Poker Day 418: Omaha, Hike

There may have been competition before, when it comes to poker rooms in our city.  But there certainly is now.  After seeing a front-page ad in a weekly newspaper, today we went to Winners Cardroom - a room which has been open only about a month, and still had things being installed as we waited to play.

The set-up is similar to River City Card Room - with "free" tournaments every day, if you pay a $20 "chair rental."  One big difference is that food and drink costs money at Winners, instead of being free.  Another is that you can buy five "tip chips" to pay the dealer during the games, in exchange for 5,000 bonus chips.

Call us a cheapskate, but we plunked down only $20 to take our chances -- at what turned out to be a one-table "Dealer's Choice" affair:

BLINDS: 100/200

FORMAT: Omaha Hi/Lo

IN THE POCKET: 7-5-6-J

Someone else selected this format.  We certainly would not, because we've had no success at it.  But three connectors in a row seems "good to go" for us, so we call.  Keep in mind, Omaha rules only allow players to use two of their pocket cards in building hands -- and in "Hi/Lo," the highest and lowest hands will split the pot.

ON THE FLOP: 7-K-4

We have a pair, but hope for much more.  Our 5-6 gives us an open-ended straight draw.  We've lost a little of our starting stack, so we want to stick around.  As best we recall, a player to our left bet around 700, and we called.

ON THE TURN: 10

No, that's not it.  Now, as best we remember, the player to our left put out 1,200.  With that straight draw still possible, we call again -- as a man to our right who's already folded mumbles something about having a 9-8.  Uh-oh.  That would be a higher straight than ours.

ON THE RIVER: 3

That's it!  At least, we hope so.  Now we bet 1,000 (as best we recall).  A couple of people call.  Then we announce, "56 Straight."

Our two "hole cards" wind up succeeding!  The straight wins the "high" side of the pot.  Then the dealer declares we also have the "low" side -- apparently from the 5-6 joining with 3-4-10?! (We invite readers to help us understand this.)  We take every chip in play, and a pot in the thousands.

This started us on a run to take several hands in the first hour.  We reached a high of 50,000 chips (from a starting 15,100).  But then the winning stopped, as our chip stack slowly eroded due to rising blinds.

We stayed alive at one point on an all-in bet with three Jacks.  But then another Omaha hand came with five players remaining, and were forced to go all-in for our last 10,000 chips.  The cards gave up a club flush -- but our clubs were 3-2, and someone else had two higher clubs to defeat us.

On a day with an estimated 12 players floating in and out, we wound up fifth.  Only the top two players won money, but it still was a rather satisfying finish in a format we admittedly don't feel comfortable playing.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Before the game began, two men were talking about recent bad beats they had in cash games.  One man described having J-J, and feeling thrilled about a flop of J-10-10.  Then he was shocked to see 10-10 on the turn and river -- and another man with a King wound up with the better quads!

"That's a sign from God that's it's time to get out," the other man told him.  Interesting.

"But doesn't God give signs that things are going well?!" we asked moments later.

The man seemed reluctant to accept that -- but let's consider this issue.  Signs are discussed many times in the Bible.  Take this example given by Jesus:

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky.... - Matthew 24:30

If you saw this sign of Christ, what would your reaction be?  Would it be positive or negative?  Jesus continues:

....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 24:30b

The nations will mourn when they the sign of Jesus's second coming.  Why?  Probably because the nations as a whole have doubted God's existence, or didn't think the Bible meant what it said.  Yet those who believe in Jesus will have no reason to mourn....

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. - Matthew 24:31

Other verses show God's "elect" will meet Jesus in the air, at His second coming (I Thessalonians 4:16-17) - and they'll live with the Lord forever.  The sign of the Son of Man will be absolutely positive for them.  So it comes down to a simple question: how do you look at Jesus -- and do you believe His promise about a second coming?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 146 final tables in 418 games (34.9%) - 24 cashes.  Today marked our first final table in the last six live tournaments, and the first since late September.

Poker Day 407: Aussie Rules

We walked into Arrowhead Poker today planning to play Texas Hold 'em.  But then someone at our table uttered two words which changed everything: "Dealer's Choice."

The poker room had paid dealers on the staff, and our dealer agreed to this idea for a Sunday change-up.  Except each player could call the rules for a hand, as the dealer button came to them.  This forced us to play all sorts of poker variations we'd never tried before -- and even one round of blackjack!  They included this one....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: A-K-3-3

We've been dealt four cards instead of two, because the player with the button has called "Billabong."  It's like Omaha poker, except you must use at least three pocket cards (perhaps all four) to make your best possible five-card hand.

We're under the gun with two high cards and a pair.  That seems good enough to start after a few admittedly hesitant hands on our part with other variations.  We call; as best we remember, a player to our left raises to 600 and we call it.

ON THE FLOP: Ah-4d-Kd

Top two pair looks nice -- unless someone has three diamonds, which already would give him a flush.  The blinds check, and we offer a "statement bet" of 1,000.  The raiser to our left isn't scared; he bumps it up to 2,000.  A player behind him calls, and so do we.

ON THE TURN: Qh

Our cards don't offer flush potential, so now we're content to check.  The man to our left refuses to slow down, betting 3,000.  The man between us calls, and we face a challenging decision.  We choose to call, hoping for an Ace or King on the river....

ON THE RIVER: 3c

....but instead, we make a full house in the most unexpected way!  Now we offer a modest-looking bet of 2,000.  The big bettor responds by going all-in for 7,500 more.  The man in the middle calls.  If we were more familiar with this version, we probably would have pushed at this point -- but instead we settle for a call.

"I've got a flush," the big bettor confirms.

"The 3 was my friend," we say -- displaying a threes-over-tens full house.  It knocks the big bettor out, and we hit the jackpot to jump above 51,000 chips.

Only after we get home do we look up the word "billabong."  We knew it's Australian, but thought it was either an animal or a musical instrument.  It's actually a "dead end" tributary of a river.  Considering the river card which came for us, this version of poker is very well-named.  Only one other Billabong hand was played all day -- and we called it, only to fold our cards pre-flop.

But that big haul helped us last for a while -- and on a day with only enough players for two tables, we reached the final table.  (The game returned to regular Texas Hold 'em at that point.)  Then we won a couple of timely pots, including an all-in moment with 6-6 and a push with A-9 which brought a fold.  With careful play and timely cards, we lasted long enough to reach the final two!

Our opponent had a big advantage in chips at that point, and our attempt to go all-in with K-6 and King-high at the turn did us in.  He made a pair of 4's on the turn, and survived the river to win the tournament.  But we finished very thankful - as second place paid three times our buy-in, or $60.  (Third place had a payout as well.)

MINISTRY MOMENT: We told you during an earlier Arrowhead tournament about a man who served time in prison, and now is going straight with his life.

"Thirteen months," he told the table, "and I haven't touched a drop."

"Praise the Lord," we said in response.

"And I do," the man confirmed -- giving God the credit.

If you have success, whether at a poker tournament or in battling life's trials, do you give credit where it's due?

Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. - Psalm 115:1

It's tempting to be like Little Jack Horner, of nursery rhyme fame -- and declare, "What a good boy am I!"  But we heard a sermon on Christian radio as we drove to the tournament which reminded us we're not good.

As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one.... All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." - Romans 3:10, 12

These are humbling words -- and as we heard during a sermon in our own congregation over the weekend, we should be humble in our daily walk.

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." - I Peter 5:5b

We couldn't even drive or walk to a poker room without God providing the life and strength to do it.  Be sure to thank God for those seemingly small daily blessings -- as well as the bigger ones when they come along.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 141 final tables in 407 tournaments (34.6%) - 23 cashes.  We've played in five live tournaments since moving to Wichita, and finished first or second in three of them!