Poker Day 415: One Card Too Many?

Even though the name has changed, the first Sunday of every month remains the "Big Sunday" at River City Poker Room -- with a $50 buy-in, and a shot at a $1,000 top prize.  Still stinging over our big casino loss, we wondered if this might be a "third chance" to refill our envelope.  Tests would come early, even though blinds were lengthy and small at first:

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: Q-5 of clubs (suit may not be precise)

The tables are full, but the action at ours has been relatively tight so far.  We've tried to be active and play sensible hands, but our starting start of 20,000 has dropped by about 3,000.  Our notes don't show the suit of these cards -- but we assume they were suited, because we'd like to get in for the minimum in the Dealer position.  Except a woman in the Big Blind raises to 700.

"You realize it's only 200," we jokingly suggest.

"She wants your 200," the man in the Small Blind answers in her behalf.  Clearly.  So we call, and about half the table is in.

"Now she wants your 700," Mr. Small Blind notes.

ON THE FLOP: Q-5-3

She may want it, but this flop could make it hard to get it.  We have top two pair.  The table checks, but we don't.

"All right, then, we say - and bet 1,000.  The woman folds -- but then comes a surprise from a man across the table.  He raises all the way to 5,000.  This gives us a pause.  But we conclude he only has one pair - certainly not something like 3-3.  We call.  Everyone else steps aside.

ON THE TURN: 4

There's no flush threat showing.  But our opponent now fires again, betting 5,000 more.  Now we're concluding he has pocket Aces.  But if he does, we're still ahead.  It's a "lump in your throat" moment, but we call this big bet again.

ON THE RIVER: 2

This is absolutely the last thing we want to see.  If our opponent has an Ace, he just hit a straight -- and if he bets big again, we might face an early all-in moment of truth.

He thinks for a moment, then does something which happily surprises us.  He checks.  We check as well.

"Two pair," he says -- showing 2-4.  He made running pairs, but misses the open-ended straight draw.  We show our Q-5, and are thankful!  The lack of an Ace wins us a huge pot -- and we're well above the starting line, at 28,100 chips.

Our day went up and down that way -- a few good pot wins, a few losses.  The wins outnumbered the losses to the point that we reached a high of 52,000 chips.  But rising blinds and shrinking tables eventually did us in.  After a couple of all-in escapes, we tried again with A-10 -- but ran into Q-Q.  The board didn't save us, and we finished close to the semifinal table in 18th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: A-K in the Big Blind brought us a "double-up" late in the tournament, which kept us around a few extra minutes.

"PTL!  I'd write if I was online right now," we said to the table.

"What does PTL mean?" the dealer asked.  We're glad she asked.

"Praise the Lord," we said.

Look through the Psalms of the Bible, and you'll find all sorts of reasons to praise God.  For instance:

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. - Psalm 16:7

Uh-oh -- we have to treat this verse with care.  God can provide counsel, if we study His Word and listen carefully to people who preach and teach it.  But what about David's heart in this case?

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? - Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)

We think Jeremiah is speaking in general terms here about the human condition.  So should David have followed the instruction of his heart?  Not always -- because at times he committed serious sinful mistakes, such as lusting after another man's wife and having that man killed to claim her as his own (II Samuel 11).

So how do you know when your heart is talking, as opposed to the counsel of God?  This can matter at poker tables, as well as other places.  Offer a comment if you'd like; we'll look at this more deeply in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 145 final tables in 415 games (34.9%) - 24 cashes.