Poker Day 480: One Expensive Trip

One of the first places where we played live poker for money was Harrah's Casino in North Kansas City. There have been times when every table was full for a weekday tournament. But with competing casinos now in the area, the Friday midday game can't even fill two tables. The better for us to make a final table while on a weekend road trip.... right?

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: J-9 offsuit

Well, maybe not so right. We were given 10,000 chips to start the day. After winning a small early pot, we lost a large one to a man with three 5's. Now we're in the Big Blind, starting this with only 4,500. No one raises at this table of eight, so we check and hope something big is about to break.

ON THE FLOP: J-3-2 (two cards are clubs; we don't recall which ones)

That's certainly a good start, and we're optimistically encouraged to see the Small Blind (first to act) betting 600. We call to tag along. A player to our left calls as well.

ON THE TURN: 9s

Even better! And now Mr. Small Blind bets 1,000. The play for us seems obvious.

"The bundle," we declare - and our last 3,500 comes forward.  But then the man to our left does the same thing - and he has 3,500 as well!

"Maybe great minds think alike," we say - because even a split would look good now. But the Small Blind calls, too! We could triple up!

But then the Small Blind shows.... 2-2! We're in "trip trouble" again. The man to our left shows A-5 of clubs; he has both straight and flush draws. It all comes down to one card....

ON THE RIVER: Qc

The flush hits. That man is relieved. We miss; we're not. On a day with only 17 players, we finish 17th. But at least the poker room had free donuts and cookies.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We didn't take a good "card protector" on the trip, so we grabbed a packet of artificial sweetener from a casino restaurant and improvised.

"I picked this up to remind me," we said to a man at our left, "that the word of God is sweet."

The man chuckled a little at that - but we hope at some point he thinks over what we said:

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! - Psalm  119:103

We don't think sugar cubes were around in Old Testament times. Packets of "Equal" certainly were not. So honey was the standard of sweetness for people. And it applied to more than simply the words God said....

The fear of the Lord is pure. enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.... they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. - Psalm  19:9-10

An "ordinance" of God is a rule He establishes for us to follow; it could refer to the "Ten Commandments" law, but not necessarily. So His rules can be sweet as well. But here's the amazing extra:

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. - Proverbs  16:24

Are these God's words? They can be - but we think it can apply to human words as well. The right comment at the right time can uplift and encourage other people. So be thankful for the sweet words God provides, in the Bible and in other ways - and see if you can stir something sweet into what you say at a poker table.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 178 final tables in 480 games (37.1%) - 34 cashes.

Poker "Night" 353: Matinee Madness

The last time we played poker in the Kansas City area, it was Spring 2009.  It was a cash game.  And it didn't go well.  So when we returned to our home area this week, part of us said there was a "score to settle" at Harrah's casino.  But this time, we avoided the cash games -- since we made enough wrong turns during the trip to tell us that wouldn't be wise.

Since the Harrah's poker room has daily tournaments, we entered the Wednesday 1:00 p.m. game.  It was a full event, with the maximum 40 players and a 50-dollar buy-in offering a nice potential payday.  But unlike our local free tournaments, everyone starts with 2,000 chips -- and buying food only gets you a full stomach, not bonus chips.

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET:  A-J of hearts

We won several pots in the first hour, facing players who tended to be on the tight side.  But with rising blinds, we took a chance on an open-ended straight draw and missed.  Now we're in the Big Blind, starting this hand with 1,275 chips left.  Only a couple of players at our table of seven call.  When we see these high hearts, we see an opportunity.

"Raise," we announce; "500 more."

Our goal with this big bet primarily is to chase away the other players, and gain some fast easy money.  But a man across from us thinks for a long time about how to respond.  Then he looks at our stack, and does something we don't expect.

"Raise to 1,075."

Gulp -- that's exactly the amount to put us all-in.  A player between us folds, and we face a moment of commitment.  More than have our stack already is in play.  The blinds will go up after the upcoming break to 200/400, so having 575 left in our hand wouldn't allow much breathing room.  So we bite the bullet, and call.

"Do you like racing?" the dealer asks after our opponent turns over 7-7.  That's a curious statement, considering the Kansas Speedway several miles away now has its own casino next door.  (But then again, we did refer to our A-J as "Allmendingers.")  In any case, this is what poker pros call a "coin flip."

ON THE FLOP: Q-10-9

No hearts appear to make a flush possible, but we have plenty of hope.  An Ace or a Jack gives us a higher pair, and now a King or an 8 provides us a bail-out straight.  That's a total of 14 "outs" from 45 cards, or about a 31-percent chance of hitting.

ON THE TURN: 5 (as best we recall)

That missed, but we still feel optimistic.  Now it's 14 outs from 44 cards, so our odds actually have improved a bit.

ON THE RIVER: 2

Two strikes and we're out.  His 7's win the race, after we went one-for-two with pocket 7's in our hand during the game.

Had we simply checked in the Big Blind, we could have bailed out with a small loss had our opponent bet the flop.  But all things considered, we thought the time was right to make a big move.  Yet it didn't pay off, we finish in 21st place, and now stand two-for-three when it comes to making money in big poker room tournaments.

MINISTRY MOMENT: This Harrah's poker room now has a rule banning portable music players, which opens the door for us to do ministry.  We took our Lord's Supper card protector along on the trip, and showed it to a player sitting to our left.

"Do you believe in Jesus?" we asked.

"I think He existed."

"So He was a person?"

Yes, he accepted that.  But he didn't want to go any farther.  We explained we'd traveled to Kansas City from a church convention picturing a time when Jesus will come and reset the "game" this world is playing.

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." - Revelation 11:15 (KJV)

The only way we can envision Jesus taking over "the kingdoms of this world" is for Him to return to Earth and rule here.

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. - Matthew 24:30

While Jesus called Himself the "Son of Man," our Lord truly was much more than a man 2,000 years ago.  He was God come in the flesh (John 1:1, 14).  What will it take to convince you of that?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 123 final tables in 353 nights (34.8%) - 19 cashes.  Updates on our online play (there hasn't been much lately) will resume next week.

If It Was Real: After Five (Years)

Today marks five years since we walked down the street to a bar in our city, to play our first live poker tournament.  The goal in 2007 wasn't primarily on ministry; we wanted to see if we could compete against the other poker players in town.

We've had a good bit of success, over five years and 322 poker nights.  Our final table percentage was in the 40-percent range for a long time, only to drop to around 35 percent in the last year or so.  And we've finished "in the money" (winning cash) at live tournaments 17 times -- including a two-for-two record at Florida poker rooms, which offer prizes in the hundreds of dollars.

But what if we played in poker rooms or casinos all the time?  We've kept track of that, using a tournament prize formula from a casino in our home area of Kansas City -- with a $50 buy-in paying $500 for first place, $400 for second, and on down to $100 for fifth.

Since we crossed the 300-game mark, we've made six final tables in 22 games.  But we've only made the top five in two of them, and one of those was a fifth-place tie.  We plug those into our earlier records, and here's the result:


BUY-INS: 322 nights x $50 = $15,600

First -- 5 ($2,500)
TIE for first: 1 ($450)

Second - 9 ($3,600)

Third -- 9 ($2,700)
TIE for third: 1 ($250)

Fourth - 12 ($2,400)
TIES for fourth:
4 two-way ($600)
1 three-way ($67)

Fifth -- 16 ($1,600)
TIES for fifth:
5 two-way ($250)
1 three-way ($17)

TOTAL -- 64 for $14,434


Our "buy-in investment" would have lost 7.5 percent over five years.  But we would note in local tournaments, the odds often are stacked against us -- as we usually only buy one soda for extra poker chips, while other players accumulate tens of thousands through sandwiches and beer buckets.  (Lil Kim's Cove even allows you to buy 15,000 extra chips for five dollars now.)

A few weekly tournaments in our city now have the Florida or casino format -- a buy-in tournament (normally five dollars) with NO extra chips given from the bar.  The result is a bigger payout, and a more level "playing field" (OK, table) for all the players.  But we have not entered one of those tournaments yet; our reason why is being held for another day.

In the meantime, we thank God for whatever success we've had -- both financially and in spreading "good news" about Jesus.  After all, the Bible reminds us....

Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. - Proverbs 11:4

Past Its Prime?

We went on a road trip this week - and of course, we hoped to play poker to help cover our expenses.

But our timing was bad, because we were in the southern Illinois area on a Tuesday night.  Harrah's Metropolis only opens its poker room there four nights a week - Thursdays through Sundays.

Does this say something about poker as a whole?  Is it declining in popularity?  Or are there good and bad nights for business, even at casinos?

Casino K.C. Royal

Happy U.S. Memorial Day to you! This holiday marks one year since we tried our hand at a casino's poker cash game for the first time -- and still only time. Here's what we wrote about it May 27, 2008 in our other blog, The Blog of Columbus, Georgia:

KANSAS CITY, KS -- In southern England in 1992, I refused to do it. In Puerto Rico in 1995, I also refused to do it. But on Memorial Day 2008 in my home area, I finally did it. Call me an infidel if you wish -- but I set my feet inside a casino.

BLOG SPECIAL EVENT: “I hadn’t told you about this,” I confessed to my older brother during a Sunday evening dinner with some of his friends. “But if Ryan can do it, I can do it.” I followed the lead of my youngest niece’s new husband, and went to a casino to play poker. Even after discovering my brother is a church treasurer and his wife co-chairs the church board.

Ryan plays poker often, and even had a seat at a World Series of Poker event a couple of years ago. But I didn’t ask him for advice about how to play in a casino. He might have challenged me to a game on the spot, and emptied my wallet.

The Kansas City area has become filled with casinos since I moved away 26 years ago. The Wyandotte Nation of native Americans even opened one recently, inside an old historic church. This seemed so wrong to me -- until I remembered how many Catholic churches have bingo nights.

I wanted to play poker at a famous-name casino, where the chances of being cheated were slim. So I went to Harrah’s in North Kansas City, where they normally have two poker tournaments every day of the week. And unlike the Columbus poker games, people actually will park your car for you -- and bring it back.

The Harrah’s casino in North Kansas City is NOT quite like Las Vegas. I learned this while walking to the casino -- when I passed the buffet restaurant, and found dinner Monday night cost $13.95. Maybe more gamblers win here than I thought....

This casino also includes a Starbucks coffee shop (as if free soda isn’t enough for staying awake) -- and a “Toby Keith I Love This Bar and Grill.” Now I understand how Keith led a recent magazine list of the most successful country singers. He does NOT simply go around asking, “How do you like me now?”

My plan was to play in the 1:00 p.m. poker tournament, so I arrived a bit before noon. Harrah’s required me to submit a photo ID for a “Total Rewards” card, because Missouri law states gamblers can lose no more than $500 every two hours. Sadly, the baseball Royals have no such limits -- and they’ve now lost eight games in a row.

My timing was perfect for arriving at Harrah’s, because the staff was handing out free T-shirts to customers from 12:00 noon on. So what do you know -- at least I could take home a consolation prize: a fine limited-edition T-shirt.

But when I reached the Harrah’s poker room, the tide suddenly turned. Because it was Memorial Day, the 1:00 p.m. tournament had been canceled. Isn’t this wonderful? They think this much of the people who died for our country -- the people who gave their lives, so we could blow all our money in casinos....

Funny thing, though -- Harrah’s didn’t care enough about our armed forces to shut down the casino completely. Cash games kept going in the poker room, like any other day. And there was no sign saying the proceeds would go to any American Legion post.

But the good news for me was that the 7:00 p.m. tournament was still on. And since seats can be purchased as early as 8:00 a.m., I reserved a seat for $50. Before your jaw drops at that price, consider something -- a seat aboard any flight from Columbus Airport probably will cost at least twice as much.

Hold on here, some of you may be saying -- aren’t you a Christian? Yes, I am. So I set personal ground rules for this casino trip. I would NOT play any “gambling” games -- no blackjack, no dice, no slot machines. In fact, when a roulette hostess I passed called “Six Black,” I thought she said “Six Flags” and told her that was in St. Louis.

A poker tournament is different from the “cash game” format, where people buy chips and sit down at a table with the potential of losing it all. The $50 “buy-in“ at a tournament is like an entry fee. You don’t lose any more money -- unless you’re silly enough to spend at least five dollars for valet parking.

So I returned to Harrah’s at 6:00 p.m., and had The Buffet (the name of the restaurant) before tournament time. If you’re planning a trip like this, take my advice -- go to Golden Corral or Ryan’s Buffet instead. The cost is lower, the food every bit as good, and the staff won’t forgot to bring you silverware.

Up the stairs we went to the poker room at 6:45 p.m. -- only to see the tide turn again. The evening tournament was canceled as well, blamed on the “Memorial Day holiday.“ Perhaps all the veterans filled the cash game tables, and I didn’t realize it.

“It’s not for lack of interest,“ the cashier told me about the tournament cancellation. I reclaimed the 50 dollars for my poker seat -- but now what was I to do? I’d already walked away from The Buffet without leaving a tip....

At that point I started doing a bad thing. I utilized human reasoning -- but in a casino, such reasoning usually isn’t logical and is based more on intestines than brain.

I decided to take 25 dollars in chips to a poker cash game. In one hand I had a pair of aces on the flop -- but was forced to fold, when someone else seemed to have a straight on the river. Then I lost my last chips to a woman with three 10’s. And she didn’t even look like a perfect ten.

With my losses for the day cut to 25 dollars, I wandered around the casino for awhile -- then stopped downstairs at a blackjack table. I watched one man with a small stack of chips slowly build it over several minutes. If he could do it.... well, maybe he was counting cards and not telling anybody.

I dared to claim six five-dollar red chips, since the minimum bet in blackjack was ten dollars. For a short time, I climbed from 30 dollars to 60 -- enough to reclaim my poker loss. But my human reasoning kicked in again. And blackjack doesn’t work the way mutual fund managers do.

(The blackjack dealers actually DO root for players to win. As one of my three dealers put it: “If you don’t make money, we don’t make money.” They want tips every bit as much as the servers at a Waffle House.)

On my second “all in” push of ten dollars, my chips were cleaned away. And this time, I walked out the door. The lessons for me were learned, and obvious. Don’t change your ground rules, even if the house does. And at $55 each, casinos offer the highest-priced T-shirts in the world.

© 2003-08 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.

If it was real....

As we mark 40 poker nights on Fourth Street, we wondered: what if Lil Kim's Cove was a real casino, with real buy-ins and payoffs?

We tried to play at a Kansas City casino's tournament in May (but the tourneys were canceled on Memorial Day), so we decided to use their rules.

Lil Kim's Cove has a small game, with never more than 40 players. So we presumed a $50 buy-in, and called the Harrah's poker room to see how many positions win money. The top 5 are paid in a 40-player game. Assuming it's a full tournament, 40 x 50 = $2000 pool.

As it happens, our buy-ins on poker nights would total 40 x 50 -- also $2,000.

We did NOT ask Harrah's how much is paid for positions 1-5. But let's assume it's a stairstep format, with $500 for the winner down to $100 for fifth.

Our record over 40 poker nights would be as follows:

First -- 3 ($1,500)
Second - 2 ($800)
Third -- 3 ($900)
Fourth - 4 ($800)
TIES for fourth:
one two-way ($150)
one three-way ($67)
Fifth -- 2 ($200)

TOTAL -- 16 for $4,417.

So if I had played poker in a casino over the last 13 months, I would have doubled my investment -- and then some. This seems to beat the Dow 30 these days, not to mention my 401(k) plans.

And even better -- at a casino, the cans of soda don't cost two dollars each. :-->