So our "spring break" from local tables ended Wednesday night, with a trip to Soho Bar and Grill. Of course, several people there wanted us to cough up chips....
BLINDS: 50/100
IN THE POCKET: Ace of clubs - King of spades
We're in the Big Blind, looking to win our first pot of the night. An early player in the order tests the table, by raising to 800. Since we started with 11,000 chips (thanks to an "on-time bonus" and a purchased soda), this is an affordable risk with big cards. We call; about half the table is in.
ON THE FLOP: As-7s-4c
Top pair + top kicker = nice combination. So we preempt the raiser by betting 500.
"Aces leading," a man to our left says - yet he calls. Another player says it is a test of intestinal fortitude (to use cleaned-up pro wrestling language); he calls as well.
ON THE TURN: 8s
This complicates things, because now three spades are showing. But we have the nuts if another spade comes, so we decide not to slow down. Instead, we increase the bet to 1,000.
"I've got the King of spades," says the man to our left as he calls. He does?! We check our cards again -- but it's an acting job, because we know better. The player to our right calls as well.
ON THE RIVER: 3d
This card seems harmless - but do we slow down now, to test whether an opponent has us beaten? Our decision is no. We bet 1,000 more. The two opponents call again -- with one guessing we have an Ace.
"And you do not have the King of spades," we reveal, "because I do." The pair of Aces top them, and we gain a big pot of about 6,000 chips.
We won a couple more pots in the first hour, to reach the break at 15,950 chips. But we won nothing in the second hour; careful play allowed us to escape with only 2,500. Forced to go all-in after the break with 8-9 in the Big Blind, an 8 on the flop was good enough to win.
But the next time around, 7-8 in the Big Blind was not enough; forced to go all-in again, another 8 fell on the flop. But a 3 on the river gave a woman with 3-3 winning "trips." She eliminated another player along with us -- and a long hard fight at a very competitive room ended with us barely missing the final table, tied for 11th.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Moments after walking inside Soho, a man walked up to us and started shadow-boxing us. We covered up from several of his light blows.
"I'll turn the other cheek, if you want to keep doing that," we told him.
He stopped the punching -- but hopefully gained a Biblical lesson from our example:
You have heard that it was said, "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. - Matthew 5:38-39
Yes, we know -- these words of Jesus go against the common mentality of a poker tournament. The goal is to take all the chips at the table. And a game of poker is a proper place for that. But at other times and places, it's not godly at all. The Lord's disciples had to learn that....
....The people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village. - Luke 9:53-56
Jesus was (and is today) the Son of God. We think He could have called on His Father in heaven personally to send fire. The Lord didn't do it then. Yet later He said this:
I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! - Luke 12:49-50
What sort of fire is this? We think Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit appearing as fire and entering His disciples in Acts 2 -- which only happened after the Lord was crucified and resurrected.
As it happens, Thursday marks the start of a "50 days of nonviolence" campaign. Can you go seven weeks without being violent toward someone? We'd go beyond weapons and fisticuffs, and challenge you to avoid even violent words and writing. Leave the "rough stuff" for a tame place -- such as defending A-K in the Big Blind.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 138 final tables in 400 nights (34.5%) - 21 cashes. We'd normally post an updated statistics page on our live poker action at this point, but we're going to postpone that until next week. When you see it, you'll understand why.
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