The price of poker must be going up everywhere -- because as of tonight, a 12-ounce can of big-name soda cost $2.50 at Lil Kim's Cove instead of two dollars. The server gave us less change for a 20-dollar bill without any explanation. But she also gave us 4,000 poker chips as a reward, and this was a night when we needed them.
BLINDS: 50/100
IN THE POCKET: K-K
Our table of six is playing like we're in Zimbabwe, not the U.S. Hyperinflated raises in the thousands have abounded. So when we see this sitting third in the betting order, we're ready to move -- but realize others want to move first. So we limp in, and are a bit surprised when nobody raises pre-flop; most of the table is in.
ON THE FLOP: 2-5-J
The table checks ahead of us -- but with a nice overpair, we reach for chips.
"Your Jack is no good," a man to our immediate left warns.
"OK, then -- 700," we say (not bothering to mention we don't have a Jack).
"That's peanuts to the elephants." that man points out. Yeah, we know. But it's also a relatively modest bet for this night, and we'd like some callers. About three players call.
ON THE TURN: A
Oops. This is potential trouble. But the table checks again -- and this time, so do we.
ON THE RIVER: Ac
This complicates matters, by putting three clubs on the board. But once more the players ahead of us check -- so we feel somewhat confident, and bet 700 again.
"Do you have a Jack?" the man to our left asks. We stare back at him and say nothing -- so he decides to fold. Only the player to our immediate right calls.
"Do you have an Ace?" we now ask. "Because I have Kings."
"Naw -- all I had is a Jack." Thank you very much! Our stack jumps from the 5,000 range to more than 9,000.
We took another pot later to improve to 10,075. But chases fell short after that, and we only took 2,150 to the one-hour break. A former tournament director graciously gave us 3,000 bonus chips in the second hour (apparently because he had to leave) -- and we went for it all when we saw A-2 of diamonds, with a bigger stack all-in ahead of us. He had 4-4, and he won the race when the board didn't pair. We left in 18th place.
MINISTRY MOMENT: A man at our table ordered a grilled cheese sandwich during the one-hour break -- but was stunned to take a bite, and discover there was ham included with the cheese.
"They're trying to poison me!" the man said amid expletives. "I don't eat pork!"
"I don't eat pork, either," we replied. But then we wanted to probe a little further. "Why don't you eat pork? For religious reasons?"
"Both," the man curiously answered. "Health reasons -- and I had a bad reaction to pork once."
We're in a part of the U.S. where pork products are all over the menu, from breakfast biscuits to barbecue restaurants. So this situation sparked a discussion.
"I read in a book once you shouldn't eat pork," we said.
"What book is that?" a man across the table asked.
"The Bible."
"Yeah, it's in the Bible," agreed the man who ordered the sandwich.
"Yeah -- but you've got to read deeper into the Bible," explained the man across from us. "You've got to read Amos."
Amos?!?! That man didn't explain any further -- and we admittedly don't take a Bible to poker nights.
"Now I know what to study when I get home," we said to a man next to us. And we invite you to study this topic with us. Where in the Bible are we warned against eating pork? And where in Amos will you find the other side of the issue? We'll compare notes in a future post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 106 final tables in 293 nights (36.2%) - 17 cashes.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments -- 191 point wins in 824 games (23.2%), 66 final tables, 7 cashes.
We were in the running for a final table earlier in the day, but our McAfee computer security system started a weekly scan which froze our browser for about 15 minutes -- and inactivity gets you disqualified at ten minutes. Our frustration with McAfee continues.
POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $74,198, up $2,830.
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