Poker Night 309: Better Read Than Dead

You may have heard the line about "guys who can't commit."  In poker, commitment sometimes gets rewarded handsomely -- and sometimes blows up in your face.  Look at what happened tonight at Lil Kim's Cove....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: J-10 offsuit

We started the evening with 7,000 chips, and have slowly dwindled from there.  We actually had J-10 on the last hand, and we made top pair on the flop.  But we lost to a man who stuck around with 2-3, and made two pair on the river.  Hopefully that won't happen again, so we're ready to call with 4,400 chips left.  But a man to our right with a huge stack raises to 400.  With insistence, we call -- and four players from a table of six are in.

ON THE FLOP: J-9-7

Aha - top pair again!  The man who raised before makes a continuation bet (we suspect) of 1,000, and we're perfectly happy to tag along.  In fact, everyone calls.

ON THE TURN: K

Ugh.  We didn't really want to see that.  And to make things worse, the bettor now tosses out 2,000.  We have 3,000 left, so we think about this a moment.  Has be been betting all along because he has something - or because he has nothing?

"I'll call," we decide somewhat reluctantly.  We conclude the man is making a "go away" bluff bet to claim the pot.  The other two players don't seem to agree; they fold.

ON THE RIVER: 3

Our opponent looks at our "stack" -- in quotes, because we have one chip worth 1,000 left.  That's it.  He tosses a black chip out to match it.

"I've committed this far," we say, "so I'll call.  I'm all in.  I've got a pair of Jacks."

Too bad.  Our opponent shows A-K.

Our reasoning was right when it came to the flop, as we were leading then.  But he caught a winning card on the turn, which changed everything.  Our reading skills (assuming we have any) went bad, and we were out first at our table.

MINISTRY MOMENT: That man with a big stack also fell short in the prior hand, losing to the 2's and 3's.  "The river giveth, and the river taketh away," he said.

Hey - that sounds familiar.  "Blessed be the name of the Lord," we say in response.  We don't think he expected that.  So we decided to follow up with it a bit.  "Who said that quote?"

"The Bible," a woman said with a who-cares tone to her voice.

"Yes - but who in the Bible?"

"Jesus," a man guessed.  No....

"John?" the woman guessed.

"You're close, in a way," we said.  Then we offered the answer.  "It was Job." (Job 1:21)

A man at one end of the table recognized that name.  "Yeah, because God took everything from him -- then gave it back to him later."

Welllll.... is it really fair to say God took everything from Job?  Let's check the record:

"Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied.... "But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."  The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." - Job 1:9, 11-12

Notice God did not instruct Satan to take everything away from Job!  The statement in verse 12 is open-ended.  Satan might say God granted permission to do it, but Satan didn't have to do it.  The devil made that choice - a mean-spirited and deadly choice, as the rest of Job 1 shows.

We blogged about this incident last week, and said we wouldn't give away the ending.  But since that other player mentioned it....

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.... The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. - Job 42:10, 12

So yes, God brought Job back to prosperity.  But did you notice what happened first?  It came after Job prayed for others - in this case, three friends who kept giving him lousy advice about his predicament.  Is there someone in your life who needs your prayers?  Maybe even someone who's made your life a little miserable?

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. - Matthew 5:44-45

We have to confess - we don't follow this instruction of Jesus anywhere close to enough.  We don't pray for the poker players who make fun of our efforts.  We plan to do that more.  Who knows what blessings might come from it - for everyone?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 109 final tables in 309 nights (35.3%) - 17 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 216 point wins in 910 games (22.6%), 71 final tables, 7 cashes plus one non-cash win. No-River Hold 'em - 5 point wins in 20 games (25%), 4 final tables, 1 cash.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - CORRECTED: $71,007, down $6,060.  Suffice to say: not a good week all around.