Poker Night 381: Te'o-ing?

"So the question of the night is this," we said as we shuffled the cards for dealing at Lil Kim's Cove tonight.  "Who would make a better bluffer at a poker table - Lance Armstrong or Manti Te'o?"

The Tournament Director standing over our table was the only one who offered a comment.  He chose Armstrong, because the cyclist lied about using performance-enhancing drugs for years.

In local poker games, we've never seen any drugs passed or received offers of any.  In fact, the only "illicit substances" we face are tobacco and alcohol -- and we don't think the latter really enhances your play at all.  But bluffing?  That can happen anytime, from anybody....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: A-J offsuit

We won one early pot and split another, bringing us to this hand at about 12,000 chips.  These are nice cards, but at this table of seven with occasional raising we don't see a need to hurry here.  We call, and no one raises.

ON THE FLOP: 8c-5c-5s

This "toll-free flop" doesn't seem to thrill anyone.  The play checks to us, so we try a "please get lost" bluff bet of 400.  It runs most of the table off, but two men call.

ON THE TURN: 8s

Two pair on the table makes things intriguing.  A man wearing lots of orange stares at us for a couple of seconds.  We stare back.  He checks.  We're not sure what's up here, but we realize he might have a full house.  We also realize if he doesn't, we have the top kicker.  We also check; so does the third man.

ON THE RIVER: 7c

A third club on the board complicates matters, especially a mid-range card.  The Orangeman (who says his trim is black, as opposed to Syracuse University's blue) pulls out 3,000.

"No one's going to call that, man," a player out of the hand says.  "You bet too much."

"Someone's going to call it," the bettor insists.

"Well, it's not going to be me," we say.  There are too many potential hands which top our Ace kicker, so we fold.

"It's not going to be me, either," the third man says.  He also folds.

The pot winner then shows his cards -- Q-6 offsuit!  His bigger bluff worked, where our modest bet on the flop did not.

We scored a big pot at the one-hour break with two pair to jump to 10,500.  But the Orangeman outplayed us again after the break, not once but twice.  First we limped in "under the gun" with pocket Aces, hoping for a big score -- but two Queens came on the flop, and he held a third.  His betting and our calling dropped us to the minimum 500.

Then forced to go all-in at the Big Blind with 4-6, a 4 landed on the river.  But this time, the Orangeman held the pocket Aces.  Our best-laid plans might as well have been tossed in a juicer; we finished 20th, and became the first elimination at our table.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We don't remember what cards came out, but one early flop made a young man to our right say, "Oh!  Lord!  Jesus!  Have mercy!"

"Jesus is a merciful Being, isn't He?" we said to the man -- and he sounded like he agreed with that.

Have you ever had the notion that God the Father is a mean "law enforcement officer", while Jesus the Son is loving and merciful?  That idea isn't really accurate.  Find a Bible, and check a few verses which show why....

For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath. - Deuteronomy 4:31

 These are words from the "farewell address" of Moses to the nation of Israel.  Even though he saw God punish many people with death (read Exodus 32 for one example), he still called God merciful.  But Who was this God that communicated with Moses, anyway?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. - John 1:1-2

Verse 14 explains this "Word" walked the Earth as Jesus Christ, but was eternal in origin.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.  They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea... they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. - I Corinthians 10:1-4

Do you grasp what the apostle Paul is saying?  Jesus was with Moses and the nation of Israel during their wandering in the wilderness!  We can conclude from this that the "God" who interacted with Moses was God the Son, who became Jesus.

So if Jesus was merciful thousands of years before appearing in the flesh, why would He be any different in the New Testament?

On hearing this, Jesus said.... "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'...." - Matthew 9:12-13

If you have questions about this, read our complete Bible study about the subject of mercy.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 131 final tables in 381 nights (34.4%) - 20 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 280 point wins in 1,321 games (21.2%), 90 final tables, 11 cashes, 10 wins.  No-River Hold 'em - 22 point wins in 87 games (25.3%), 17 final tables, 1 cash win.

A change of computers reduced our online action in the last week.  But we finished eighth in a 324-player late-night tournament early Wednesday, after placing ninth out of 111 in a No-River Hold 'em game last Friday.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $86,394, down $3,200.