Poker Day 430: Give Me Five

Our calendar doesn't show this to be a week with a Monday holiday.  But it apparently was for a lot of people in the Kansas City area.  Either that, or we aren't the only ones taking vacation this week.

We traveled to Hollywood Casino for its big weekly Monday noon tournament, showed up 20 minutes early -- and found ourselves the seventh alternate in a 70-player field.  A large group of players waited outside the poker room as the tournament began, waiting apparently for an extra dealer to arrive.

We were ready to withdraw our name after one round of blinds, and try making money elsewhere in the casino.  But at two minutes left in the first round, ten names flashed and our table opened.  Would a little patience be a good thing?

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: Q-Q

Well, it looks like it could be!  It's our fifth hand at the table.  We folded the first three and got nowhere with the Big Blind in the fourth.  Now we have the Small Blind -- but long before our turn comes, the pot starts boiling.  The leadoff man raises to 600.  A player to our right re-raises to 2,200.  Then we look at our big pocket pair and choose to "smooth call," as the pros like to say.

But no -- the leadoff man goes chunky, and makes a "four bet" of 9,000.  We started with 7,500 (admittedly not taking 2,500 extra chips by giving the dealer a five-dollar "appreciation" chip).  So we face an all-in decision in the first real hand we play!

The man to our right ponders, then folds.  Now we ponder, only out loud.  "I can't in good conscience get rid of these cards," we say to the leadoff man.  "So I'll call."

We show our Queens.  He shows "big slick" A-K.  We feared something like A-A or K-K, so we feel good about this.  But he has six outs...

ON THE FLOP: K-J-8

....and he hits one right away.  Our opponent now has top pair.  Other players at the table say "ouch" in our behalf.  The man who re-raised and folded curses.  We'll get back to him.  Right now, we need serious help.

ON THE TURN: 10

Could this be it?  Suddenly there's an open-ended straight draw -- but the dealer isn't waiting around for us to speculate.

ON THE RIVER: 7

For the second day in a row, a big pocket pair is our undoing.  And the re-raiser is more upset than we are -- because he admits folding J-J!  He would have made three of a kind, winning everything.

Our $65 buy-in fee gets us five hands of poker, and a lowly finish in around 80th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We won back a little of our money in a short blackjack session.  And as we did, we showed a young man our Lord's Supper card protector (something you don't really need to use at a blackjack table).

"What do you think of Jesus?" we asked him.  "Is He your Savior?"

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure," he answered thoughtfully.

"What would it take for you to be sure?"

"Some miracles, maybe."

Are you like this man -- looking for something spectacular or unusual to prove God and Jesus are legitimate?  If so, you're not alone....

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom. - I Corinthians 1:22

Yet Jesus showed great wisdom in many of His statements and actions while on Earth.  For an example, read on your own how Christ responded to demands about a woman supposedly caught in adultery (John 8:3-11).  And as for signs....

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive our demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. - Mark 16:17-18

We happen to know of church groups where the "signs" mentioned above have occurred.  They're not necessarily big megachurch groups with multiple weekend telecasts.  But demons have fled and amazing healing has happened.

We told the man miracles happen all the time, if we have eyes to see them.    We pray God brings him to see those things.  In the meantime, consider one other sign Jesus mentioned:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. - Matthew 12:40

The Bible declares after three days, Jesus rose from the dead and was seen by many people (Acts 10:40-41).  Will you accept these signs - and the God who makes them possible?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 151 final tables in 430 games (35.1%) - 25 cashes.