Tuned in to the "PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge" on Fox, after a football game today.
Playboy playmates -- playing an "ordinary person" with a coach?
Daniel Negreanu -- in an isolation booth??
Two words: game show. (And that's not a compliment.)
No wonder Doyle Brunson isn't thrilled by it. It didn't thrill us, either.
(Well, except for that "dome of silence" Chris Moneymaker ordered. Sometimes with Negreanu, that would be a good thing.)
What did you think?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday Rewind: Shaken, Not Broken
We left the poker table discussion with an Iraqi veteran admitting he's become unsure about religion, after growing up Catholic. A woman with us at the table brought out the comment that what the vet saw overseas left his faith shaken.
We tried to comfort him in the thought that when it's all said and done, it's about believing in Jesus. It's not really about what church you attend or what denomination's practices you follow.
Some denominations would challenge that notion, because they claim to "know the truth" and their ways are more biblically sound than any other group. But if we pay close attention to the words of Jesus, a different view emerges.
Note John 7:38: "Whoever believes in me [or "on me" in KJV], as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." The next verse points out the "streams" refer to the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you.
John later wrote, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.... Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." (I John 5:1, 5) And Paul adds, "....A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." (Gal. 2:16)
A doubting Thomas needed that sort of faith, after the Lord was resurrected. If you need it, do what the first apostles did. Ask Jesus prayerfully, "Increase our faith." (Luke 17:5) Then practice a believing faith in God -- seeking God, that He might reward you in His good timing (Heb. 11:6).
We tried to comfort him in the thought that when it's all said and done, it's about believing in Jesus. It's not really about what church you attend or what denomination's practices you follow.
Some denominations would challenge that notion, because they claim to "know the truth" and their ways are more biblically sound than any other group. But if we pay close attention to the words of Jesus, a different view emerges.
Note John 7:38: "Whoever believes in me [or "on me" in KJV], as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." The next verse points out the "streams" refer to the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you.
John later wrote, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.... Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." (I John 5:1, 5) And Paul adds, "....A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." (Gal. 2:16)
A doubting Thomas needed that sort of faith, after the Lord was resurrected. If you need it, do what the first apostles did. Ask Jesus prayerfully, "Increase our faith." (Luke 17:5) Then practice a believing faith in God -- seeking God, that He might reward you in His good timing (Heb. 11:6).
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Poker Night 106: Mr. October?
Well, OK -- that title may be overstating things. But we're now three-for-three in making final tables this month. We held on tight through the semifinal hands at Lil Kim's Cove tonight, and wound up in eighth place overall.
A man across the table from us won two huge pots by making flushes on the river. We had to settle for a few mid-sized wins, including one where we apparently telegraphed our hand....
BLINDS: 200/400
IN THE POCKET: Kh-Kd
A player in the blinds is so low on chips that he's forced to go all-in. We have about 7,000 chips, and raise to 1,200. A couple of other players call.
ON THE FLOP: J-8-6 (not completely sure on the last two, but they were low)
We're now first up to bet -- and holding an overpair, we dare to bet 1,500. A man to our immediate left mulls it over, then folds. (Another player in the hand folds as well.)
"You've got a f***ing pocket pair," says the man who tends to swear a lot.
"Do I?!?!" (playing along with him)
"You raised before the flop, then bet after the flop with junk out there."
"Oh. Then I guess I'd better show my pocket pair." And we do. The player who was forced to push is dominated, and the remaining cards don't pair anything. Our Kings are good enough to win.
MINISTRY MOMENT: That man who figured out our hand was given a glimpse of our "Jesus as your Savior" coin at the semifinal table.
"Do you agree with that message?" we asked.
"I don't know," the man said after a moment. "My faith has been shaken."
The man is a two-tour veteran of Iraq -- and after playing a hand, he admitted the experiences overseas shook his faith. "I was baptized a Catholic, and then...."
The facts turned into some wandering opinion from there. "I believe there's a spirituosity, and then there's religion. I think there's some kind of a higher power." But the veteran admitted the dog-tag he once wore with a Catholic saint on it is now gone.
How would you have responded to these comments? We'll share the rest of the conversation in our next post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 44 final tables in 106 nights (41.5%) - 10 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - unchanged (didn't play there)
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 29-35-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 21 final tables in 184 games (11.4%), 2 cashes.
A man across the table from us won two huge pots by making flushes on the river. We had to settle for a few mid-sized wins, including one where we apparently telegraphed our hand....
BLINDS: 200/400
IN THE POCKET: Kh-Kd
A player in the blinds is so low on chips that he's forced to go all-in. We have about 7,000 chips, and raise to 1,200. A couple of other players call.
ON THE FLOP: J-8-6 (not completely sure on the last two, but they were low)
We're now first up to bet -- and holding an overpair, we dare to bet 1,500. A man to our immediate left mulls it over, then folds. (Another player in the hand folds as well.)
"You've got a f***ing pocket pair," says the man who tends to swear a lot.
"Do I?!?!" (playing along with him)
"You raised before the flop, then bet after the flop with junk out there."
"Oh. Then I guess I'd better show my pocket pair." And we do. The player who was forced to push is dominated, and the remaining cards don't pair anything. Our Kings are good enough to win.
MINISTRY MOMENT: That man who figured out our hand was given a glimpse of our "Jesus as your Savior" coin at the semifinal table.
"Do you agree with that message?" we asked.
"I don't know," the man said after a moment. "My faith has been shaken."
The man is a two-tour veteran of Iraq -- and after playing a hand, he admitted the experiences overseas shook his faith. "I was baptized a Catholic, and then...."
The facts turned into some wandering opinion from there. "I believe there's a spirituosity, and then there's religion. I think there's some kind of a higher power." But the veteran admitted the dog-tag he once wore with a Catholic saint on it is now gone.
How would you have responded to these comments? We'll share the rest of the conversation in our next post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 44 final tables in 106 nights (41.5%) - 10 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - unchanged (didn't play there)
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 29-35-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 21 final tables in 184 games (11.4%), 2 cashes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Lil Kim's big change
The "one-night-only" break from poker at Lil Kim's Cove is now an every-week thing. Wednesday night tournaments have stopped, I was told tonight.
The bar still has games on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We plan to be there Thursday. But Tuesday isn't good for us, because we're involved in a telephone Bible discussion then.
Bottom line: we didn't play tonight. We know where we can play on Wednesday nights, and we may head there next week.
The bar still has games on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We plan to be there Thursday. But Tuesday isn't good for us, because we're involved in a telephone Bible discussion then.
Bottom line: we didn't play tonight. We know where we can play on Wednesday nights, and we may head there next week.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Poker Night 105: Fourth of Jolly
Now that we're back from the road, we can tell you more about some big winnings on the road. They came last Monday night at the Ebro greyhound park and poker room northwest of Panama City Beach, Florida.
Ebro has cash game poker 12 hours a day, seven days a week (and we do mean cash; no checks or credit cards are allowed to play). It also has nightly tournaments with big cash prizes; we played on the night with the least expensive buy-in -- $35, plus $5 house fee.
We'd guess about 40 people participated. And careful play on our part led to small early gains. At one point, a pair of Kings was good enough for us to eliminate two players. So our chip stack was healthy enough to reach a nine-player final table -- but not dominating. Tentative betting with large blinds hurt us, and led to a big moment....
BLINDS (as best we remember): 300/600/75 (The 75 is an ante everyone pays, whether in the blinds or not)
IN THE POCKET: A-9
Six players are left, and only the top four will be paid -- but one man has proposed splitting the prize money evenly among all remaining players. That sounds good to us, but men with big stacks object so the game continues. So with our stack low, it's time to go -- as in all-in. One player calls us, and leads with J-J.
ON THE FLOP: J-10-8
Ouch -- the opponent has three of a kind. We're in trouble. But then the dealer notes we have an open-ended straight draw.
ON THE TURN: 7.
We can't resist praising the Lord aloud, and clapping our hands a little! The straight is made -- and the river card is an inconsequential 3.
We were struck by how many players pushed all-in at the final table with big chip stacks, as if to get things finished to go home. Enough players did it that we made the final four, to finish in the money! After another prize-splitting proposal was vetoed by a player, we went all-in and failed. (And of course, then the remaining players agreed to split the prize money.)
But still, fourth place earned us $186 -- more than we've ever made at a poker table. (Yes, we did leave a nice dealers' tip.) Our $40 investment paid off fourfold, and Ebro more than made up for the money we lost trying a cash game at Harrah's in Kansas City last year. We resisted the temptation to try another cash game this time. Why spoil a dream poker night, which came true?
MINISTRY MOMENT: This area was every bit as nice and surprising as the tournament result. Two people at the starting table agreed with our "Jesus as your Savior" coin message -- one of them the manager of a Panama City bar which has free poker several nights a week.
At one point a man to our immediate left needed "change" for big chips, and we happy to take care of it for him. To which he said with no prompting from us: "Grace is what it's all about." Absolutely. We'll say more about that another time.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 43 final tables in 105 nights (41.0%) - 10 cashes.
Ebro has cash game poker 12 hours a day, seven days a week (and we do mean cash; no checks or credit cards are allowed to play). It also has nightly tournaments with big cash prizes; we played on the night with the least expensive buy-in -- $35, plus $5 house fee.
We'd guess about 40 people participated. And careful play on our part led to small early gains. At one point, a pair of Kings was good enough for us to eliminate two players. So our chip stack was healthy enough to reach a nine-player final table -- but not dominating. Tentative betting with large blinds hurt us, and led to a big moment....
BLINDS (as best we remember): 300/600/75 (The 75 is an ante everyone pays, whether in the blinds or not)
IN THE POCKET: A-9
Six players are left, and only the top four will be paid -- but one man has proposed splitting the prize money evenly among all remaining players. That sounds good to us, but men with big stacks object so the game continues. So with our stack low, it's time to go -- as in all-in. One player calls us, and leads with J-J.
ON THE FLOP: J-10-8
Ouch -- the opponent has three of a kind. We're in trouble. But then the dealer notes we have an open-ended straight draw.
ON THE TURN: 7.
We can't resist praising the Lord aloud, and clapping our hands a little! The straight is made -- and the river card is an inconsequential 3.
We were struck by how many players pushed all-in at the final table with big chip stacks, as if to get things finished to go home. Enough players did it that we made the final four, to finish in the money! After another prize-splitting proposal was vetoed by a player, we went all-in and failed. (And of course, then the remaining players agreed to split the prize money.)
But still, fourth place earned us $186 -- more than we've ever made at a poker table. (Yes, we did leave a nice dealers' tip.) Our $40 investment paid off fourfold, and Ebro more than made up for the money we lost trying a cash game at Harrah's in Kansas City last year. We resisted the temptation to try another cash game this time. Why spoil a dream poker night, which came true?
MINISTRY MOMENT: This area was every bit as nice and surprising as the tournament result. Two people at the starting table agreed with our "Jesus as your Savior" coin message -- one of them the manager of a Panama City bar which has free poker several nights a week.
At one point a man to our immediate left needed "change" for big chips, and we happy to take care of it for him. To which he said with no prompting from us: "Grace is what it's all about." Absolutely. We'll say more about that another time.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 43 final tables in 105 nights (41.0%) - 10 cashes.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
This time it's for real
We went to a northwest Florida poker room Monday night, and played in a real buy-in poker tournament for the first time.
Our buy-in: $35 (+ $5 house expenses).
Payout to us at the end of the evening: $186 -- fourth place out of about 35 players (admittedly a guess).
We think we did well. And we were pleasantly surprised at how many Christians we met -- including one who brought up "grace" without our mentioning it.
Details coming on our return home in a few days.
Our buy-in: $35 (+ $5 house expenses).
Payout to us at the end of the evening: $186 -- fourth place out of about 35 players (admittedly a guess).
We think we did well. And we were pleasantly surprised at how many Christians we met -- including one who brought up "grace" without our mentioning it.
Details coming on our return home in a few days.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Poker Night 104: My Weekly Reader
"It's easy to play when your opponent knows how to play well." So a man to our right said during tonight's poker tournament at Lil Kim's Cove. We think that was a compliment -- but then again, maybe our plays are too obvious.
The comment came after we bet in response to a King on the river. Other players folded when we bet -- a good idea, since we had two pair. Someone else would take us on at a critical moment later....
BLINDS: 200/400
IN THE POCKET: A-K offsuit
We've played only a few hands, because the cards have been poor. But this is a bettor's hand, so we raise to 1,100. Two other players call.
ON THE FLOP: Q-Q-8
We're first in line, and we check. "Oh man...." a folded player across the table says in response to this. We later learn he knew we had "big slick." If the other two in the hand know, they aren't saying; they check as well.
ON THE TURN: 4
Still not quite it. We check, as do the others.
ON THE RIVER: K
That's it! "I'm all-in," we announce -- shoving 3,175 chips.
"Instant call," a man to our left says. Gulp. We fear bad news is coming. The third player folds.
"Kings and Queens with an Ace," we show with hope. It beats the opponent's K-10. He's out of the tournament a couple of hands later -- while we use that big gain to keep advancing. A break follows shortly after this hand, and a man marveled at how we went all-in with A-K while three clubs were showing on the board. (We never told him we didn't notice that.)
Our stack was never huge, but we wound up tied for fourth. A man took two of us out at the final table by making a full house.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Our "Jesus as your Savior" coin may be gaining a following. The man who liked it last week picked it up tonight, and showed it to a woman at the semifinal table. She liked the message as well. An order for a package of coins will be coming, after we attend an upcoming church convention. (That convention will limit our posts for the next week or so.)
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 42 final tables in 104 nights (40.4%) - 9 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - unchanged. (No games played).
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 29-34-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 21 final tables in 176 games (11.9%), 2 cashes.
The comment came after we bet in response to a King on the river. Other players folded when we bet -- a good idea, since we had two pair. Someone else would take us on at a critical moment later....
BLINDS: 200/400
IN THE POCKET: A-K offsuit
We've played only a few hands, because the cards have been poor. But this is a bettor's hand, so we raise to 1,100. Two other players call.
ON THE FLOP: Q-Q-8
We're first in line, and we check. "Oh man...." a folded player across the table says in response to this. We later learn he knew we had "big slick." If the other two in the hand know, they aren't saying; they check as well.
ON THE TURN: 4
Still not quite it. We check, as do the others.
ON THE RIVER: K
That's it! "I'm all-in," we announce -- shoving 3,175 chips.
"Instant call," a man to our left says. Gulp. We fear bad news is coming. The third player folds.
"Kings and Queens with an Ace," we show with hope. It beats the opponent's K-10. He's out of the tournament a couple of hands later -- while we use that big gain to keep advancing. A break follows shortly after this hand, and a man marveled at how we went all-in with A-K while three clubs were showing on the board. (We never told him we didn't notice that.)
Our stack was never huge, but we wound up tied for fourth. A man took two of us out at the final table by making a full house.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Our "Jesus as your Savior" coin may be gaining a following. The man who liked it last week picked it up tonight, and showed it to a woman at the semifinal table. She liked the message as well. An order for a package of coins will be coming, after we attend an upcoming church convention. (That convention will limit our posts for the next week or so.)
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 42 final tables in 104 nights (40.4%) - 9 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - unchanged. (No games played).
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 29-34-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 21 final tables in 176 games (11.9%), 2 cashes.
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