BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: Ace of spades - 4 of clubs
Only five players are at our table, but a couple of them are playing bigger to make up for it -- tossing out big bets to seize control of pots, if not drive each other crazy. We jumped into one of those hands early with K-K, and won thousands of chips. We're now in the Small Blind, starting with about 12,675 chips. No one raises (for a change), so we get in small.
ON THE FLOP: 9s-5s-4s
We have bottom pair -- but more importantly, all those spades give us a big flush draw. Sitting in lead position, we check. The man to our left offers 1,500. The next man in line calls. Two men fold. Since our chip stack is fairly large, we call in hope.
ON THE TURN: Ac
It's not a spade, but now we have two pair which includes top pair. Since others are betting, we'll let them. We check again. But now the man to our left drops down 10,000 chips.
"I'm all-in, man," says the next man in line. He has much more than 10,000 -- enough to put us all-in as well. At times tonight, this player has made big bets with big hands. At other times, he's been making big "bluffs" with nothing but a draw. We pause for a moment.
"All I have," we say as we count chips, "is 10,975." But we're counting for a reason. "I'll go all-in." We decide the "pusher" is trying to bully the table again. The player who offered 10,000 then somewhat surprisingly folds.
"I've got a flush," our opponent says. He joked about that when we won the pot with Kings -- but this time he shows two spades (8-3, we think). For a change, we do not show our cards yet. We have 11 outs here: seven spades for the nut flush, plus two remaining Aces and two remaining 4's for a full house. That's a 25-percent chance of hitting the river.
ON THE RIVER: 5c
But we miss. We show our losing two pair, and shake hands with the winner. Instead of a winning 11, we lose in 22nd place -- first to go at our small table.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Earlier in the day, an online player entered the blinds with a mere 20 chips -- only to win both blinds and improve to 400. That led to this chat, involving a player who lived up to his screen name:
MrInvincible: this is just amazingly ***nny
MrInvincible: nlop gods want me to stay
Dealer: rayzor wins Main Pot ($1,200) with Straight, three to seven
Me: But there's only 1 God
Kurapika: i don't think the gods give a *** about the freerolls
Me: He cares about us all
Kurapika: except the muslims*** he hates them. and gays.
MrInvincible: obama loves both of them
Me: God hates sin.
The half-hour tournament break intervened at this point, and effectively stopped the discussion. But let's review a couple of points:
1. Has your poker playing hit bottom, taking your life down with it? Have you reached the point where you don't think anyone cares about you? The Bible assures us that's not true....
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you - I Peter 5:6-7 (KJV)
God cares so much for you that He sent Jesus Christ to die for your sins, then be resurrected so that you might be saved to have eternal life. President Obama quoted Jesus the other day, when the body of a murdered ambassador was flown back to the U.S.:
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. - John 15:13-14
2. Without getting political here, God hates all the sins humans commit -- whether it be worship of a false god, sexual impurity or stealing your poker opponent's gold-plated card protector.
The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace. - Proverbs 13:5
God wants believers who are true to Him -- and care enough for Him to live lives reflecting the truth of the Bible.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 123 final tables in 349 nights (35.2%) - 19 cashes.
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