Poker Night 371: Lost in the Darkness

"This is Big Dog Poker.  It's not Puppy Girl Poker."  So said the Tournament Director at the one-hour break tonight at Lil Kim's Cove.  A few of us took that as a slap at some female players.  But he may have made a different kind of point.  Sometimes it takes a bit of boldness to win pots - but how much is enough?

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: Q-Q

It's early in the game, and a can of soda combined with an "on-time bonus" gave us 13,000 chips at the start.  We see a high pocket pair and decide to get right to work.  We raise 300 when our turn comes.

"That means he has something," the Director sitting across the table says.  "He's Richard 'Big Dog' Burkard."

That seems a bit of a stretch -- and a player to the Director's right doesn't seem to buy it, either.  He raises 300 more.  We respond with a "four bet," adding 600 on top.  A man to our immediate left calls, as does the raiser.

ON THE FLOP: Qs-6s-5s

There are three spades showing.  But we have three of a kind, and see no reason to slow down.  Acting first, we try to "throw a block" by betting 1,500.  The man to our left isn't scared, and calls.  The man across the table folds.

ON THE TURN: 10s

Aw, c'mon -- a fourth spade?!  Now we have to slow down.  We check, as does our opponent.  If the board will kindly pair for us....

ON THE RIVER: 8s

Of course not.  Instead of a full house, there's a spade flush on the table!  We check again.  The man to our left does as well.

"I had Queens," we admit as we show.  But our opponent has his own surprise -- turning over a 9 of spades.  That gives him a better flush, and a big early pot.

As best we recall, the pot winner's other card was a Jack of hearts.  A couple of players talk with amazement about how he stayed in the hand with relatively nothing.  The lesson for us may be that "boldness"  may need to be expressed a little tougher -- especially when you have thousands of extra chips at your disposal.

That hand set the tone for our night, as the only hand we won came with a pair of Kings at the one-hour break.  We hung around as long as we could, but finally felt compelled to go all-in with Q-10 in the Big Blind.  The board didn't come through for us, and a woman with a 3 made a winning pair.  One day late for 12/12/12, we walked home in 12th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: The bottle of Liquid Paper came out from a long absence for our card protector.  "Are you going to whitewash the cards?" a woman to our right joked.

"I brought this to remind me," we answered, "Jesus can wash my sins whiter than snow."

The woman was a bit skeptical about this.  "I believe Jesus can wash away my sins, but I don't think He can make them whiter than snow.  For one thing, snow isn't really that white."

That condition may depend on where you live.  But even if that's true, it makes what God can do even more amazing....

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.... Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. - Psalm 51:4, 7

These words were written by King David after a pair of very sinful acts.  He committed adultery with a military commander's wife (II Samuel 11:1-4).  Then he ordered the commander sent into the heat of a battle  to die, to disguise making wife Bathsheba pregnant (verses 14-15).  If God can cleanse sins of this nature from a king, he can do the same for you if you pray in repentance:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. - Psalm 51:1

A man overhearing our conversation about snow then asked: "Is it more important that Jesus washes away your sins -- or that you believe Jesus washes away your sins?"

Very good question.  How would you answer it?  Leave a comment, and we'll compare notes in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 129 final tables in 371 nights (34.8%) - 20 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 274 point wins in 1,270 games (21.6%), 86 final tables, 10 wins, 10 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 21 point wins in 75 games (28.0%), 16 final tables, 1 cash win.

We technically made two NLOP final tables today.  In a game which began at 12:00 midnight ET, we finished 6th out of 300.  And an afternoon No-River Hold 'em tournament found us finishing tenth out of 95 players.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $89,758, up $2,361.