Poker Night 338: The Lucky Loser

The schedule finally worked out tonight, so we could stroll over to Lil Kim's Cove where poker night is currently Tuesday.  But many things that we tried to do went wrong.  For instance, we reached over to make change from the pot for a player -- and spilled our cup of soda on the table.  But could we clean up later, in a different way?

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: K-K

We were generously given 5,000 extra chips by the Tournament Director for that cup of soda -- and that's the biggest gain we've had all evening.  The players at our table are betting like they're trying to match one of Judge Marilyn Milian's lines on The People's Court: "Quien es mas macho?"  But they're surprisingly tame in this hand -- only calling in the last hand before the one-hour break.

After several missed flops, we have 6,050 chips (by our count) -- and we've dealt ourselves Kardashians.  Other players might have thrown out thousands.  Instead, we raise to a modest 1,000.

"I've got to do that," the player to our left says as he calls.  Several players jump in, but don't re-raise.

ON THE FLOP: 6-A-7

Ugh.  That Ace was the last thing we wanted to see.  Sure enough, a man bets 1,000.  There are callers.  We choose to call, and hope the next card is better.

ON THE TURN: 8

Nope, it's not.  And the man who offered 1,000 before now spreads out 5,000.  That would put us all-in, and we don't dare risk that.  We fold, while a couple of players call.

ON THE RIVER: 8

The betting escalates without us, until one player is all-in for 32,000.  He gets called -- and shows 8-6!  Running cards came for a full house, and our fold winds up being wise.

We erred during the "color-up" which followed -- not noticing one of the black chips we had (worth 1,000) really was blue (worth 100).  Blame the bar's dark lighting.  But the Tournament Director had mercy on us when we offered it for a Big Blind, and exchanged blue for black.  We lost with that hand, too.  And we were down to 2,000 lowly chips.  But then....

"Final table," the Director declared.  On an evening when only about 18 players showed up, despite our mistakes and bumbling, we reached the last table of seven without winning a pot!

Playing carefully and without ego paid off -- but when we saw A-9 in the Small Blind, we had to put our last 500 in.  It failed to pair, while a man paid two pair with Kings and Jacks.  We finished seventh, but thankful to God for wisdom in knowing what not to play.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Poker used to be fun," a woman moaned to us before the tournament.  She said it's not that way anymore, because some players are becoming "bullies."

We agreed it's not nice to be a bully.  "We should be compassionate," we said in a spur-of-the-moment sermonette; "we should we caring, we should be kind."

There's one character trait we didn't mention in that list -- being godly.  But the traits we mentioned are part of that.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.... And over all these virtues put on love, which bids them all together in perfect unity. - Colossians 3:12, 14

The apostle Paul compares these virtues to putting on clothing.  That's because, as strange as it may sound, they're not the sort of things most people naturally have.

The sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. - Romans 8:7

Our human nature is sinful.  So we need to put on godly virtues every day.  How can we do that?

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.  And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. - Romans 8:9-10

Is that Holy Spirit dwelling in you?  Are you sure?  Review Peter's standards mentioned in Acts 2:38, and make sure there's no doubt.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 121 final tables in 338 games (35.8%) - 19 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 257 point wins in 1,090 games (23.6%), 81 final tables, 10 wins, 9 cashes.

We mentioned our fourth-place finish in an afternoon tournament last week.  We haven't mentioned it was followed by a sixth-place finish the very next day!  That means we won NLOP cash two days in a row, after a drought of more than a year.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $80,578, up $1,014.