Poker Day 474: The Ten-ny Award

The Tony Awards were presented Sunday night to the outstanding performers and shows on Broadway.  But we had the show in mind two days earlier, when we played poker at Kansas Star. Read on to learn why:

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: A-10 offsuit

We've been biding our time, trying to play more disciplined poker. As a result, we've played few pots and only lost a few chips. Now we have good starting cards in the Small Blind, and a player across the table has gone all-in for their last 75. We decide to spend a little extra, and about half the table of nine gets in.

ON THE FLOP (revised): J-A-6 (We found our notepad)

That's a big-league flop for us. And since we're first in line to bet, we do so - offering 225. A man to our immediate left calls, to create a sidepot. The other players bail out.
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ON THE TURN: K

A big pair now is on the board. While we have top two pair, we wonder if the man to our left is sitting on three of a kind.  So we check. He does, too - changing our thinking to whether or not it was wise to give him a free card.

ON THE RIVER: Q

That free card won't be cheap now, because we have the top straight. We increase the bet to 625.

"You'd better have a straight," our sidepot buddy says as he folds.  Now for that Tony moment....

"You can call me Hamilton, 'cause I'm on Broadway," we say showing our top straight. The man who went all-in pre-flop has nothing close to that. We take him out, and gain more than 500 chips.

The day had more valleys than peaks for us - but it had enough peaks to keep us around a while. A-A failed when someone with an 8 wound up with three of a kind, and we were wise to fold his huge river bet.  But A-A became friendly for us later, to win a big pot - and we scored a huge double-up when 7-7 beat a tilting player with A-Q.

Our high chip count was about 5,200 (most players start with 3,500). But then chips dwindled again at a semifinal table, and we felt compelled to push with Q-J. The man we topped earlier had A-K, while a third man pushed with 6-6. A Jack on the flop gave us hope of winning the lottery, but a King on the river proved our downfall.

Final result: 17th place out of 66 players - our best finish at Kansas Star since 24 December 13. We left with a good feeling about it.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We had a discussion with that player who knocked us out. "What do you think of Jesus," we asked.

"A really good guy."

"Is Jesus your Savior?" The man indicated yes.  "What's Jesus done for you lately?"

"I've been thinking about him a lot," the man said. We can't fault him for that - considering how many people probably never think about Jesus at all.

Dear friends.... I have written.... reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. - II Peter 3:1-2

The apostle Peter wanted people to think about not only what Jesus commanded, but what prophets of Old Testament days had written.

"It's good to think about Jesus," we told the man at the table, "but I think it's better to do what the Bible tells me to do."  That's not our own idea....

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. - Revelation 1:3

To "take to heart" those words can mean changing your life - because sometimes what the Bible says might be the exact opposite of what you're doing. Even in ways you might never expect.

As we left the table, we encouraged the man to keep thinking about Jesus and doing what the Bible shows him he should do.  But there's a caveat there which we probably should have added. Can you guess what it is?  We'll explain it in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 176 final tables in 474 games (37.1%) - 33 cashes.