BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: 8-6 offsuit
A couple of early tries haven't brought us success. Now we're in the Big Blind, with cards that aren't exactly inspirational. But no one at the table of six raised; in fact, most folded. So we're in a heads-up fight with the Small Blind, and were happy to check.
ON THE FLOP: 9-7-3
These cards give us some hope. But Ms. Small Blind tests it with a bet of 600. Sitting with an open-ended straight draw, we call.
ON THE TURN: A
Considering the flop, an Ace here could freeze the action. Our opponent checks - and for a moment, we consider making a bet in the hope she'll go away. But instead, we check.
ON THE RIVER: 8
We miss the straight, but we have a pair. Is it big enough? Ms. Small Blind offers 600 again. We think she would have bet on the turn, if she had an Ace - so now we consider this a "coin-flip" bet. We call again, hoping we've won what online skeptics call "bingo poker."
"I have two pair," the woman says. Nope, we didn't win - as she played 7-3 to victory! The only good news for us is that we didn't bet more.
We won several pots during the evening, including one when pocket Aces came in the Small Blind. But when play dropped from three tables to two, another big pair came in the Big Blind. We had pocket Jacks, and people raising ahead of us. Knowing the risk of simply calling there, we pushed for 7,200. Both big bettors called - one with A-K, another with K-9. But a King on the flop meant the end for us; we left the table in about 14th place.
MINISTRY MOMENT: We were in a quiet mood tonight, and that didn't work for this part of the game. No one said anything to bring up a point of faith, so we didn't mention God or Jesus at all.
It led us to think as we drove home: what is a real way to "preach the gospel"? It happened that earlier in the day, we reviewed some Bible verses on preaching....
And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the 12 were with him. - Luke 8:1 (KJV)
A classic Christian quote says: "Preach always; use words if necessary." Here Jesus Christ was "preaching and shewing" what other Bible translations call the "good news" - as in gospel. Yet the "shewing" part apparently was added by the King James compilers, to clarify a different Greek word which also means "preach."
We're led to conclude the best way to preach a gospel is to say it clearly. Can you do that simply by being a nice example, doing good works and waiting for someone to ask why you're acting that way? That would be a reactive approach - but we think Jesus wants a proactive approach. For instance....
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." - Mark 16:15
How will people know what the "good news" is, if you don't say to them exactly what it is? That's one of the challenges we face when we try to do ministry at a poker table - and we pray we can do it better.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 176 final tables in 469 games (37.5%) - 33 cashes.
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