Poker Night #80: The Man With a Slow Hand

People who only play poker online might go crazy at some live tournaments. The pace at times can be soooooooo slow, as some people simply seeking a good time seem more interested in talking than playing -- and admittedly some players are older, so they don't move as quickly.

At Lil Kim's Cove tonight, one man at our table pointed out to another that the first 15-minute segment of the game had only four hands played. But one of them was memorable....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: We honestly don't remember -- but it was uninspiring, so we folded. Let's say 3-6 offsuit. Several players call, since the game is only a few hands old.

ON THE FLOP: 7c-Qc-Ac.

A young man "one off the button" bets 1,500. (Everyone starts with 5,000.) A man to the dealer's left, who's older and doesn't move so well, calls. Everyone else bails out. After a moment....

ON THE TURN: 7d.

The older man checks. The young man bets 1,500 again. The older man ponders it carefully for a minute, but finally calls.

ON THE RIVER: 7h.

Three sevens are on the board, but the young man is undaunted. "All in," he decides with about 5,500 chips left. The older man waits for him to add up the chips -- then calls.

"I had a flush on the flop," the young man says. He shows 10-6 of clubs.

The dealer turns over the 7 of spades. He also has 8c -- but he hit quads on the river!

"Ouch! That's gotta hurt," we say to offer some sympathy.

As they say around the table, the older man "won it all:" a big stack of chips, a 5,000-chip bonus for hitting quads and the cards for dealing. But the big winner decided to slowly sort out all those chips first, and give the rest of us a quick verbal review of the hand. Perhaps he was relishing the moment, but it must have been three minutes before he bothers to shuffle the cards for the next hand.

That man still had a big stack of chips when we met our end in 17th place, barely reaching the semifinal table. We won a couple of pots, but lost a lot in a "two pair vs. three of a kind" matchup and a "low flush vs. high flush" clash.

The ending was a tough one as well, as we called with A-2 and went all-in when 3-4-5 of spades came on the flop. But we didn't have a spade, and another man had two of them. We were beaten all the way.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Our "Jesus as your Savior" coin was popular tonight. Players on both sides of us wanted to look at it, without our bringing it up.

A man to our left agreed, "That's more valuable than any coin." In fact, he wanted us to give the coin to him -- but we only have that one, and it's become a very good witnessing tool.

A man to our right also agreed with the message. "I'm a Christian. I became saved on Easter Sunday three years ago." But he's admittedly wary of attending any local churches. "All most of them seem to be interested in is your money." An interesting comment at a poker table, isn't it?!

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 35 final tables in 80 nights (43.8%) - 8 cashes.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,164 - down $47. (We set a new record high Tuesday, at $13,243.)

NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player games - 17-23-2-3-5. Cash/point tournaments - 5 final tables in 63 games (7.9%), no cashes.

We had our best finish there Tuesday afternoon, finishing 6th in a 50-player match.

Poker Night #46: The Aces Crack'd

Playing carefully helped me win an early pot at The Roadhouse tonight. But a top pair in the pocket wound up biting me, and I wound up in about 15th place. (We have to say "about" because only two tables were in action, but latecomers kept being added to the game as others were knocked out.)

BLINDS: 50/100.

IN THE POCKET: Aces!

I'm the big blind, and players call around to me. I raise 400, and several people join the party.

ON THE FLOP: K-Q-junk. (I think it was an 8.)

I'm first up, and bet 1,000. The man to my left calls without a flinch. One or two others do the same.

ON THE TURN: More junk -- maybe a 5.

Something tells me trouble is looming here, even though there's nothing to indicate a straight or flush. So I check.

"I'm all in," the man to my left says right away. Uh-huh. "You don't go f***ing me by checking there. Take my chips."

What would you do? He might have an A-K or A-Q and merely have top pair.

"I'll do it. I'll call," I decide -- pushing in 3,300 to match his bet. "I've got rockets."

"Two pair," he says -- showing a K-Q.

"I feared that," I say in response. My hunch turned out to be right. Something WAS wrong here, but I dared to play on anyway. Yet all I have to do is pair the board on the river, and I'll win the pot with a higher two pair....

ON THE RIVER: More junk -- a 6, I think.

We never recovered from that big loss, finally going all-in with K-Q with the blinds at 100/200 and 625 left in our bank. But in that case, another player had pocket Aces -- and they held up to take the pot, and take me out. Didn't we just have a post about giving and taking away?


MINISTRY MOMENT: Before the game begins, a man notices my new card marker. It's a coin mentioning Jesus being your Savior. (More on that coin another time.)

"Feel mine," he says -- a thick, gold-edged old Mexican coin. The man then talks about the devaluation of the peso years ago relative to the dollar, and how Mexico's economy recovered from that much faster than the U.S. is from its housing mess.

"This," I say referring to my coin, "is more about the message than the money."

"Maybe it's platinum," the man says. But after holding it a second and looking at both sides, he concludes it's made "from the top of a Mountain Dew can."

This man must have read the message on the coin. But he didn't want to talk about what it said. Maybe another night he will -- or maybe he needed to think about it.

UPDATED SCOREBOARD: 21 final tables in 46 nights (45.7%) -- 6 cashes. As we mentioned below, this will be our last live tournament for a few weeks due to an upcoming church convention.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: RECORD HIGH $8422 (Up $652). We've been cooking there lately, gaining more than $1,500 since Labor Day.