Poker Night 377: Yellow-Jackets

One fascinating thing about poker is that you can change your "personality" from night to night.  One of the regulars on the local poker circuit did that tonight at Lil Kim's Cove.  Would we be able to adjust to match him?

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: J-J

The game's about 13 minutes old, and we've had a couple of small misses.  Now we've dealt ourselves a nice pocket pair. But that regular player we mentioned is sitting to our immediate right -- and while he played  cautiously early the night before at Soho Bar and Grill, he's being aggressive tonight.  He raises 2,000.

"I'll humor you," we say to him as we call.

He knows us well enough to assume something.  "If you call, you must have good cards, then."  A man to our left calls, anyway; everyone else at the table of six folds.

"Yellow chip," the bettor says to us as we pick up the deck.  He holds out one, worth 5,000 chips.  We are hereby warned.... apparently.

ON THE FLOP: A-2-3

Not the best-looking flop for us, especially with an Ace involved.  The player to our left checks.

"Check," Mr. Yellow Chip says while still holding it out a bit.  We check as well.

ON THE TURN: 2

We don't really think any of our opponents entered this hand with a 2.  The first player in line checks again.  So does Mr. Yellow Chip.  This makes us more confident.

"One-thousand," we say as we bet.  The man to our left folds.  Will our remaining foe toss out that yellow chip?  No - he simply calls with a black chip.  Um-hmm.

"That's still a yellow chip," we point out to him.  He concurs.

ON THE RIVER: A

Two pair now are showing -- but we suspect if our opponent held an Ace, he would have made a follow-up bet by now.  He seems to verify that by checking again.  But we remain wary, so we check as well.

"Pair of Jacks," we say as we turn the cards over.

"You win," our opponent says quietly.  He never tells us what he had, but we gain about 5,000 chips as a result.

Our chip stack eroded from there, as a couple of big chases failed (including one with two shots at a nut flush).  A pot win in the Big Blind helped us late in the first hour, followed by another at the semifinal table when A-K of spades brought an Ace on the flop.  Despite a big loss minutes later, we endured to the final table with a scant 1,000 chips.

At the final table, we were dealt K-K right away.  Our all-in bet succeeded, and we improved to 4,000 -- but that was barely enough to match the blinds.  So when the next hand brought 6-6, we pushed again.  But this time no help came, and a man with a 9 paired the board to eliminate two players.  We finished tied for eighth, and seventh in a newly-revived Big Dog Poker points system.

MINISTRY MOMENT: A man at our left grabbed our "Jesus as your Savior" coin for a look.  But as an Army veteran, his perspective was different.  We can't recall the exact verb he used, but it was along the lines of hearts needing to be shattered.

"I'm more into love than fighting," we told him.

"But I'm a soldier," he pointed out -- adding during his time in the military, he developed a close friendship with the chaplain.

There's a time to "go to war" during a poker tournament and defend a strong hand.  But that's in a game.  Is that something Christians should do in everyday life?  The guidance of Jesus admittedly is difficult for some people to accept....

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.  But now my kingdom is from another place." - John 18:36

Someone actually did try to fight that arrest, on the night before the Lord's crucifixion:

With that, one of Jesus's companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will due by the sword." - Matthew 26:51-52

But Jesus answered, "No more of this!"  And he touched the man's ear and healed him. - Luke 22:51

A holy, sinless Jesus Christ accepted His arrest, then endured everything that followed over about 18 hours. He knew it had to happen, to fulfill His great purpose:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.... - Ephesians 1:7

Jesus endured the abuse of men so that we might have forgiveness from sin.  Are you willing to accept that incredible example of love in your life?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 131 final tables in 377 nights (34.7%) - 20 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 279 point wins in 1,306 games (21.4%), 89 final tables, 10 wins, 11 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 21 point wins in 82 games (25.6%), 16 final tables, 1 cash win.

It was a big week at NLOP: third place out of 310 players late Sunday night, fifth out of 245 Monday afternoon, then sixth out of 302 players late Tuesday night.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $91,171, up $1,648.