Poker Night 368: Call Me Fiscal Cliff

The issue of the moment in Washington politics is how to avoid a so-called "fiscal cliff" at the turn of the year.  In the world of no-limit poker, dangerous cliffs and decisions can lurk around the very next turn.  We encountered a couple of them tonight at The Red Barn -- and to borrow from Abraham in Genesis 22, we hoped the Lord would provide.

BLINDS: 1,000/2,000

IN THE POCKET: J-K offsuit

We've barely taken a seat at the semifinal table.  And we're barely in the game, having won nothing since the opening hand.  More than an hour later, we have 2,000 chips - and now we're in the Big Blind, so we're forced to move all-in from the "get-go."  In fact, we don't even look at our cards until the flop is shown.  One man across from us raised 5,000 pre-flop and received callers.

ON THE FLOP: J-Q-5

Now we look - and now we have a ray of hope.  But the man across from us decides to go all-in himself.  The other player in the hand quietly folds.

"He's just acting like a tough guy," the dealer says.  As the dealer grumbles about a player bullying his way to a pot, he turns over the flop cards for the next hand.

"No, wait!" we quickly remind him.  "I'm all-in."  The dealer forgot about us!  The flop is flipped back to face-up, and the hand goes on:

ON THE TURN: 8 (may not be precise)

There's no reason to delay....

ON THE RIVER: 6 (may not be precise)

Now it's our turn to flip over cards.  "Jacks with a King," we say.

The big bettor shows a Jack of his own - but with a 3!  We escape with the main pot, and recover to 10,000 chips.

A similar break came our way at the end of the second hour.  Forced all-in again in the Small Blind, J-5 again wound up bringing a Jack on the flop.  Two other men couldn't top it, so we survived to Hour Three with the minimum 5,000 chips.

But the run ended there, as Jc-2d in the Big Blind (forced all-in once more) lost to a club flush another player made on the flop.  One more club would have saved us - but instead we barely missed the final table, finishing in tenth place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: A little bandage puzzled a couple of players at our table tonight.  They wondered what this card protector could be about.

"It reminds me God is a healer," we explained.  "He can heal our hurts."

We happened to be wearing a couple of bandages as we said that.  We tripped and fell on the sidewalk while jogging downtown in the last four days -- not once, but twice.  We have wounds on both elbows, both knees and both hands.  But the Old Testament offers these words:

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. - Isaiah 53:5

This is a prophecy about the coming of Jesus, who was punished with everything from a beating and scourging to crucifixion.  The Lord accepted it all, to pay a penalty on our behalf.  Some believers take the "wounds" part to mean they can have physical healing from God.  But it seems safe to say the focus is on spiritual healing....

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that e might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. - I Peter 2:24

Whether we live a life of perfect health or endure decades of disease, all humans are destined to die.  The only way to be "healed" of that is to be resurrected by God.

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.... The last enemy to be destroyed is death. - I Corinthians 15:22, 26

As some ministers like to put it: God is our only hope of getting out of this life alive.  Is He your hope?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 128 final tables in 368 nights (34.8%) - 20 cashes.  Had we reached the final table tonight, the percentage would have climbed back above 35.