Poker Day 551: Going Greens

It's been about six years since we were off on Labor Day. So were took advantage of the privilege to enter a holiday morning poker tournament at Jack Casino - making sure we thanked the dealers and cashiers who were on duty. So was it a paid holiday for us?

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: Q-J of spades

Early efforts have not gone well for us. Our starting stack of 15,000 chips eroded to about 9,500, before we won a modest pot to begin a comeback. Now we're in the Big Blind at a seven-player table with 11,450, and have set out four stacks of lime-green chips worth 25 each.

"You don't like greens?" a man to our left asks.

"Sometimes I don't have any choice," we say. Such as now.

After the cards are dealt, that man raises to 1,200. "You don't seem to like orange," we point out. (An orange chip is worth 1,000). But with strong suited connectors, we call - taking back some of those greens as we do. We're now heads-up.

ON THE FLOP: Qc-2d-Qd

A Big Blind Special, if there ever was one! But we humbly check to the raiser. He offers 2,000.

"Raise," we say. We go up to 5,000. Our opponent calls, with a bit of a shrug.

ON THE TURN: K

This card is a bit concerning. What if he has something like K-Q? This time, we're not waiting.

"I'm all-in," we say - pushing in our last 5,250. This puts our opponent in the tank.

"So you're saying you have a Queen."

"I could be saying a lot of things," we tell him. The last thing we want to do is say his read is right.

"But I can't really get off these," he muses. After several moments, he calls with fewer chips - and shows pocket Aces. Our three of a kind will win, if we dodge one card.

ON THE RIVER: 7

Yea - for a change, we do! The man arrived late to the table, and leaves early - while we expand to more than 24,000 chips.

More success came minutes later, as K-J brought K-J-9 on the flop. We dared to call an opponent's push for more than 13,000, and our two pair wound up eliminating two men! It brought our most massive chip harvest in years, and led to a high of nearly 48,000.

That helped us through a dry period, and we reached the two-hour break at 35,350. But then, an amazing evaporation happened. We lost 3,000 to a pre-flop raise, then another 9,000 in the Big Blind when our pair of Kings lost to the Small Blind's 7-5 which made two pair.

Then with a push across the table and a caller, we saw A-J and dreamt big. We went all-in for about 19,000 - but a woman with Q-Q topped both us and the pusher with A-7. A day where we thought we could cruise to the final table ended with us falling short, finishing with a head-scratching tie for 15th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Jack Casino is a stickler when it comes to playing out of turn. A man at our first table received a one-hand penalty simply for a checking motion. So we waited later to be sure the player ahead of us acted, before doing anything.

"Don't want to wind up in the sin bin," a man sitting to our left said when we explained it. That phrase gave us a thought.

"You know, we've all sinned," we told the man, "and come short of the glory of God."

The man pondered a moment. "Did that come from a 2,000-year-old book? That's been translated about 5,000 times?"

Why yes.... yes, it did. Do you know where we found that?

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.... - Romans 3:23

"But that book [the Bible] has the way out of sin," we responded.

We waited for a reaction, but the statement brought nothing but silence. We're not sure if the man knows what that way is or not. Do you know?

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

A lot of applications are embedded in these words. But let's focus on Jesus being the way. He likened Himself elsewhere to being a door (as the King James Version puts it) or a gate....

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. - John 10:9

We enter God's holy throne through Jesus the Son (Hebrews 10:19-22) - and salvation comes to us through Jesus Christ. But there's something you need to do:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - I John 1:9

Confess them, then repent of them - turning your ways and life over to God, and away from the sins you've been doing. Perhaps you do them while playing poker. Search yourself, asking God for His help in discovering what they are. Then act on what He shows you. There's no penalty for doing that.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 203 final tables in 551 games (36.8%) - 36 cashes. After six months in our new area, we're still at 10 final tables in 18 tries!