BLINDS: 1,000/2,000
IN THE POCKET: A-Q offsuit
We won the first three hands of the tournament, then claimed several more after that. That's led us to the final table, after more than three hours of play. But with seven players remaining, we're now desperate. With only 2,000 chips left, good cards may have come for us in the nick of time.
"I'm all-in, and I call," we tell the table. But an older man across from us (we'd guess at least 75) is distracted by what happened a few hands ago. A woman won a big pot from him, by staying in a hand he thought she should have avoided. After accusing her of "not knowing how to play," he seems to be on tilt. Yet he doesn't raise, and five players get in for the minimum.
ON THE FLOP: K-9-4 (third card may not be precise)
This doesn't look promising for us - and even less so when players start betting. The woman to our left offers (as best we recall) 3,000. The older man responds by going all-in.
"What are you going to do?" he asks us. Answer: sit and watch.
"I'm all-in," we remind Mr. Accuser. Other players have folded, except for the woman who has him bothered. She takes a moment to think about this.
"Hurry up. I've got to go home and feed the dog," the older man says. We can't resist laughing out loud at that line. The woman finally calls, and it's time to show our cards.
The woman at our left has J-9. The older man shoved with 9-2. She's in the lead thanks to her kicker, but we have two very live cards.
ON THE TURN: 8
This card helps no one - and leaves us at the brink.
ON THE RIVER: 2
Aw, c'mon! We get knocked out, but the older man gets an amazing escape by hitting a second pair. So he starts singing the chorus of "Old Man River" - and we almost join him on the final notes, as we shake his hand!
We leave in seventh place, on a night with only 16 players. But at least we can say we made a final table at a casino where big tournaments happen - and we leave with the funniest poker story we've had in a long time.
MINISTRY MOMENT: We carried our "Lord's Supper" card protector again, and showed it to a woman sitting next to us. "What do you think of Jesus?" we asked her. She seemed surprised by the question.
"I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "He did everything He came to do.... He came to save the world."
It turned out that woman and two others at our table admitted to having Jesus as their Savior. That's good. But is that saving work finished yet?
...God our Savior.... wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. - I Timothy 2:3-4
That's what God wants. But we fear that's one place where skeptics point fingers of doubt. If God is all-powerful, can't He achieve what He wants? Why have some notorious people died, seemingly without coming close to being saved?
The answer may sound strange, but it's this: God is not trying to save everyone now. It would be great if that happened, but it's not the plan....
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.... - Romans 11:25-26
By "Israel," we think the apostle Paul refers to members of the "12 tribes" descended from Old Testament Israel (Romans 9:4/11:1). God has opened a way at this time for people outside those tribes to enter His family, while....
...The others were hardened, as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day." - Romans 11:7-8
If some of our posts about the Bible leave you puzzled or confused.... well, believe it or not, we understand your confusion. In fact, it may be part of God's grand plan. We'll explain more about that in an upcoming post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 185 final tables in 508 nights (36.4%) - 37 cashes. This was our first final table since June; we'd missed five in a row.
No comments:
Post a Comment