Poker Night 297: A Step Too Slow

The problem with being sneaky in poker is that the best-laid plans sometimes seem to blow up in your face.  That's when you have to make an unexpectedly huge decision.  Check what happened tonight at Lil Kim's Cove....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: A-A

Wow -- pocket rockets early in the game!  We have about 5,900 chips, and sit third in the betting order.  But we decide to follow a familiar tactic for us: limp early, bet late.  We simply call with this big hand, waiting to see if anyone raises.  No one does, and almost the entire table is in.

ON THE FLOP: Q-J-10

Plenty of meat to make a "straight sandwich" -- and potential trouble for us.  The big blind apparently notices that, and tosses out a bet of 4,000!  On top of that, the man next to her calls!  Feelings of optimism quickly turn to queasiness, as we face that huge decision.  Did these players make two pair?  Do they only have one pair, and are trying to run the "chasers" away?

"I'll call," we finally say with admitted uneasiness.  At this point, we'd rather see a King than another Ace.

ON THE TURN: 4

"I'm all in," the big blind declares -- and she sits with more than 20,000 chips.

"I'm all in," the man to her left repeats -- and we have to think about this a moment.  If one player pushes, it might well be a bluff.  But if two players push, that leads us to conclude one of them has something big -- and our "rockets" might as well be cigarettes.

"I'm gonna fold," we finally say with a stunned expression.  So does the rest of the table.  It's a potentially huge moment -- but both big bettors turn over 9-8!  They hit the same straight on the flop....

ON THE RIVER: 6 (as best we recall)

So they wind up splitting the pot.  And we indeed were wise to fold.  But it meant a big loss of chips, down to 1,875.

"That's what happens when you slow-play Aces," one of the pot winners tells us.  He suggests he would have folded if we had raised.  The woman who bet first never responds to that comment, so the loss still might have happened.  But we tried to lure in opponents for a big gain -- only to pay dearly for it.

We rallied a few minutes later by going all-in on the flop with A-J, and tripling our stack.  Then at the start of the second hour, A-K brought another big gain to 10,000.  But with the blinds rising rapidly, we tried going all in again with K-Q of clubs -- only to lose to two pair.  Our two-night streak of final table appearances ended, with a 16th-place finish.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Pay attention, dealer!" a man at the other end of the table said to us when we didn't notice a player had called in one hand.  We quickly responded by proceeding with the hand.

Then several minutes later, that man was dealing -- and he cleared away and mixed in folded cards, not realizing a river card still had to be dealt because two players remained in the hand.  We responded to that.... by saying nothing.

Sometimes keeping your mouth shut can be as much of a Christian witness as giving a long sermon.  Consider:

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.... When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. - I Peter 2:21, 23

As an old spiritual song puts it: "They nailed Him to the tree, and He never said a mumblin' word."  Jesus did say several things during His crucifixion -- but the people who expected Him to call down Elijah or ask for the Father's intervention were left disappointed.

Jesus went through all of it to pay the penalty of sin for all humans.  And in the process, the Savior practiced what He preached....

But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right check, turn to him the other also. - Matthew 5:39

That's admittedly hard for anyone to do -- whether you're running for political office or hearing "trash talk" in sports.  But at a poker table, it actually might be a little easier.  Players aren't likely to say much, anyway -- because they might tip off other players to something.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 108 final tables in 297 nights (36.4%) - 17 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 192 point wins in 838 games (22.9%), 66 final tables, 7 cashes.  Our plans to reduce online play in March had a sudden change this week.  We lost a full-time job, so now we have a lot more time to play between work searches.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $75,597, up $1,210.