September Monthly Championship: One Chance Too Many

National League of Poker recently added a monthly championship, to go with the weekly championships on Sunday nights.  There's a $2,000 prize pool, with a lovely $850 payday for first.  All we had to do to qualify was make a final table, which we did with relative ease.  It could have led to a long late night online....

:10 IN: We have 9-A in the Big Blind -- and someone ahead of us goes all-in for 800.  We folded 9-A a few minutes earlier after missing a flop, but this time we smell a "pusher's bluff" and call.  We face 6-6, and the flop 3-Q-J.  But the turn is 9, and the river 3! We eliminate the pusher, and gain $1,700.

:15 IN: We have K-Q.  The flop is 6-10-7.  No one bets. The turn is 9. Ditto. The river is 4 - and in early position, we bet 150.  The semi-bluff works as the table folds; we gain $350.

:25 IN: We gave 4s-3s a try, with suited connectors.  The blind is 6s-Ad-5h, giving us an open-ended straight draw; we call a bet of 100. The turn is 6h, and we call another 100.  But the river is 9h, and we fold to a bet of 400 after missing completely.

:29 IN: We head to the 30-minute break with A-6 in the Big Blind. The flop is Q-Q-Q, and we call a bet of 100.  The turn is 10, and everyone checks. The river is 4, and all check again.  Our Ace winds up winning the $500 pot; the opponent who bet only had 6 high.

We have $1,750 at the half-hour break, putting us in 218th place out of 616 still in the running.

:34 IN: We come out of the break in the Small Blind with K-Q, and call a doubling of the blind to 300.  The flop is K-3-2, and we bet 200.  A player calls.  The turn is 2, and another bet of 200 chases the opponent away.  A good round in the blinds for us ends with a $1,400 pot.

:38 IN: We have 10d-Jd, for suited connectors again.  The flop is J-6-9 (6 a diamond), and we call a bet of 150 with top pair.  The turn is K (not a diamond), and we call another 150 bet now holding a straight draw. The river is A, and we dare to call another 150 bet. Good move -- as our opponent also has J-10, so we split a side pot of $1,160. (Someone who went all in with a King wins the main pot.)

:56 IN: We have 8-A, and a player goes all in for 500.  The flop is 10-J-Q, for a two-way straight draw.  The table checks.  The turn is 8, giving us a pair.  But when a player bets 500, we fear the worst and fold. The river is 6 - and we regret the fold when we see the bettor also has A-8, thus winning the pot.

(To be honest, we were concentrating so much on catching a King that we never noticed the bottom pair we made.  But would you have had the gumption to call that bet, anyway?)

:59 IN: We have 3-2 of clubs in the Big Blind - and the table folds! We get a walk, to pick up $150 in blinds.

We always show our cards in these situations, as there's really no penalty to do it. "Nice," someone writes.

"Bless you all," we respond.

1:01 IN: We have 9-9 and the button. The flop is K-7-5 - and when the play checks to us, we decide to gamble. We go all-in for 690, hoping the table will fold with blinds at 150/300/25.  But two players call, and one of them has 8-6.  The turn is 4, giving him a straight and giving us the exit ramp. (The river is a meaningless 3 for us.)

The big risk worked early, but not late.  Out of 1,293 players in the tournament, we finish #270.  Good, but not good enough -- as only the top 11 win money.

September Senior Championship: Heart of Courage?

We qualified for two monthly championship games at National League of Poker.  On this senior night, our goal was to do better than last time -- which wouldn't be hard:

:04 IN: We have A-K of clubs, and raise the minimum bet from 30 to 100.  Two players call.  The flop is K-Q-5, with the Queen a club.  We bet 100 again, and everyone folds. It's a quick gain of $515.

:14 IN: We have K-A offsuit and limp.  The flop is Q-3-9, and everyone checks.  The turn is 7, and everyone checks.  The river is 3, and we dare to bet 125.  Someone calls, but with A-Q.  We win $430.

:15 IN: In the very next hand, we have J-9. The flop is 4-Q-9, and we bet 80 (double the blind). A player calls. The turn is 6; everyone checks.  The river is 3, and everyone checks with three hearts showing. But our opponent has K-10, and missed a straight draw. Our pair wins $300.

:26 IN: We have Ah-2d under the gun, and try to get in small -- but another player raises from 100 to 480.  With a pretty good stack, we call. The flop is 7-5-6, all hearts.  Our opponent bets 480 - and sitting on a nut flush draw, we call.  The turn is 6d. The opponent now bets 1,200, and we only have about 980 left. It's a significant gamble, and we choose to fold. (No, you can't "see the last card" in this game.)

That hand cost about half our stack.  We reach the half-hour break with $835, good for 296th place with 404 players left.

:34 IN: We have 7-4 of clubs in the firsthand after the break, and fold it.  Bad decision: clubs come for a flush we would have won.  Our stack drops from there, due to a couple of tries and missed flops.

:54 IN: We have Q-Q in the small blind, starting the hand with 235 left and the blinds at 150/300.  We have little choice but to push, and a few players call.  But the flop is K-10-A, and one player has 10-A for two pair. the turn is 10, giving him a clinching full house. (The river is K, so we couldn't even make a straight.)

We played a lot longer, at least -- but still finished 227th, out of 886 players.  Next big chance: Thursday night.

He's Three of a Kind?

We asked you to find the place in the Bible which came up in last Thursday night's poker game -- where a player claimed he was "the truth," and was corrected for it.

The correct answer: the gospel of John:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - John 14:6

Why did Jesus call Himself these things?  For starters, He's the "way" to a relationship with God the Father.  In fact, it's a two-way street:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. - John 6:44

Jesus called Himself "the truth" because He spoke words of truth, given by His Father in heaven....

For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. - John 12:49 (see also Ephesians 4:21)

And Jesus declared Himself "the life" because He is the key to a life that never ends, beyond our physical bodies:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. - John 3:36

A special Holy Day on the Biblical calendar this week looks ahead to when Jesus will return, and give eternal life to those who believe in Him.  Jews call it "Rosh Hashanah;" observant Christians call it the Feast of Trumpets.

Poker Night #272: You Keep Me Hanging On

A change in schedule this week moved up our local poker tournament to Monday. That meant a trip to The Red Barn in Phenix City, and a table where bigger was not always better. A flop of 2-2-2 gave one man quads. And then there was this hand....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: Q-J offsuit

We're in the small blind, and no one is in a raising mood early in the game. So we call in hope, and almost the entire table gets in.

ON THE FLOP: J-10-6

Sitting in the leadoff position, we make a modest "come on in" bet of 150 with top pair. "Your Jack is no good," a man to our right says in response.

"It isn't?" we ask. (Was that a tell?)

"'Cause I've got a 6," he answers. We'll see if he's joking; he joins about three other players in calling.

ON THE TURN: Q

Now we have top two pair, so we turn up the heat and bet 450.

"Uh-oh. He must have something," a player across from us says. But she's already folded; two players call; the man who talked about his 6 folds.

ON THE RIVER: 10

This card opens up a lot of possibilities, but we don't feel threatened by it. Instead, we increase the bet in hopes of running everyone else away -- a bet of 600.

"Raise," a man to our immediate left says. Oops -- he doubles to 1,200, and we fear the worst. A man across the table calls.

"I think I know what you have," we say after a moment. "But I have to see if you have it."

We call and hope for a bluff.-- except it's not. He shows a third 10; the river card paid off for him.

"I couldn't run away from the pot," he notes; "I had a straight draw." His other card was a 9.

While we hit a river of our own minutes later to make a winning spade flush, that's how our night went. We endured with cautious play to the semifinal table, but folded 8-10 when it turned into a potential two-pair winner. Forced to go all-in with 9-10 in the Big Blind, we missed the board and were sent packing in 16th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "I see you brought something for people to cry on," a man joked before the game. Our card protector tonight was a small travel-size package of facial tissues. He made a good guess -- but that's not why we brought it.

"I brought it to remind me," we explained, "that when Jesus comes back, there will be no more tears and no more crying." (Revelation 21:3-4)

The man seemed to understand what we meant. "Do you believe Jesus is coming back?" we probed further.

"Eventually," he said. That's actually a better answer than some radio preachers offered earlier this year. We'll have a link in our next post to a big event this week, which celebrates Jesus's second coming.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 100 final tables in 272 nights (36.8%) - 15 cashes. This is getting ridiculous; 11 final tables missed in a row, and only two in the last 17.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 166 point wins in 738 games (22.5%), 57 final tables, 7 cashes. UFC 3-card knockout - 2 final tables in 13 games, 1 win.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $59,718, up $1,885.

The Defense of "Jesus"

The big poker headline of this past week was the U.S. government's contention that Full Tilt Poker was operated as a "Ponzi" scheme by owners including world-famous poker pro Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Since then, Ferguson's attorney has issued a denial of the charge. Well, at least a denial that the arrangement fits the U.S. government's definition of "Ponzi."

Far be it from us to "judge Jesus." We'll leave the legal points to attorneys and scholars. But we'd like to make a couple of points related to this case. For one thing, the much better-known Jesus was put on trial and sentenced to death -- on charges which were far-fetched at best.

Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.'" Yet even then their testimony did not agree. - Mark 14:57-59

What Jesus actually said was quite different....

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days".... But the temple he had spoken of was his body. - John 2:19, 21

Yet Jesus allowed Himself to be put to death on those charges, to pay the penalty of our sins. And Christ was resurrected three days later, that we might have eternal life in Him.

Here's one more verse, which is much more down-to-earth in terms of this case:

Abstain from all appearance of evil. - I Thessalonians 5:22, KJV

Trying to run a casino-style online poker operation in the U.S. was playing fast and loose with federal laws in the first place. The Justice Department cracked down on several such sites in April, and none of them have resurfaced.

How do you run your life, though? Are you living within the laws of man - or more importantly, the laws of God? Check the list of commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 (for starters), and examine where your life stands.

Poker Night #271: Slick 500

"This is the time of the game when the betting starts to get crazy," a man to our right said as the second hour of play began at Lil Kim's Cove tonight.  With higher blinds, he explained, "Someone will say: 'I've got an Ace, I'll go all-in.'"  Hmmm -- thanks for giving us an idea.

BLINDS: 500/1,000

IN THE POCKET: A-K offsuit

We won a modest pot early, but reached the break with 5,500 chips from a starting 7,000.  We're in the small blind with "big slick," and a small table of five players.  The big blind to our left has a monster stack and isn't afraid of raising pre-flop.  So when players merely call to us, we make a somewhat-hesitating call and wait to see what happens.

"I'll check," the big blind says.  Well, OK....

ON THE FLOP: 6-7-8 (suits don't matter)

Three in a row is potential trouble.  So we check -- and don't mind when the entire table checks.

ON THE TURN: 7

This isn't turning out as we hoped at all.  We check again -- but everyone else does, too.

ON THE RIVER: A

Aha, that's more like it!  Now we can play like that man recommended during the break.  "I'm all-in," we declare as we plunk down the last 4,500.  The big blind folds.  The man to his left thinks about it.

"I'll be friendly to you," he says as he plays with his stack of chips.

"That would be really, really wonderful if you did," we answer with encouragement.

"You either have an Ace with a big kicker, or a pocket pair," he speculates.  We offer no more guidance, only more encouraging words to call.  He finally suspects we have a big pair, but he calls anyway.

"You were right the first time," we say as we show our hand.  Nope, we weren't bluffing -- nor was he; he had A-2.  Our King kicker means a big gain, to 12,000.  And yes, we politely thanked our opponent for helping us out.

Then followed a speculative bet with 6-6 which went nowhere, along with rising blinds.  We finally were forced to go all-in again at the semifinal table with A-8 in the big blind.  But two pair on the table left us second-best to a man with a full house, sending us out the door in 15th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "I am the truth," a young man said as he took a seat at our table during the second hour.

"No.  You are not the truth," we responded.

Another newcomer seemed to pick up on our answer.  "You're not the way OR the life."

"Amen!" we said -- giving that man to our left a high-five.  "Amen to that."

Your assignment: where in the Bible will you find the verse everyone was mentioning -- even if they didn't quote it directly?  We'll have the answer and more about it in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 100 final tables in 271 nights (36.9%) - 15 cashes.  Our final table slump hits ten, our percentage hits an all-time blog low -- and we're now at 14 months without winning any money in local tournaments.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 164 point wins in 736 games (22.3%), 57 final tables, 7 cashes.  We placed seventh in a 124-player qualifying game Sunday afternoon.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $57,833, down $2,100.

A Panel of Judges

We've mentioned our last live poker tournament had an interesting discussion of religious topics during a break. We don't recall now exactly how it happened, but the conversation at one point turned to judgment.


"Jesus will judge everyone someday," we pointed out.

A woman across the table didn't quite hear what we said -- but she heard enough. "I'm hearing you talk about judgment, and I'm not comfortable with that."

"We shouldn't judge," a woman to our right added.

Welllll -- hold on a second. Isn't that what top poker players do? All the time? The game is loaded with personal "judgment calls." For instance: should you fold pocket threes before the flop? Is your opponent bluffing by going all-in with three diamonds on the table, or does he really have a flush? How much should you bet,to keep an opponent in a hand you've already clinched and maximize your gains? You get the idea.

Consider what Jesus said about this concept....

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. - Matthew 7:1

Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment. - John 7:24

Many people have heard the first verse, and perhaps have memorized. But Jesus also said the second verse -- which tells us there's a time and place to make judgments, but also a time and place NOT to do so.

This was a big issue in our area tonight, as a convicted murderer faced the death penalty (it's still unsettled as we post this). Some people say the evidence was compelling that he killed a police officer; others say the evidence was flimsy and someone else committed the crime.

Under the U.S. system of government, someone indeed has to judge whether the suspect did it or not. Otherwise, criminals of all kinds would roam the streets freely and no one would be safe. And under God's way of doing things, Jesus will have the ultimate say in the future about whether we're ALL guilty -- guilty of sin, whether large or small.

It is appointed to all men once to die, and after this the judgment. - Hebrews 9:27, KJV

This judgment will truly be "all-in" -- into God's Kingdom, or away to face a "second death" described in Revelation 20. The good news is that (to borrow from blackjack) you can have "insurance." You can put your sins under the blood of Christ, by repenting of them and asking God for forgiveness in His name.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - I John 1:9

So judge the relatively small matters of poker carefully. And remember the final Judge is coming - to determine whether you used sound judgment in everything else you did.