Poker Night 312: K-9 Bites

Things even up eventually in poker -- don't they?  If your Aces get cracked in one hand, shouldn't they win the next time you have them?  Most players probably would tell you Texas Hold 'em doesn't always work that way.  But we hoped it would Monday night at The Red Barn....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: K-9

Remember "The Rodney" -- the hand which can win you a 5,000-chip bonus at the Barn?  The hand which dealt us a fatal blow last Monday night?  Here it is again, as we sit in the Big Blind.  A man to our immediate left raised 200 right off the bat.  Most of this table of six is calling, so we do the same.

ON THE FLOP: 5-9-J (Not absolutely sure about the first card)

Middle pair puts us halfway there.  We check -- but the man next in line makes a continuation bet of 1,000.  Most of the table folds.  We decide to be tenacious (or is that stubborn?) and call.

ON THE TURN: 8 (Not exactly sure about this, either)

That didn't help much.  We check again.  The man to our left bets 1,000 again.  What if he's had an overpair all along?  Still dreaming of that Rodney bonus, we call again.

ON THE RIVER: J

This gives us two pair -- but not quite the way we wanted.  We check once more, a bit resigned to our fate.  But our opponent gives us hope, by checking himself.

"Two pair, with The Rodney," we say as we show.

Our opponent shows.... 9-10 suited!  He had an open-ended straight draw which missed.  Our King is a better kicker -- and this time K-9 wins!  With the bonus, we jump to about 15,000 chips.

Surrounded by players who "bought" much larger stacks through food and alcohol, some costly chases failed after that.  But in a rematch with that man to the left, we dared to call his all-in challenge with A-7 of spades near the one-hour break -- and caught him bluffing with a weaker hand and no pair.  That lifted us back above 15,000 chips.  More timely cards came in the second hour, while several big spenders pushed each other all the way to the rail.

A patient approach helped us reach the final table.  Once we got there, Q-Q improved us to 55,000 chips.  But we folded Q-5 in the small blind in an "all-in" decision, which cost us a winning straight.  A final push with A-Q lost to a man who actually made a straight.  It wasn't a win, but it was a satisfying evening -- as finishing fifth as a "David" against chip Goliaths is a bit of an accomplishment.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Genesis 1:12," said a man across from us before the game began -- a man nicknamed "Buddha" who's struck us often as a skeptic of anything Biblical.  He went on to quote part of the verse, then declared: "D****t, I'm enjoying it!"

What was he talking about?  It's a passage from the creation account....

The land produced vegetation; plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good. - Genesis 1:12

For the second time in recent weeks at The Red Barn, marijuana use had come up.  But Buddha's quoting of this verse wasn't quite accurate, as he transplanted some of God's later instructions to Adam and Eve:

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food." - Genesis 1:29

Some Christian groups use this verse to explain why they practice vegetarianism.  But "food" refers to something you eat.  We've heard of people smoking marijuana, but not putting leaves atop their hamburger patties.

"Marijuana is not addictive," Buddha insisted.  We were skeptical about that.  Do a Bing search for "marijuana addictive" and you'll find web pages with multiple views on that issue.  We'd point out as we prepared this post, ABC News Nightline aired a report on something else psychologists haven't officially classified as an "addiction" -- even though some counselors say pornography among teenagers really is.  This is clearly a topic for a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 110 final tables in 312 nights (35.3%) - 17 cashes.