An interesting dispute came up at our poker table Thursday night -- and we're not sure what the right answer is. Perhaps you do.
A woman bet 2,000 (as best we recall). A man then asked her for a chip count.
"I don't have to give you that," the woman said.
"Yes, you do," the man answered. "I want to decide whether to raise."
The woman then displayed her chip stack -- a very unsorted stack, since she had won the previous pot moments before.
"All I have to do is show them to you," she maintained. "Count them for yourself."
She called the display of the chips a "courtesy" to her opponent. What do you think of this? Our answer will come in an upcoming post.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Poker Night 109: Stumbling at the Heights
It's become clear to us in recent weeks that we need to improve our handling of late-game situations -- where blinds are high, players are fewer and you can't really wait for a big hand to come.
Thursday night at Lil Kim's Cove was an example. We had 8,500 chips after the one-hour break, but wound up folding two promising hands when the flop went against us. That led to this....
BLINDS: 500/1000
IN THE POCKET: 10-9 of clubs
With 4,500 chips left, we think for a moment about what to do with this. Hoping to get in small, we call. A couple of other players join in.
ON THE FLOP: 10h-9h-5d.
Not a perfect flop -- but at this point, it seems very good for us. A player ahead of us checks, then we push all-in with 3,500 left. A man to our immediate left calls. Everyone else folds.
"I have two pair," I say turning the cards over.
"I don't care," our opponent says. "I'm about to get you on the turn."
"Are you?" we say quietly.
ON THE TURN: Jack of hearts.
"There it is," our opponent says -- and he shows two hearts. He has an overpowering flush.
"Unless I can get a full house on the river," we note quietly.
ON THE RIVER: 6 of hearts.
Not tonight. We're out in about 26th place.
By the way, the man we thought pulled the scary stunt outside Soho confessed to it as we set up the poker tables tonight. "I was just kidding," he explained. We told him about our reasoning, which is posted below this. The man assured us he's NOT a criminal, but never really apologized.
MINISTRY MOMENT: When we win pots online, we increasingly are typing in three letters: PTL. So far, no one has asked for an explanation.
If you need one, think back about 20 years -- to the heyday of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Their "PTL Club" on television had some excesses, but they wound up being 20 years ahead of the texting wave. The letters stand for "Praise the Lord."
That phrase appears often in the Psalms. Consider this example from Psalm 135:3. "Praise the Lord: for the Lord is good...." If you have a good game at the poker table, or a good day in any walk of life, don't be afraid to give God praise for it.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 45 final tables in 109 nights (41.3%) - 10 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,816 - up $18.
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 31-36-10-6-8. Full tournaments - 24 final tables in 205 games (11.7%), 2 cashes.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 1-1-0-0-0. No full tournaments there yet.
Thursday night at Lil Kim's Cove was an example. We had 8,500 chips after the one-hour break, but wound up folding two promising hands when the flop went against us. That led to this....
BLINDS: 500/1000
IN THE POCKET: 10-9 of clubs
With 4,500 chips left, we think for a moment about what to do with this. Hoping to get in small, we call. A couple of other players join in.
ON THE FLOP: 10h-9h-5d.
Not a perfect flop -- but at this point, it seems very good for us. A player ahead of us checks, then we push all-in with 3,500 left. A man to our immediate left calls. Everyone else folds.
"I have two pair," I say turning the cards over.
"I don't care," our opponent says. "I'm about to get you on the turn."
"Are you?" we say quietly.
ON THE TURN: Jack of hearts.
"There it is," our opponent says -- and he shows two hearts. He has an overpowering flush.
"Unless I can get a full house on the river," we note quietly.
ON THE RIVER: 6 of hearts.
Not tonight. We're out in about 26th place.
By the way, the man we thought pulled the scary stunt outside Soho confessed to it as we set up the poker tables tonight. "I was just kidding," he explained. We told him about our reasoning, which is posted below this. The man assured us he's NOT a criminal, but never really apologized.
MINISTRY MOMENT: When we win pots online, we increasingly are typing in three letters: PTL. So far, no one has asked for an explanation.
If you need one, think back about 20 years -- to the heyday of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Their "PTL Club" on television had some excesses, but they wound up being 20 years ahead of the texting wave. The letters stand for "Praise the Lord."
That phrase appears often in the Psalms. Consider this example from Psalm 135:3. "Praise the Lord: for the Lord is good...." If you have a good game at the poker table, or a good day in any walk of life, don't be afraid to give God praise for it.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 45 final tables in 109 nights (41.3%) - 10 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,816 - up $18.
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 31-36-10-6-8. Full tournaments - 24 final tables in 205 games (11.7%), 2 cashes.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 1-1-0-0-0. No full tournaments there yet.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Scared off my game
As we drove to a poker tournament tonight, two ideas were bouncing in our head -- fear and fleeing. The Bible seems to be against the former, and in favor of the latter. Yet some would say we wound up doing both.
We walked down the strip mall sidewalk toward the door of Soho Bar and Grill. "You coming in?" a man at the door asked.
We were, so we correctly guessed what that meant. We pulled out our wallet, to show a legal ID. "Sweet," the man said.
"NO! You can't play tonight! You can't play tonight!" Someone from behind reached around and grabbed us.
"OK, I'll leave." We did a 180-degree turn and walked the other way -- away from the door of Soho, never stepping inside.
"Come back," a voice behind us said -- the voice of the man who had grabbed us. "I was kidding. Please stop!"
We didn't. The voice sounded familiar, as a man who plays with us often. But without even turning around to see who was talking, we went directly to the car, pulled out and drove home -- not stopping until we reached home to post this.
It's a sad truth that most free poker tournaments take place in bars and nightclubs. Our city has had several shootings at bars in the last couple of years, including places which have poker nights. (Admittedly, the attacks came well after the poker ended.)
It's also a fact that Halloween is approaching -- an annual event which plays on people's fears. It's an event we personally avoid as much as possible, because we don't consider it a Christian thing to do.
Put those two pieces of evidence together, and you might understand why we reacted as we did tonight. If we don't feel safe entering a place to play poker, we're not addicted to the game enough to go in and risk trouble.
We don't have to go out and drive across town for poker nights, after all. We can play online, in the safety of our computer room. It's obviously not the same, but we can.
"Deliver me, O Lord, from thine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me," says Psalm 143:7 in the King James Version. On the other hand, I John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love.... He that fears is not made perfect in love."
How do we balance these two things? We're not sure if we did it the right way tonight or not. Your comments are welcome about it.
But come to think of it, many a chip stack has been lost by the poker player who boldly went all-in with what he thought was a good hand -- only to find his opponent across the table had one even better. It's the stuff of poetry....
He who should have folded and fled
Pushed and went all-in instead --
Only to wind up drawing dead.
We walked down the strip mall sidewalk toward the door of Soho Bar and Grill. "You coming in?" a man at the door asked.
We were, so we correctly guessed what that meant. We pulled out our wallet, to show a legal ID. "Sweet," the man said.
"NO! You can't play tonight! You can't play tonight!" Someone from behind reached around and grabbed us.
"OK, I'll leave." We did a 180-degree turn and walked the other way -- away from the door of Soho, never stepping inside.
"Come back," a voice behind us said -- the voice of the man who had grabbed us. "I was kidding. Please stop!"
We didn't. The voice sounded familiar, as a man who plays with us often. But without even turning around to see who was talking, we went directly to the car, pulled out and drove home -- not stopping until we reached home to post this.
It's a sad truth that most free poker tournaments take place in bars and nightclubs. Our city has had several shootings at bars in the last couple of years, including places which have poker nights. (Admittedly, the attacks came well after the poker ended.)
It's also a fact that Halloween is approaching -- an annual event which plays on people's fears. It's an event we personally avoid as much as possible, because we don't consider it a Christian thing to do.
Put those two pieces of evidence together, and you might understand why we reacted as we did tonight. If we don't feel safe entering a place to play poker, we're not addicted to the game enough to go in and risk trouble.
We don't have to go out and drive across town for poker nights, after all. We can play online, in the safety of our computer room. It's obviously not the same, but we can.
"Deliver me, O Lord, from thine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me," says Psalm 143:7 in the King James Version. On the other hand, I John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love.... He that fears is not made perfect in love."
How do we balance these two things? We're not sure if we did it the right way tonight or not. Your comments are welcome about it.
But come to think of it, many a chip stack has been lost by the poker player who boldly went all-in with what he thought was a good hand -- only to find his opponent across the table had one even better. It's the stuff of poetry....
He who should have folded and fled
Pushed and went all-in instead --
Only to wind up drawing dead.
On the NLOP
The NBC Sports online site wasn't working right Tuesday afternoon, so we gave another popular poker spot a try -- the National League of Poker.
We marveled at how the site's set-up was remarkably similar to NBC Sports. But then we remembered seeing an NLOP address appear, when we accidentally clicked on one or two NBC Sports banner ads.
The number of daily games for cash prizes admittedly disappointed us -- and we really don't need to win a "tailgate grill."
If you've played at NLOP, what do you think of it?
(P.S. We played two five-player sit-n-goes and finished second twice.)
We marveled at how the site's set-up was remarkably similar to NBC Sports. But then we remembered seeing an NLOP address appear, when we accidentally clicked on one or two NBC Sports banner ads.
The number of daily games for cash prizes admittedly disappointed us -- and we really don't need to win a "tailgate grill."
If you've played at NLOP, what do you think of it?
(P.S. We played two five-player sit-n-goes and finished second twice.)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
NBC Sports Championship #6: The Wrong Time to Strike
For the first time in about two months, we qualified to play in tonight's online Weekly Championship at NBC Sports. (Our schedule was such in several recent weeks that we couldn't have played the big Sunday night game, even had we qualified.) Here's how it went....
:05 IN: We have Q-Q, which turns into a full house with Q's over 3's. We score a fast $1,020 pot.
From then, the deal doesn't impress us for quite awhile. We barely play a hand for the next 25 minutes.
:34 IN: We have A-Q, and an Ace appears on the flop. We bet carefully, fearing another player has two pair -- but no one does, and we take a $380 pot which eliminates a player.
:37 IN: A check of the scoreboard shows 302 players remain, out of a starting 635. Half the field dropped out in a big hurry.
:42 IN: We have 7-8. The flop is 5-6-10, giving us an open-ended straight draw. Another player is betting the minimum $200, and we call. An 8 on the turn gives us a pair, but not what we really want. After another $200 call, a 6 on the river gives us an uninspiring two pair. Everyone checks -- and another player has the 9 we lacked, to make a straight.
:47 IN: The prior hand cost us a lot of chips, and we're left with $920. Dealt A-8, we double the bet to $400 and attract a couple of callers.
ON THE FLOP: A-5-3.
With $520 left, we decide it's time to push all-in with top pair. But another player calls -- who happens to have A-J. This is big trouble.
ON THE TURN: 4.
If a 2 comes on the river, we'll split the pot with a straight on the board.
ON THE RIVER: 6.
Final score: a finish in 224th place. Try, try again.
:05 IN: We have Q-Q, which turns into a full house with Q's over 3's. We score a fast $1,020 pot.
From then, the deal doesn't impress us for quite awhile. We barely play a hand for the next 25 minutes.
:34 IN: We have A-Q, and an Ace appears on the flop. We bet carefully, fearing another player has two pair -- but no one does, and we take a $380 pot which eliminates a player.
:37 IN: A check of the scoreboard shows 302 players remain, out of a starting 635. Half the field dropped out in a big hurry.
:42 IN: We have 7-8. The flop is 5-6-10, giving us an open-ended straight draw. Another player is betting the minimum $200, and we call. An 8 on the turn gives us a pair, but not what we really want. After another $200 call, a 6 on the river gives us an uninspiring two pair. Everyone checks -- and another player has the 9 we lacked, to make a straight.
:47 IN: The prior hand cost us a lot of chips, and we're left with $920. Dealt A-8, we double the bet to $400 and attract a couple of callers.
ON THE FLOP: A-5-3.
With $520 left, we decide it's time to push all-in with top pair. But another player calls -- who happens to have A-J. This is big trouble.
ON THE TURN: 4.
If a 2 comes on the river, we'll split the pot with a straight on the board.
ON THE RIVER: 6.
Final score: a finish in 224th place. Try, try again.
Sunday Rewind: This Important Message
During our Thursday night poker tournament, we had a chat with a man about messages. He said there's no other message than the one about Jesus. We said there are many messages out there. We're actually both right -- but looking at things from a different perspective.
The way you play a poker hand sends a message. You could "limp" with a big hand -- simply calling other people's bets as if you don't have much, but laying low until the time is right to strike. We were burned on this in an online game Saturday night. We kept betting with Aces and 2's for two pair, while a man kept calling with a third 2 hidden away.
Or you could bet big right away. Sometimes that's setting up a bluff, but sometimes not. This burned us Saturday night as well. We bet into a pot with Q-Q, then someone pushed all-in before the flop. We called it in hope -- only to discover our opponent had A-A, and our game was over.
So there can be true messages and false messages in poker. It's that way when it comes to God as well. Paul warned the Galatians against "turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." (Gal. 1:6-7)
That gospel is THE one and only real message. "You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news [or gospel] of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all." (Acts 10:36)
For whatever reason, many people don't want to hear that message. Yet Paul declared, "....the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (I Cor. 1:18)
So it's a message vital for your salvation. Are you listening to it? And if you've heard it, are you living in obedience to it? After all, the way you live actually sends a message to others as well.
The way you play a poker hand sends a message. You could "limp" with a big hand -- simply calling other people's bets as if you don't have much, but laying low until the time is right to strike. We were burned on this in an online game Saturday night. We kept betting with Aces and 2's for two pair, while a man kept calling with a third 2 hidden away.
Or you could bet big right away. Sometimes that's setting up a bluff, but sometimes not. This burned us Saturday night as well. We bet into a pot with Q-Q, then someone pushed all-in before the flop. We called it in hope -- only to discover our opponent had A-A, and our game was over.
So there can be true messages and false messages in poker. It's that way when it comes to God as well. Paul warned the Galatians against "turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." (Gal. 1:6-7)
That gospel is THE one and only real message. "You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news [or gospel] of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all." (Acts 10:36)
For whatever reason, many people don't want to hear that message. Yet Paul declared, "....the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (I Cor. 1:18)
So it's a message vital for your salvation. Are you listening to it? And if you've heard it, are you living in obedience to it? After all, the way you live actually sends a message to others as well.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Poker Night 108: True Love Waits
After the overconfident moment one night before, we didn't go to Lil Kim's Cove intending to play extra-tight tonight. Things simply happened that way. But we took what you might call an early romantic fling....
BLINDS: 25/50
IN THE POCKET: Q-10 of hearts
It's only the second hand of the tournament, so there's no trouble in throwing 50 in this pot. A man to our immediate left raises 100, and we join several players in calling that.
ON THE FLOP: Kh-8h-5 (not a heart; number may not be exact)
We check -- but the man who raised 100 before bets 250 now. With a flush draw before us, we call.
ON THE TURN: 7 of spades
We check. The man to our left now bets 500. It's still early and we're still hopeful, so we call. Everyone else is out of the hand.
ON THE RIVER: 3 of hearts
The river runs perfectly! But we check again. Our opponent now bets 1,000. You might be tempted to raise there, but we're concerned our opponent might also be on a draw. We simply call.
"The hearts came in for me," we say as we show and tell. Our opponent is stopped cold. He says nothing, and simply drops his cards without showing them.
That nice pot was the only one we took in the first hour of play. Even though the man we beat poked us a little about playing scattered hands, unimpressive deals kept forcing us to fold. We took 6,500 chips to the second hour of play, then won a couple of big pots to climb to 59,000!
The end result was a final table for the third Thursday night in a row. We finished fifth, finally falling with an all-in raise from the big blind with A-3. A 3 came on the flop, but another player had Queens to beat us.
MINISTRY MOMENT: The man we topped with the heart flush (who also wound up at the final table) took a look at our "Jesus as your Savior" coin. "Do you agree with that message?" we asked him.
"Oh yes," answered a grandfather of at least three. "Absolutely. There IS no other message!"
We beg to differ. "Well, there are plenty of other messages out there -- but only one true one." More on that message in another post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 45 final tables in 108 games (41.7%) - 10 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - unchanged. (They don't award real money, so we seldom play there now.)
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 30-35-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 23 final tables in 195 games (11.8%), 2 cashes.
We're on a good roll online at NBC Sports -- with five top-20 finishes and two final tables in the last five days!
BLINDS: 25/50
IN THE POCKET: Q-10 of hearts
It's only the second hand of the tournament, so there's no trouble in throwing 50 in this pot. A man to our immediate left raises 100, and we join several players in calling that.
ON THE FLOP: Kh-8h-5 (not a heart; number may not be exact)
We check -- but the man who raised 100 before bets 250 now. With a flush draw before us, we call.
ON THE TURN: 7 of spades
We check. The man to our left now bets 500. It's still early and we're still hopeful, so we call. Everyone else is out of the hand.
ON THE RIVER: 3 of hearts
The river runs perfectly! But we check again. Our opponent now bets 1,000. You might be tempted to raise there, but we're concerned our opponent might also be on a draw. We simply call.
"The hearts came in for me," we say as we show and tell. Our opponent is stopped cold. He says nothing, and simply drops his cards without showing them.
That nice pot was the only one we took in the first hour of play. Even though the man we beat poked us a little about playing scattered hands, unimpressive deals kept forcing us to fold. We took 6,500 chips to the second hour of play, then won a couple of big pots to climb to 59,000!
The end result was a final table for the third Thursday night in a row. We finished fifth, finally falling with an all-in raise from the big blind with A-3. A 3 came on the flop, but another player had Queens to beat us.
MINISTRY MOMENT: The man we topped with the heart flush (who also wound up at the final table) took a look at our "Jesus as your Savior" coin. "Do you agree with that message?" we asked him.
"Oh yes," answered a grandfather of at least three. "Absolutely. There IS no other message!"
We beg to differ. "Well, there are plenty of other messages out there -- but only one true one." More on that message in another post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 45 final tables in 108 games (41.7%) - 10 cashes.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,798 - unchanged. (They don't award real money, so we seldom play there now.)
NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 30-35-10-5-8. Full tournaments - 23 final tables in 195 games (11.8%), 2 cashes.
We're on a good roll online at NBC Sports -- with five top-20 finishes and two final tables in the last five days!
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