Friday, June 23, 2017

Poker Day 502: Dressed to the Nines

We felt a touch of guilt about going to Kansas Star Casino for poker this week. The tournament was on Father's Day - and we're not a Dad. But then again, the casino handed out free toaster ovens to slot players Sunday. What kind of a Father's Day gift is that?

The attendance surprised us, by being down for the Sunday tournament. We didn't have to wait for a seat. That meant we didn't have to miss amazing hands like this one....

BLINDS: 75/150

IN THE POCKET: A-2

After a slow start with small lost pots, we're starting to turn things around. We've taken a hand or two, and nearly have our starting stack of 12,000 chips back. Now we're in the Big Blind, and are happy to check with a hidden Ace when the table doesn't raise. About four players are in.

ON THE FLOP: 9-9-9

"The Cox Cable flop," we call this - although we're not sure that's the company's introductory rate for anything anymore. But if anyone is holding a pocket pair, they picked up a full house in a hurry. We didn't, so we check. Yet no one bets.

ON THE TURN: 9

"You don't see that very often," someone at the table says. Indeed - we have quads! And for that matter, so does everyone else in the hand! But that means our Ace kicker gives us the best hand. When the Small Blind bets 300, we assume he does as well. We call. So does a third man across the table.

"If this next card is a 9," we joke, "I want an investigation...."

ON THE RIVER: 7

A meaningless card, if there ever was one. Now the Small Blind bets 300 again. Not enough for us.

"I'll add 1,000 more," we say. The man across from us calls. So does the Small Blind.

"I've got an Ace," we say and show. Sure enough, so does the Small Blind. But the man across from us has King-high! What was he thinking - a table full of bluffers?

It winds us being a split pot for the blinds, a gain for us, and an embarrassment for that third player whose thinking clearly was wrong.

There was a pattern to the day for us - with small declines early in the 80-minute terms, and nice gains in the second half. Our chip count grew to 13,800 at the first break. Then more than 20,000 at the second break, as all-in bets with cards such as K-K and A-K started winning big. Then huge gains in the third term, to reach more than 37,000!

We reached the final table with 54,000, then made a Jack on the river with A-J for two pair to knock out two opponents! But we feared we'd blown it badly when our A-K lost a race to J-10; the opponent made three 10's and cost us more than 80,000. But we won a couple more hands, to reach the money with seven to go!

But then other players slowed down the game, and we ran out of time on our schedule. We work an overnight shift these days, so we felt compelled to push with second pair and A-9 (as best we remember). An opponent with a King had top pair and took us out.

Out of 66 players, we finished in fifth place and made a $300 payday. We're thankful that out tenth anniversary live poker tournament was one of our most successful.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Since it was Father's Day, a little of the table talk was about children. One dealer recently had a son, named Aaron.

"That's a football name," one player said.

"That's a Biblical name" we responded. "The right-hand man of Moses."

That comment brought no response. Perhaps you've forgotten someone named Aaron was even in the Bible. We meet him first in Exodus....
Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well." - Exodus 4:14
Moses wanted someone else to do the talking, in appeals.to Pharaoh to let the Israelites out of Egypt (verse 13). Aaron became the "spokesman" for the two, with help from God (verse 15).  What else do you know about Aaron? Share a comment, and we'll add to this in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 184 final tables in 502 games (36.7%) - 37 cashes. We've made final tables three times in eight trips to Kansas Star this year, and cashed for the first time since a trip to Tulsa last December.

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