The Option Play

Is it something we've said? Maybe the wrong anti-perspirant?

Whatever the reason, 2016 is ending with yet another closure at a place where we've played poker. We mentioned last week that Osage Casino near Tulsa has "temporarily closed" its poker room - a place where we made a final table on our only visit during the summer.

This adds to a 2016 dropout list which included three independent poker rooms in Wichita, Prairie Band Casino north of Topeka and Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City (at least for tournament play).

It feels like we're not playing in person as much - but maybe that's misleading. As of this post, we've entered 31 live tournaments this year. That's better than one every couple of weeks. But work and other projects have cut into our poker time - not to mention a rather high buy-in at the main casino which has become our most convenient place to play.

What do you do when you run short of options.... not in terms of poker rooms, but big decisions in life? We can think of one man who faced that sort of challenge:

...A messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off".... another messenger came and said, "The fire of God came from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants".... another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" - Job 1:14-17

Talk about a bad day! And things got worse for Job from there. He lost all his children in the next two verses. Yet God allowed Satan the devil to do all these things to Job (verse 12). It was a test to see how a "blameless and upright... man who fears God" (verse 8) would respond to the loss of valuable things.

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. then he fell to the ground in worship and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." - Job  1:20-21

You may be in a place on this planet where you can't go out and play poker every week - or even every month. In the internet age, at least you have online options for having some fun and keeping your game sharp. But even if you didn't, could you still be thankful to God for not having anyplace to play poker?

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.... - Ecclesiastes 7:14

God may have removed the poker options to get you focused on other things. Better things. More important things - like straightening out your life and repenting of your sins.

So give God praise for whatever he gives you, whether it's a little or a lot. Then ask Him prayerfully to show where you should go from here - and have faith that He will open the best options of all in your life.

Poker Day 482: Osage, Can You See

"The main reason I'm here is for a birthday burger," we explained to the man who prepared our registration card. He asked why we took a trip of nearly three hours today to the edge of Tulsa, Oklahoma And it was true: a restaurant chain which offers free burgers on your birthday isn't located in our city.  But we decided if we going to make a day trip, we might as well try to win our money back.

So before the burger, we played poker for the first time at Osage Casino. It's a nice, relatively small tribal complex with a poker room that's a nice distance away from the main floor of noisy slot machines. And its daily afternoon tournaments are downright cheap, at a $30 buy-in. Would a Thursday with a small turnout work to our advantage?

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 7-6 of clubs

Everyone starts with 3,000 chips, and this is the first round of blinds. An early trial balloon failed for us, so we start with about 2,800. A player raises to 150, and we join about three other players in calling.

ON THE FLOP: 5-8-9

If we were a slot machine, a lot of noise would happen right now. We hit the straight jackpot - but we notice two of these three cards are hearts (we forget exactly which ones). So when a player bets 150, we pounce with a raise to 550.

"I'm probably gonna regret this," says a man on the opposite end of the table. He calls; no one else does.

ON THE TURN: 7s

OK, that's not a heart - but that's not necessarily the best card for us. Our chances of a unique straight have gone down. But we sense our opponent is on a flush draw - so when he checks, we bet 550 again.

"I've got to stay for one more," he says as he calls.

ON THE RIVER: 10c

 No flush there - yet four numbered cards in a row actually are more trouble for us. Perhaps our opponent senses that, because now he bets 1,500. That practically would put us all in.

"After all of that...." we say aloud in a bit of frustration. We invested a lot in this hand, but all he needs is a Jack for a superior straight.

"I can't go there," we finally conclude as we fold. We take a big loss, and the winner doesn't show his cards. But there are post-mortems.

"Did you have pocket Jacks?" another player asks the winner.

"Something like that," he vaguely answers.

"Should have gone all-in," we overhear someone else saying - apparently toward us. We don't respond, but we thought we'd bet enough to run the opponent off. As it turned out, we were at a rather loose table where pushing might have been in order - but all the players were new to us.

That loss put us in a tough position for most of the day - but the looseness of the table worked in our favor. Players pushed and failed, while we waited for good moments. Then those moments came: a double-up with A-5, followed minutes later by another double-up with A-10. A measly 1,250 chips were enough to get us to the final table on a two-table 19-player day.

Once we got there, another push with A-5 paid off when an Ace came on the turn. But rising blinds and a couple of small losses kept us short-stacked. Finally with seven players left, we pushed again with 10-10 - but a young man across from us slow-bet pocket Aces and called. The board didn't save us, and we finished tied for sixth due to a double take-out. We left satisfied, knowing things could have turned out much worse.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Is that a dollar?" the man to our right asked when he saw our card protector. It was actually the one with the Lord's Supper on one side and a depiction of Jesus on the other.

"What do you think of Jesus?" we asked the man. "Is He your Savior?"

"Most certainly, yes," he answered. "I'm number two; He's number one."

That's a good answer - and we hope he means it. But is it true with you? Who comes first in your life?

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves.... - II Timothy 3:1-2

This is an issue we've admittedly battled internally for many years: is it wrong to love yourself? Whitney Houston sold a lot of records declaring, "Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all." But Jesus indicated there was a love much greater than that - so great it was commanded:

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this.... 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." - Mark 12:29-31

God indeed should be our #1 love. But notice Jesus did not say we personally are #2. Our neighbors should be. That can include your family, to borrow from a famous sports memoir. But how about including fellow poker players - especially if you play with some people on a regular basis, and come to know them well?

We can love our neighbors in many ways. It can start with polite words at the table, and extend as far as praying for players with serious problems. But let's go back to that internal question, and ask for your comments. Is it wrong to love yourself? We'll dig deeper into that issue in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 179 final tables in 482 games (37.1%) - 34 cashes. Only the top two players won money today. Oh, by the way: the "free birthday burger" was pretty good - even if cheese on top cost us 50 cents.