BLINDS: 25/25
IN THE POCKET: Q-10 offsuit
We're only about five hands in. We had weak cards in a round of blinds, and didn't last beyond the flop. Now we're on the button, and a player ahead of us has raised to 150. With hardly any hands reaching showdown, we decide to call with fairly decent cards. About half the table is in. We should note the woman two seats to our right lost the King of diamonds to a misdeal.
ON THE FLOP: 10-7-2
Top pair seems nice - but what if the raiser has a higher pair? That man makes a continuation bet of 150. We could raise, but decide to cautiously tag along and call. So does that woman to our right.
ON THE TURN: 10
Jackpot! A third 10 can mean a big gain. The early raiser now tries 200 - but before we can raise, the woman to our right goes up to 750. Hmmmm. We'll keep tagging along, then. We call the 750. The man who bet first smells the coffee properly and folds, so we're heads-up.
ON THE RIVER: J
That woman doesn't waste any time thinking about what to do. She reaches for her stack of chips, and sets all of them out. She has 2,400, the same amount we do. So we suddenly face a big decision.
"I know what you don't have," we say as we pound our chips into the table. Translation: it's not a King of diamonds. But she says nothing, gives no clues - and we're not sure exactly what she does have.
After a moment, we conclude based on the lack of showdowns that she could be bluffing - trying to push a relative newcomer off a big pot. Maybe she has A-K. Maybe she does have the third 10, but with a weak kicker.
"If I'm wrong, I'm wrong," we admit. "But I'm going to call."
When we do, she turns over.... 10-J! She did have that missing 10, but hit the river for a full house and made the real jackpot.
"Thank you for not making me play that King," she says to the dealer. (Of course, 10-K still would have topped us.)
We walked around the casino, first out at our table, pondering what we did wrong. If we didn't have the absolute best hand, we probably shouldn't have risked it all so early. Our opponent did.... and so she did. But poker rooms can have big bluffers, too. Clearly we misread her intentions, and had to go play blackjack to reclaim some of our $50 buy-in.
MINISTRY MOMENT: We were in and out of the game so fast that we didn't really have one. But on the way home, we stopped for a big soda at a convenience store and heard a familiar song.
"I recognize that song," we said.
"I listen to it all the time," the woman behind the counter said. She had the radio on a "contemporary Christian" station - one of several available in our city. We know some people who dismiss those stations as not being truly Christian. But what is the standard for good, godly music, anyway?
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals... - Psalm 150:3-5
Some groups say this is the list of Biblically-approved instruments, and you can't add any more (such as drums). But is that missing the bigger point of this psalm? It's all about praising God, by any means necessary. And oh yes - did you notice dancing on that list?
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. - Psalm 150:6
You may have your own standard for "good music." We personally listen to a variety of styles, even when it comes to religious music. .But when it comes to religious music, we think it's important to be true to the word of God.
In fact, some ministers describe the psalms as "God's hymn book" - and a lot of great music of many genres has come from there. It might even make for good inspiration on your headphones at a poker table. So please leave a comment and join the discussion - what sort of music inspires you, at poker rooms and otherwise?
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 176 final tables in 468 games (37.6%) - 33 cashes.
No comments:
Post a Comment