4 of clubs

We're in the small blind, and have just been rewarded with 4,000 bonus chips for buying dinner before the game.  Since we haven't won a pot yet, we're ready to rumble a little -- but small suited connectors don't seem fit for raising.  Thankfully, we don't have to do it.  No one raises; about two-thirds of the full table is in.

ON THE FLOP: J-5-J

We don't see any clubs -- but we see an opportunity to break out here with two pair.  We offer an enticement bet of 400.  Several players take the hint -- and fold.  Only one man across from us calls.

ON THE TURN: 9

We have one opponent, and we're admittedly wary of him.  Is he hiding a third Jack?  We check, and he bets 1,000.  Holding out hope for a full house on the river, we dare to call.

ON THE RIVER: 9

The last thing we want to see is a second pair on the board.  We check again.  Our opponent bets 2,000, and we fold in a hurry -- because our "second pair" of 5's is now only third-best.  Too many cards beat us.

We admittedly played a bit on the loose side tonight, hoping to win a lot of chases.  But we didn't -- and holding As-10c minutes later, we went all-in for our last 2,000 when an all-spades flop came out including 7-8.  The turn was 9c, giving us a lot of outs for a flush and a straight draw.  The river was Ah, giving us top pair -- but an opponent playing live poker for the very first time had A-9, and his two pair beat us.  Our night ended in about 45 minutes, first out at the table.  But we went home with our alma mater well ahead at halftime.

MINISTRY MOMENT: No smoking is allowed in the main restaurant at The Sports Page.  That's good news for us -- and for another player at the table who doesn't smoke.  "I have one life to live," he said.

"But there's something after that!" we tried to tell him.  We don't think he heard us.  But here's what we meant....

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.... - Hebrews 9:27 (NASB)

If Jesus doesn't come back before you die -- well, you're going to die.  But the Bible indicates that's not all there is:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. - II Corinthians 5:10

We write this two days after the death of singing star Whitney Houston.  Some people are convinced she's in heaven now.  We're leaving that decision on "judgment" up to Jesus -- and to be honest, we don't think that decision has happened yet.  We'll explain why in our next post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 106 final tables in 292 nights (36.3%) - 17 cashes.


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