Poker Night 350: Luck Be a Lady Tonight

At about two hours before game time, we weren't sure we could play poker at Lil Kim's Cove tonight.  We had a queasy stomach for some unknown reason, and thought we might throw up.  But a cup of soda calmed things down -- so we took the walk, and hoped other players wouldn't bring a relapse.

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: A-7 offsuit

We split an early pot with A-J, but missed a chase or two for big hands after that.  We start this hand in the Big Blind, with about 7,150 chips.  Then a man across from us livens things up, by raising to 1,200.  We hold our nose (figuratively speaking) and call, as does about half the table.

ON THE FLOP: 7-9-9

Release nose; hold onto chair.  We've stumbled into two pair with top kicker -- but we're admittedly uncertain about it.  For one thing, someone could have a third 9.  The Small Blind checks to us, and we launch a "feeler" bet of 500.  A couple of players call.

ON THE TURN: 6

This card doesn't change our situation, and we doubt it changed for anyone else.  So we offer 500 again.  as we recall, the same players call with no one folding.

ON THE RIVER: 8

"Ooh boy!  That f***ed up someone's hand right there," a player to our immediate left comments.  We don't like his choice of a verb, but we fear he's describing our situation well.

With four cards showing for a two-way straight, we check.  A woman two seats to our left does not; she bets 2,000.  We don't dare take the risk of calling, but a man across from us does.  Sure enough -- the woman shows a 5.  She'd pleaded with us when we arrived at the table for a mention in this blog, and she earns it with a winning straight.

A smaller stack limited our options after that.  We went all-in during the second hour with Q-6, after a Queen fell on the flop.  That worked, bringing us to 8,000.  But minutes later, we went all-in again with J-J.  A Queen came on the turn this time, but it gave another player a higher pair.  We finished 12th, feeling "sick" only about missing the final table again.

MINISTRY MOMENT: At our first table, a young man talked about being disrespected by another player a few days ago.  "You respect me, I'll respect you," he said.  But when that other player did not, he admitted coming close to "punching him in the face" -- talked out of it by other people nearby.

"It's not good to punch people in the face," we said to state the obvious.

"I know that," the young man answered, "but that's my mentality."

What an interesting choice of words.  He didn't say emotion -- but mentality.  In fact, we've heard ministers say our emotions can (and should) be controlled by how we think.  The problem is that humans tend to have minds filled with sin....

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

And that hostile mind can lead to all kinds of negative and dangerous emotions....

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. - Colossians 3:8

How do we rid ourselves of these things?  Strange as it may sound, the Bible indicates God wants us to make a change of mind:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.... - Romans 12:2

That renewing requires something to be added to our mind -- something only God can provide:

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.... - Romans 8:6

It's the mind Jesus had when He walked the earth (Philippians 2:5, KJV).  Do you have that mind?  If not are you asking God for help in developing it?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 123 final tables in 350 nights (35.1%) - 19 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 267 point wins in 1,157 games (23.1%), 82 final tables, 10 cashes, 10 outright wins.  No-River Hold 'em - 12 point wins in 50 games (24.0%), 11 final tables, 1 cash win.

No-River games continue to be strong for us; we finished ninth out of 105 players in a Sunday tournament.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $88,421, up $6,480.

We had some big sessions here in the past week, tripling our starting stack of $800 on three separate occasions.