Poker Day 478: Saved By the Felt

"South-Central Kansas's Premier Poker Room" is how Kansas Star Casino now promotes itself inside the building. Well, OK.... but it's practically the only poker room now. Yet we went there Friday, and had an afternoon of drama:

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: 2-2

We won an early pot with a "Big Blind Special" (more on that later), but have had some serious losses since then. We come to this hand with 1,475 chips out of a starting 3,500. So should we play the smallest of pocket pairs? We're second to act, with little margin for error. We decide to call, hoping no one will raise. But two seats to our left, a man reaches for a purple 500 chip.

"Raise," he says. But wait....

"That hit the felt," the dealer rules. She says the chip landed across the red commitment line before the man said "raise." Thus it is a 100-chip call.

"What do I do?" the man asks.

"I'll give you change," the dealer says.

No one else raises. Four players are in. And our mind goes back to the night before, when a Seattle Mariners pitcher may have given away a win over the Kansas City Royals by taking an out at first base instead of starting a double play. Could a small slip work that well for us?

ON THE FLOP: 3-2-Q

Oh yes, it can! We stumble into three of a kind - but of course, we check to the raiser. The man two seats over now can bet 500, and he does. A man across the table calls.

"All of it," we say - dropping down the remaining 1,375 chips.

The man who committed illegal procedure probably regrets it now. He folds. But that man across the table calls us.

"You did me a favor, by what you did," we say to the raiser before turning over our cards. "I probably would have folded." The remaining opponent has 9-9, so we're in a comfortable lead.

ON THE TURN: J

No harm with that....

ON THE RIVER: A

...Or with that! The man's little slip turns into a big double-up for us, as we move above 3,500 chips.

But more trouble came after that - and at the first break, we sat with a lowly 450 chips. Yet after the break, an amazing comeback happened. All-in with A-9 won a pot, to restore us to 2,200. Calling another man's all-in bet with A-10 paid off with Aces on the flop and turn.  Our stack advanced to a high of 6,100 - and that was despite folding 8-10 in the Small Blind, before a 10-10-10 flop showed up!

With three tables left, another crossroads moment came. We played K-10 of spades, and a Qs-Jx-7s flop gave us a big flush draw. Then we hit the flush with Js on the turn - and a man across the table went all-in!

"Did you hit it?" we asked aloud - realizing he might have the Ace of spades and a higher flush.

"I wouldn't push if I didn't," the opponent said - suggesting he doesn't lie.

"I have little choice," we said as we called for our last 3,400.

The opponent turned over.... 7-7!  He hit something we didn't expect: a full house! We had an open-ended straight flush draw, if As or 9s came on the river - but no, it was a 5. Our big risk failed, and we finished 26th our of 69 entries.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Back to that early pot we won in the Big Blind. We described to other players as a "BBS."

"Does that stand for basic bulls***?" one man asked us.

"No, I meant Big Blind Special."

Then a man between surprisingly suggested something else. "I thought he said VBS - as in Vacation Bible School."

Do you have memories of those schools? We remember a week of summer mornings, eating duplex sandwich cream cookies and playing "Red Rover" on the grounds outside the church building. But VBS is supposed to teach something else....

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. - Proverbs 22:6

To be honest, we can't recall a single Bible lesson from our Vacation Bible Schools - although we remember the pre-school play time stopping for a story or two, and thinking Bible references on the walls were clocks. For example:

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. - Philippians 3:20

"It's 20 after three in the Philippines," we told grown-ups with our five-year-old reasoning. Right?!

Well, of course it's not right. But we needed to learn - and summer Bible schools and camps are designed to help young people learn about Jesus, and what a Christian life is all about.

If you want to improve your poker skills, you might go to a "boot camp" or watch videos. Young people learning to walk in a godly way have the same kind of option at this time of year. But if you send a child to VBS, don't forget something....

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. - Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Parents should reinforce what children learn about godly living - not only with their words, but their actions. If you're a mom, dad, grandma or grandpa, we hope that's what you're doing all year long.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 177 final tables in 478 games (37.0%) - 33 cashes.