Poker Night 335: Unsynchronized Diving

"Nickelodeon?!?!" a man asked the Tournament Director at The Red Barn tonight.

Yes, sure enough -- one of the big-screen TV's was showing "Nick at Nite" programs, instead of the Olympics.  We tried to explain it was good family programming for a "family game" of poker.  But the channel was changed to MMA bouts on Fox Sports Net.  That's just as well -- we were there to be Victorious at the table, no matter how attractively distracting its star might be.

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: K-Q offsuit

The first couple of hands ended with small losses for us, so we're "under the gun" at about 6,200 chips.  We decide to limp in with face cards, and no one raises; most of the table is in.

ON THE FLOP: Q-4-4

Two pair on the flop?  That looks nice to us - and would anyone really be playing a 4?  So when the play checks to us, we bet 250.  Trouble is, a man across the table raises by adding 1,000.  A couple of players call before our turn comes around again.  This smells like a bluff to us, so we call.

ON THE TURN: 9

That card doesn't seem too harmful, but we decide to "check to the raiser."  That man shows he means business, by tossing out 2,000.

"Get out of my pot, man," he says as a player folds.  But we're still not persuaded.  If he has a Queen, our King kicker is pretty strong.  Our best guess has him holding something like A-K -- so we dare to call.  Three players stay in for....

ON THE RIVER: 10

A Queen would have made us feel a lot better.  But this card is still lower than ours.  We check again.

"Five-thousand," the big bettor announces.  Ouch -- we only have 2,100 chips left.

"Do you have trips?" the player between us asks.

"Yup, I've got trips," is the answer.  But this is poker, so is he giving the correct answer?  The player in the middle doesn't think so; he calls.  But we're now having regrets.

"I've committed a lot to this hand," we say while thinking out loud.  "But you called," we say to the other player, "so I'll fold."

Good decision -- as the big bettor turns over a Jack, and then the third 4.  Yes, he had three of a kind.  He wins a huge pot, and we take a huge loss.

We recovered several minutes when we had 5-5, and a third 5 came on the flop.  We pushed all-in and improved to 4,800.  But other hands went badly after that, as chases in hopes of something big failed.  Forced to go all-in with A-4 in the Small Blind, another man made a full house to eliminate us.  No big comebacks came tonight, as we finished sixth at a table of eight.

MINISTRY MOMENT: The first woman to drop out at our table actually dropped out twice.  She apparently was playing in her first tournament, and she ignored that big bettor's warning to fold when he made a flush with hearts on the flop.  Her K-7 with the wrong suit was dominated -- but the winner did her a favor, and refunded about 2,500 chips so she could keep playing.

This is another example of some poker players having "hearts of gold."  In some casino tournaments, "second chance" buy-ins are allowed for a short period of time.  If you go bust early, you can enter again.  But is life really like that?  It's truly an eternal question....

If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. - Job 14:14

The man who said this received an amazing second chance.  With God's permission, Satan stripped Job of practically everything he had (Job 1:6-2:7).  By the end of the book, God gave him even more blessings (42:12-13) -- but we don't think that's the "renewal" Job is describing here.

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. - Hebrews 9:27-28

The Bible shows death is not the end.  For believers in Jesus, salvation will occur at His second coming.  As for the rest....

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.  Another book was opened, which is the book of life.  The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. - Revelation 20:12

We don't know exactly how, but God is keeping score of everything everyone does.  Jesus will pass judgment on that score at a resurrection of the dead.

If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Revelation 20:15

That "book of life" sounds very valuable.  If your name is there, you can escape the "second death" described in verse 14.  So how can your name get there?  That's a topic for a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 119 final tables in 335 nights (35.5%) - 19 cashes.