Poker Night 296: Honor Among Thieves?

A change in plans (or better put, a change in employment status) allowed us to play Monday night poker tonight at The Red Barn.  It was our first trip there since 31 October 11 -- and more notably, our first trip since a late-night homicide across the street.  Sadly, the lighting in the parking lot has not improved since then.  But thankfully, all was quiet tonight both inside and outside.  The only "criminal misconduct" was at the poker table....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: 8-8

We won a meaty early pot when A-J of clubs turned into the "nut flush."  So we have about 14,000 chips -- and when a player ahead of us raises to 2,000, we're not that scared.  We call with a pocket pair, and join four other players in the action.

ON THE FLOP: K-Q-10

Big cards which make our pair look rather small.  But the table checks.

ON THE TURN: 6

If anyone bets, we're probably bailing out.  But the table checks again.

ON THE RIVER: 4

Two players in front of us check -- and in the words of Ali Nejad on the returning-from-the-dead Poker After Dark, we decide to take a stab at the pot.  We bet 800.  Three players fold, leaving only the man to our immediate right.

"Raise," he says quietly.  And holding a large stack of chips, the raise is 10,000 -- not enough to put us all-in, but enough to disable us for the balance of the night.

So how do we react?  We actually laugh out loud for a moment, and conclude he's been "playing possum" with big cards -- waiting for someone to grab for the pot.

"I tried to take third, and was caught trying to steal," we say as we fold without showing our cards.

Then the pot-winner does something surprising.  Without saying a word, he turns over his cards -- a lowly 2-7!

There was no sign of a flush.  But he clearly determined our "stab" was a weak one (even at twice the blind), so he made a huge raise to bully us away.  At least one other player at the table rightly declared it "robbery" -- but with only the fourth-best pair to the board, we didn't dare call.

The nut flush with clubs turned out to be the only hand we won all night.  But with plenty of wise folding and only about 20 players in the tournament, that was enough to take us to the final table with 5,000 chips.  We eventually had to go for broke, and we did with Q-J of clubs -- but another player made two pair to top us. Our evening ended with a rather satisfying seventh place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "I'm getting a new tattoo," the Tournament Director told us at the final table.  He already has several on his arms.

"I thought your skin was OK the way it was in the first place," we said quietly -- so quiet that we're not sure he heard it.  Then the Director grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote out the two words of his tattoo: laus deo.


"Deo is God," we said recalling our high school Latin class and college choir performances of requiems.  "Laus is.... praise and honor!?"

"It means 'praise to God,'" the Director said.

Would you be surprised to learn we have some reservations about this approach?  We do, and we'll explain why in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 108 final tables in 296 nights (36.5%) - 17 cashes.  We may be able to play live tournaments two nights a week for a while.