Poker Night 305: Two-Hand Slam

Thursday night will be the start of a special Sabbath for us, beginning the seventh day of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:4-8). So instead of walking to Lil Kim's Cove, tonight we drove across town to Soho Bar & Grill for the first time since Thanksgiving Eve.  We were set at table #1, which one player recalled used to be reserved for "older, decrepit players."  We offered to fit that description -- but then tried to play up to our presumed years of wisdom.

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: Ace of spades - King of hearts

To fully appreciate this hand, we need to explain the previous one.  We held A-J, and called a pre-flop raise of 1,500.  The flop was Q-J-x, and we called another bet of 1,500.  When the turn brought an Ace, we went all in with 2,875 left.  A man to our left called (the bettor folded), and our two pair had his Q-9 topped.  The river missed for him, and we jumped to around 15,000 chips.

So we're dealing this hand at a six-player table, with a messy pile of unstacked chips in front of us.  No one raises pre-flop -- and when we see these two big cards, we raise 1,000.  The small blind folds.  The big blind (who challenged us in the previous hand) wants to get even.

"Pressure busts pipes," he says.  "I'm all in."  Interesting words from a man who's been dropping 2,000-chip raises pre-flop from time to time tonight.

A woman to his left thinks about this situation for a long time -- so long that we're able to stack our chips, and the re-raiser asks a passer-by for a clock.  At last she folds.  So do two other players, leaving it up to us.

"So you decided to go all-in...."

"Is that a rhetorical question?" the pusher asks.

"Well, we could mean it both ways," we admit.  We're simply being talkative, because this decision strikes us as easy.  We think he's pushing with any two cards he sees, to scare us out of investing our new-found riches.  But our two cards are too good.

"I call," we finally say -- and show the A-K.

"Good call," the man quietly responds.  But he doesn't show what he has.

ON THE FLOP: Jc-4c-3c

Uh-oh -- all clubs?!?  We don't have one.  Now our opponent reveals he pushed with 7-7.  Poker pros call this a "coin flip," and he's leading.

ON THE TURN: 8

Ugh.  We're down to one card and six outs.

ON THE RIVER: Q

Talk about easy come, easy go!  Our opponent has more than 18,000 chips, so he wins all of ours and takes us out of the game.  Right after a huge win, we're busted -- sixth place out of the original table of eight.

The sudden turnabout had us pondering all the way home.  Would we have done anything differently?  Probably not.  One of Gus Hansen's poker books reveals he actually has folded A-K a few times, after whiffing on the flop.  But pre-flop?!  One ranking puts A-K as the fourth-best hand to have -- while 7-7 is a deceptively-high #10.

MINISTRY MOMENT:  For some reason, the table talk turned to abbreviations tonight.

"P-2-P.  Pay to play," a man said.  "P-2-L - pay to learn."

"Then there's P-T-L," we noted.  "Praise the Lord.  Something we should do all the time."

The man who brought up the subject agreed with that.  But sadly, he somewhat admitted at the start of the tournament he was drunk -- drinking at Soho all day because of something involving a woman..  The Bible is clear on this matter:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral.... nor drunkards.... will inherit the kingdom of God. - I Corinthians 6:9-10

There's much more to that list of vices, and we encourage you to review it with an open mind and heart.  We're focusing on the drinking part -- and the good news is that people who hit the bottle too much are not without hope.  Paul goes on to write....

And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. - I Corinthians 6:11

Let the living waters of the Holy Spirit replace alcohol in your life.  You'll be far less likely to have any regrets later.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 108 final tables in 305 nights (35.4%) - 17 cashes.  We've missed nine final tables in a row.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 212 point wins in 883 games (24.0%), 70 final tables (7.9%), 7 cashes.

We've reached the points nine times in 19 tries in the last two weeks, and last week had two "top five" finishes -- the best one a third-place finish out of 320 players (but with only first place winning money).

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $74,789, up $3,455.

Poker Night 291: Grand Opening

For some big-time poker players, timing is everything -- not only inside a hand, but in a tournament overall.  Gus Hansen writes in one of his books that he tries to dominate the final hands of a day, because opponents are afraid of getting busted and not advancing 24 more hours.  We adjusted that way of thinking in a hand tonight at Lil Kim's Cove....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 9-4 of spades

It's the first hand of the night.  We're sitting "one behind the dealer."  And in fairly typical fashion, no one raises in front of us.  It's like a "warm-up hand," and we see no reason to upset that with small suited cards.  We call, and nearly everyone at the table of seven is in.

ON THE FLOP: Qh-4c-Ks

The players check ahead of us -- but we hit the flop, so why should we wait?  We bet 150, which is enough to attract several investors.  (But it's not enough to coax a raise from someone with a bigger hand.)

ON THE TURN: 5s

The pair of 4's looked weaker, but our chances for a flush now are stronger.  The table checks in front of us again -- and this time we make a "continuation bet" of 200.  A few players call, but this time a man to our immediate right raises 1,000.

We stop a moment to consider this.  We bought a soda to increase our starting chip stack to 7,000.  This raise is big, but not overwhelmingly big.  We decide to give it a shot, and call.  As we recall, two other players call.

ON THE RIVER: As

"Flush!" a player to our left announces.  (So much for the element of surprise.)  The players in front of us check again -- and that's something we hoped to see.  Now we bet 2,000.  The first two players unhappily fold -- but the man who raised on the turn calls.

"Do you have a flush?" we ask him.  "Because I do."

We show our spades, and they're good enough!  The other man has 5-5, which explains why he raised on the turn.  But running spades to the river top him, and we more than double our chip stack.

A pair of 5's won us another pot in the first hour, and cautious play outside of that brought us to the one-hour break at 14,500.  But a big loss early in hour two led to us pushing all-in under the gun with K-J of diamonds.  Two players called -- but it turned out everyone missed the board, and King-high was good enough to keep us in!  We held on from there, reaching our first final table in six weeks.

But the draw for dealer at the final table put us in the big blind immediately, forced to go all-in with only 3,500 chips left.  We had J-9 and found a Jack on the river -- but a woman with J-Q had a better kicker and kicked us out.  It was a ninth-place night, but one hand at a final table is still a "final table" for us.

MINISTRY MOMENT: The blinds were 2,000/4,000 on that last hand.  A woman to our left with a huge stack of chips noticed we were 500 chips short of the big blind, and threw in 500 more to make up the difference.  Trouble was, the dealer kept throwing the green 500 chip back at her.

"You can't do that," he said.  (We're honestly not sure if that's allowed in casinos or not; if you know, please leave a comment.)

"But she's trying to be giving," we said in the woman's behalf.  Then we turned to her and added, "Giving is a nice thing to do.  It's better to give than to take."

Then we realized the game we were playing.  "Unless you're in the middle of a pot; then you might change things."

That brought a smile to the woman's face.  Away from the table, we think giving is much more likely to bring a smile to God's face.

Freely you have received, freely give. -- Matthew 10:8

We're actually taking these words of Jesus out of context a bit -- because He said them while instructing His disciples to perform miraculous acts while preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.  But other New Testament passages support the giving principle:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. - II Corinthians 9:6-7

As it happened, a man came to our poker table during the game with what apparently was a fundraising promotion.  Buy a raffle ticket for four dollars and you can get a chili dog dinner, while also paying for a similar dinner for a homeless person.  On top of that, one raffle ticket was rewarded with 5,000 chips.  We didn't carry enough cash to take part in that.  But it shows some poker players do have a giving spirit -- outside a tournament, at least.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 106 final tables in 291 nights (36.4%) - 17 cashes.  Next week's live poker schedule will be different for us; you'll see what we mean.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 191 point wins in 818 games (23.3%), 66 final tables, 7 cashes.  We scored a top-40 finish earlier in the day, at a tournament with 645 players.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL:  Pretend cash games - $71,368, up $5,030.  We topped the $70,000 mark with a big cash game week.  A Monday night "lightning round"  gave us an increase of $3,595.

Poker Night 284: The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave

In one of his books, Gus Hansen writes the poker mentality should be different at a smaller table.  We had a taste of that tonight at Lil Kim's Cove -- as most of the evening was spent at a table of five or six players.  One of the challenges comes in attempting to convert big hands into big gains.  Take this example....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: A-A

We're "under the gun" with "pocket rockets" for the second time tonight.  We limped in the first time it happened, then "three-bet" an opponent who raised.  Even though our raise was only from 200 to 700, it ran everyone else off.  This time we limp with plans to "play innocent" - but no one at the table raises.

ON THE FLOP: J-6-9

The play checks to us, and now we decide to move.  Our bet of 300 is designed to keep people in, and maximize our gains.  Two players call.

ON THE TURN: 4

We still don't see any reason to be concerned.  So we turn up the heat, with a bet of 700.  But our opponents call, anyway -- with a man across from us looking a little frustrated.

ON THE RIVER: K

As we recall (not remembering the suits exactly), this puts three clubs on the board.  We decide to slow down and check now, in case someone is on a flush draw.  Our opponents check along.

"I've got Aces," we announce and show.  A woman to our left is a bit stunned, and throws away her cards.  But wait.

"Nines and fours," the frustrated-looking man says.  He's not frustrated now -- because he made two pair on the turn, and winds up cracking our Aces for a nice pot.

"You let him stay in," a player out of the hand tells us.  That's the "art" of the game, you might say.  We wanted to catch some fish, but our bait wound up tipping us overboard.

That loss hurt, but we won another nice pot later when an open-ended straight draw came through on the river.  Then came a double-up in the second hour when we went all-in with J-10 and a paired Jack on the flop.  But then we reached the brink with a big pot loss, dropping to one measly chip worth 500.  But we escaped when we bet that chip on A-2, and saw running 2's on the turn and river.

With only 2,000 chips left and the big blind at 4,000, other players were eliminated ahead of us -- and we survived to the final table.  But then with nothing to lose, another push with A-5 failed to pair the board.  We fell to a pair of 9's, but wound up in eighth place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "I'm not even a Broncos fan," confessed a man who joined us for the semifinal table.  His orange football jersey with a 15 on it told the rest of the story.  "I'm a Tim Tebow fan."  He's bought into the phenomenon surrounding the Denver quarterback with unrestrained faith in Christ -- so much so that he was thanking God, Jesus and Tebow out loud (not always in that order).

"God can do amazing things, can't he?" we told the man.  He agreed -- then proceeded to go all-in with A-5, and win the pot with a pair of Aces.

"I told you God can do amazing things," we said.  We've seen it personally, at the poker table and other places.  And the Bible is filled with amazing examples....

Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion.  But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father.  And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. - Luke 9:42-43

God's greatness is shown in miraculous healing, moments of deliverance for believers facing life-or-death trials, and.... well, let's ask this.  Which Biblical miracle amazes you the most?  Leave a comment with your answer, and we might discuss it in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 104 final tables in 284 nights (36.6%) - 17 cashes.  We've made two final tables in a row locally, for the first time since July.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 182 point wins in 790 games (23.0%), 62 final tables, 7 cashes.  One table sit-n-goes: 8-13-9-3-2.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $63,779,  down $430.

Poker Night 128: If the Suit Fits....

With Waldenbooks closing stores across the U.S., we bought our first poker book for the small blind.... oops, we mean half-price. It's a Gus Hansen book in which he analyzes most of the hands he played to win a big tournament -- and one line struck us about 4-2 of clubs: "This is the name of the game."

Armed with this knowledge, we went to Lil Kim's Cove tonight. Would Gus be right?

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: Q-4 of clubs

Well, it's half of Gus's hand. We're in the big blind and no one raises around the table, so we check.

ON THE FLOP: 4-2-2 (one 2 is a club)

For many players, this flop would be ugly. Not for us. With two pair, we bet 400. A man to our left laughs at this.

"You won't let me play a hand," he says shaking his head as he folds. But another player calls.

ON THE TURN: 5 (not a club)

Our memory is admittedly a bit fuzzy about what happens from here. But we believe we bet 400 again, on the theory our opponent couldn't possibly be playing cards this low. Yet he calls again.

ON THE RIVER: 7

As we recall, we checked here. Our opponent does as well.

"I have a 4," we say reluctantly. But that's good enough; our opponent concedes without showing cards.

The man who laughed at our bet on the flop can't believe we played those cards. So we quoted the Gus Hansen line.

"If you're playing like Gus Hansen -- he'll play about everything."

We won the next hand as well with two clubs. Everyone folded after our Jack paired on the flop, and we made a bet.

A few big hands came our way in the first hour, and we had 16,000 chips at the break. But we lost some big hands after that -- and even the skeptical man beat us with pocket Aces, when we had A-6 and an Ace came on the flop. Our final result was 14th place, dropping out at the semifinal table when our 8 made top pair on the flop but an opponent hit running K-Q for two pair.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "You always bring something different," the man who knocked us out said before tonight's game began. He noticed we brought a small candle in a glass holder.

"I brought that to remind me that I'm supposed to be a light to the world. I read that in a book." Not a Gus Hansen book -- but the Bible, quoting Jesus in Matthew 5:14. The other man didn't know the source of the quote, and had nothing to say after we mentioned it. (He even had a cigarette lighter, and didn't light our candle.)

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 50 final tables in 128 nights (39.1%) - 10 cashes. We're taking back the second-place "cash" from Monday night, after deciding only actual payouts should count.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 3-7-3-1-0. Full tournaments - 8 final tables in 104 games (7.7%), no cashes.

We had no play at Yahoo or PokerStars.Net in the last week -- but we had a strong 12th-place finish in a 514-player tourney at NLOP Sunday evening.

Heads-Up Week 3: Psychic Friends?

First the good news: Brad Garrett was sent packing today, in the round of 32. :-->

Now our question: How do these players know each other's hands so well?

Take the Huck Seed-Gus Hansen match. One knew the other had pocket 5's. The other knew one had Q-2 -- without even looking.

Are these guys psychic? Really sharp? Or what? And how can you tell the hand of your opponent, without looking?

(Our perspective is coming up.)