For people of a certain age (like us), Wednesday night means discounts at Hollywood Casino Indiana. The hotel's dinner buffet is only five dollars! And the poker tournament is still the lowest price in the area at $70. Our goal was to win all that money, and maybe some more. But it's never easy....
BLINDS: 50/100
IN THE POCKET: K-8 offsuit
We won an early pot with hidden "trip 10's." But modest losses have brought us back to our starting level of 12,000 chips. The typical slow-arriving crowd means only six people are playing at the moment, and we're in the Small Blind. No one raises. We don't either. It's a big family pot....
ON THE FLOP: K-7-9
…and it's a big start for us. Holding top pair and playing first, we bet 150 to see who's serious about these cards. Most of the table isn't. But the man on the button is. He calls, and we're heads-up.
ON THE TURN: 7
Hmmm - the board pairs. Now we must slow down, because blinds are low and anybody could be speculating. We check, and our opponent bets 500. We wonder if our 8 really is a good enough kicker with two pair, but we call to find out.
ON THE RIVER: 6
We check again. Our opponent doesn't slow down - he now bets 1,000. What does that mean? His own three of a kind? An oddball straight? Or a semi-bluff with Ace high? Knowing what players tend to do here, we conclude it's the semi-bluff. So we call.
"I've got a King," we say.
The man next to us says nothing - except to turn over 6-6! He hit a full house on the river, and leaves other players stunned; otherwise we would have won.
The first hour was filled with setbacks like that for us. We dropped to about 6,000. But then in the last hand before Break 1, we matched Q-J against a big bettor with a Queen on the flop. He went all-in for 1,100 when an Ace appeared on the river. We feared the worst, but called because we were pot-committed - and were thrilled when he showed Q-8!
That comeback hand gave us 10,575. That launched a second-hour rally, where we won bigger pots. On a 15-player night, we reached the final table with 28,600, then had slightly less at Break 2.
The third hour was huge, as we received A-A and 10-10 in consecutive hands. They were enough to eliminate two players who pushed, and balloon us to 71,800 with five players left! Then Q-10 led to a disguised straight against another big stack - and we were in the 80,000 range!
Only the top two players would win money. But when the contest dropped to three and a low stack proposed "bubble" money for third, we agreed to it. We think we were in the chip lead at Break 3, with 80,800. But the same man proposed a three-way "chop" of the prize money. Since we have a real job and an early wake-up call, we accepted it.
The final result: three players winning $235. Friendly fist bumps and handshakes. A good night for the survivors - and praise to God from us for not only the big comeback, but our second cash win of 2019!
MINSTRY MOMENT: We still are labeled a "distinguished guest" on our poker receipt at Hollywood Casino. Our first dealer saw that and was puzzled. Then he started speculating.
"If you were a knight, I could go home and tell my friends I met a knight."
No, that's not us. But then we remembered: "A well-known book says I can be a king someday - a king and a priest."
Can you guess which book? Regular readers ought to know....
And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. - Revelation 5:10 (KJV)We've heard ministers say through the years that this is a promise for believers who remain faithful to God until the end of their lives or the return of Jesus, whichever comes first. But as we're writing this, we notice something that could change that thinking. This is a "new song" (verse 9) - but who is singing it?
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb.... - Revelation 5:8 (NIV)This section of the Bible apparently is based on a lengthy vision that the apostle John saw (Revelation 1:10). But people are not necessarily saying these words! There are "four creatures" with four different faces (4:6-7). So who are the "elders?"
The Bible shows churches should have people with the title of Elder....
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. - I Timothy 5:17Yet we'd guess many more than 24 people have held the title "Elder" over about 2,000 years of church history. So why does the apostle's vision show only 24 - and are they in heaven now? We invite your comments on this; we'll offer our thoughts in a future post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 219 final tables in 573 games (38.2%) - 47 cashes. We're six for ten in making final tables so far this year!
