Poker Night 325: Error Apparent

At a casino or official poker room, the house provides a dealer who serves as "referee" over the hands.  At free tournaments in bars, every player shuffles and deals -- and the players normally watch how the cards play out.  But what happened tonight at Lil Kim's Cove was a little different.  See if you can figure out why....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: A-9 offsuit

We won the first pot of the evening, but haven't had a lot to play since then.  We start this hand with about 4,850 chips, and decide to give this potential big hand a try.  We're helped by the fact that no one at the table of six raises.

ON THE FLOP: A-K-Q

An Ace is exactly what we want to see -- but the face cards for a possible straight are potential trouble.  Two players check to us, and we toss out 1,000.  This seems to surprise a man to our immediate left; he hesitates, then calls.  A couple of other players call as well.

ON THE TURN: A

A third Ace means it's time for a big move.  But a man across the table moves first, offering his own bet of 1,000.  The men between us fold.

"I'm all-in," we declare -- and count out 2,450 chips left.  Players to our left bail out, leaving the man who bet originally.  We have him covered, as he calls with 575 left.

"Do you have an Ace?" we ask.  It turns out he does -- A-10.  "Ooooo," we say as we flip over A-9.  "I need...."

ON THE RIVER: 3h

The other man's 10 tops our 9.  He takes the pot, and we take a big loss.  We get out our notepad and scribble it all down, to report here.

But wait a minute -- did you spot the problem with that hand?  Not in how we played, but the hand overall?  Minutes later during the one-hour break, it suddenly occurs to us.


"Wasn't there King-Queen on the board on that big hand?" we say.  None of the players who folded seem to remember.  The man who won the hand says something we can't quite hear; we don't think he remembers, either.


"The King and Queen should have played, so we should have split that pot," we note.  But there's no video replay at a bar, short of requesting tape from all the hidden security cameras -- and about ten minutes after the fact, it's far too late to change the outcome.

We'll have to take the blame in this case.  We somehow overlooked the face cards in plain sight, which would have saved us thousands of chips.  But really, the entire table shares the blame for this blunder.  No one spoke up about the mistake; it apparently went past everyone.

We hoped to recover from that error in the second hour, but all we had at our disposal was 1,500 chips.  Forced to go all-in for the Small Blind with 9-8, our cards paired at the river.  But 3-10-3 also appeared, and a man with a 10 topped our two pair.  A big lack of attention on our part helped send us home early, in 21st place.  We'll have more to say about this in another post.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "That's your lucky rock," quipped the man at our left as we set it on the table tonight.  Well, not really; it's a simple ordinary rock we found in our driveway the other day.  But it gave us an idea for a card protector -- and a conversation.


"I brought it to remind me," we said, "God is my rock and my salvation.  Is He your rock and salvation?"


"Yeah," the man answered.  "Always."


God is referred to as a "rock" several times in the Bible -- but why?  Let's check an Old Testament song for some clues:

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. - Deuteronomy 32:4

Some might call this the original "rock song," as Moses calls God a "rock" four times in this chapter.  Note the descriptive adjectives: perfect, just, faithful, upright.  We might compare God nowadays to being "rock solid" - trustworthy and unchanging.


But our reference at the poker table actually came from another Biblical song:

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. - Psalm 95:1

Hiding behind large physical rocks might protect you from pursuing criminals, or thaw you out on a windy winter day.  But the Bible shows salvation and eternal life only can come from an even greater Rock.  Are you counting on God to provide those blessings -- and committing your life to Him as a result?


UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 115 final tables in 325 nights (35.4%) - 17 cashes.


NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 239 point wins in 1,003 games (23.8%), 76 final tables, 7 cashes plus 2 other wins.  Another monthly "championship week" is on its way next week.


POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $78,564, down $227.