Poker Night 384: Twos-Third

Monday was the end of a three-day weekend -- not in the U.S., but Australia.  It was their version of Independence Day.  And the current champions of Australian Rules Football came to mind, in one particular hand at The Red Barn....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: 2-2

We've been waiting most of the first hour for a "breakthrough hand" to come.  We started with 7,000 chips, but haven't won a pot so far.  We begin this hand with 5,325 chips, and the smallest of pocket pairs.  No one raises to scare us off, so we call.  Most of the table of seven is in.

ON THE FLOP: 2-7-5

The sight of the 2 coming out first makes us want to give thanks out loud.  But this is poker, of course.  So we wait on a player across from us to bet 200.  When our turn comes, we raise to 1,000 with our three of a kind.

"Look out," a woman to our left warns the table.  She's a Red Barn regular, and knows our tendencies well.  But we say nothing, and watch three players call.  Perhaps that's because the 7 and 5 are hearts.

ON THE TURN: Q (not a heart)

This time the play checks to us, and we show our seriousness by increasing the bet to 1,500.  One man calls.  But then the second man in line raises 1,500 more.  If he has two pair, he's still trailing us -- so with no flush threat showing, we happily call.  So does that first man.

ON THE RIVER: 5

Now we have a full house -- yet something tells us to remain cautious.  Perhaps someone with two pair built a better boat?!

"Here's your chance," the warning woman tells the man who raised on the turn.  "An all-in moment."  But instead, that man checks.

"It's going to be my all-in moment, really," we tell the woman.  We nearly knock over our can of soda as we set out the last 1,125 we have.

The first man in line thinks it over for several seconds, then somewhat reluctantly tosses out chips to call.  The raiser doesn't hesitate, and calls in suit.

"On Australia Day, I have the Sydney Swans," we say as we show.  "A full house."

The best anyone can offer in response is a Queen, for two pair!  Swans a-swimming bring us a massive pot, in the 18,000 range.

We won a couple more pots in the next few minutes -- enough to advance us to 29,500 at the one-hour break.  A couple more came our way in Hour 2, including one with pocket Queens.  We reached a semifinal table high of about 53,000 -- but then lost about 16,000 when our pocket Aces were cracked by a woman with three of a kind.

We hit the brakes after that, primarily due to poor cards.  But we hung around long enough to reach the final table with 19,000 chips.  To our left sat a woman who went on an amazing streak, taking out three opponents in a row with unlikely straights and flushes.  We wound up stopping that streak, going all-in with A-J and getting a Jack on the board to win.

Other players bet big in vain from there, while we remained patient and hung around.  But with five players remaining and a decisive Big Blind approaching, we went all-in again with A-9.  It fell short to a man who made an unlikely pair of 3's, while admittedly trying to quit the game and go home!  He took out another player along with us, leaving us tied for fourth (fifth in Red Barn points).

MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed our bottle of shampoo to a man sitting to our left, and asked if he believed in Jesus.  He said he did.

"What's He done for you lately?" we asked.

The man gave an all-purpose answer about how his life is going -- saying, "I can't complain."

We agreed he shouldn't.  But we noted how difficult that can be.  Yet the Bible reminds us:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.... - Philippians 2:14-15

It's easy to find reasons to complain during a poker game.  The cards you're dealt might be unplayable.  The player on your right may be in the middle of a cell phone call, and distracted from the game.  At one of our tables Monday night, a dealer actually walked away from the table after the flop to get a beer -- leaving it up to others to handle the turn card!

So if you're not supposed to complain about things, what do you do?  Do you simply bite your tongue?  Do you try to find "common ground" with the annoying player, looking for areas where you can agree?  We heard a preacher on Christian radio Monday suggest a potentially better approach....

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. - Ephesians 4:15

We think the apostle Paul actually was discussing the job of ministers, based on the preceding verses.  But you can apply the key phrase in other ways -- "speaking the truth in love."  It's one thing to speak words of truth to someone.  But doing it in love is more challenging.  It goes above insults and shameful correction, to showing concern for the other person.

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. - James 2:8

So give thanks to God, even when the day goes terribly and the "bad beat" comes.  And if someone annoys or offends you at the poker table, let that person know in a loving way.  It should make games go much more peacefully.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 133 final tables in 384 nights (34.6%) - 20 cashes.  This marks our first "back-to-back" top-five showing in live tournaments since mid-November.