Our first stop Sunday afternoon was a tournament at Prairie Band Casino, north of Topeka. The weekend buy-in was $45. The atmosphere was relaxed, with three full tables of players. And the challenge for us was to stay focused on the action - especially since we had a medical emergency a couple of nights before, which put us in the hospital.
BLINDS: 10/20
IN THE POCKET: K-Q offsuit
Even though it's early in the contest, several players have been in a pushing mood. We've held off and taken things patiently, with our starting 1,000 chips down only a bit. This time, no one raises and we're content to call.
ON THE FLOP: 4-K-J
We have top pair and a nice kicker, so we put out a probing bet of 50. Several players concede, but one man across from us calls.
ON THE TURN: K
Top trips now! But does our opponent want to jump into potential trouble? We check to see. He doesn't, checking as well.
ON THE RIVER: A
This card opens a door for potential trouble, if our opponent is sitting on a straight draw. But that doesn't occur to us at this moment. When he bets 100, we think our three Kings are still best. We raise to 250, and he calls.
"We three Kings," we announce as we show. The Queen apparently makes a difference, as he also shows a King.... but not his other card. The kicker gives us a nice pot and a strong gain.
Our holdings gained well, thanks to good cards. Then we held on during a segment when the hands were lousy. Yet we reached the final table, walking a bit of a chip tightrope -- and we survived to the final seven players, to make money!
Then the good cards started coming back, and we eliminated at least one opponent. We made it all the way to a heads-up showdown. But our opponent had about a 2:1 chip advantage at that point; when we dared to go all-in pre-flop with 8-4 of clubs, we were outgunned and lost.
But it was still a very good day -- with a $209 second-place payoff for about three hours of play. (We didn't ask the winner how much he won.) That's our second-biggest poker payday ever, topped only by a night in the Florida panhandle during a 2011 church convention. And we won a $5 bonus in "after-hours trading," playing Ultimate Texas Hold 'em elsewhere at the casino,
MINISTRY MOMENT: For the first time that we can recall, we spotted a player wearing a Bible verse on his T-shirt. Below a patriotic message was a reference to this:
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. - Psalm 33:12
The man told us during a break he's the son of a minister. He mumbled some of the rest of his story, about how he wound up in a casino on a Sunday afternoon. We told him about our efforts to discuss the things of God in poker rooms; he didn't offer much of a reaction to it.
So what about that Bible verse? Some evangelical Christians might see that as applying to the U.S. In fact, some have declared the U.S. is descended from one of the "lost tribes" of Israel. But we'd point out something else about God's blessings....
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." - Acts 10:34-35
The apostle Peter was focused on ministering to Jews - but Acts 10 shows how a Gentile man named Cornelius changed his thinking. In the same way, we think God will bless and honor people who fear and obey Him in any country on Earth.
We did a detailed study into the concept of the U.S. being of the "lost tribes." We welcome your thoughts about it -- but be warned: it's SO detailed that you might have to give up some poker-playing time to get through both parts.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 165 final tables in 450 games (36.7%) - 28 cashes.
It's our second tournament cash win in a row, and our fourth this year (one online). But the BPPT Tour only started here; wait until you see our next post!
