Poker "Night" 353: Matinee Madness

The last time we played poker in the Kansas City area, it was Spring 2009.  It was a cash game.  And it didn't go well.  So when we returned to our home area this week, part of us said there was a "score to settle" at Harrah's casino.  But this time, we avoided the cash games -- since we made enough wrong turns during the trip to tell us that wouldn't be wise.

Since the Harrah's poker room has daily tournaments, we entered the Wednesday 1:00 p.m. game.  It was a full event, with the maximum 40 players and a 50-dollar buy-in offering a nice potential payday.  But unlike our local free tournaments, everyone starts with 2,000 chips -- and buying food only gets you a full stomach, not bonus chips.

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET:  A-J of hearts

We won several pots in the first hour, facing players who tended to be on the tight side.  But with rising blinds, we took a chance on an open-ended straight draw and missed.  Now we're in the Big Blind, starting this hand with 1,275 chips left.  Only a couple of players at our table of seven call.  When we see these high hearts, we see an opportunity.

"Raise," we announce; "500 more."

Our goal with this big bet primarily is to chase away the other players, and gain some fast easy money.  But a man across from us thinks for a long time about how to respond.  Then he looks at our stack, and does something we don't expect.

"Raise to 1,075."

Gulp -- that's exactly the amount to put us all-in.  A player between us folds, and we face a moment of commitment.  More than have our stack already is in play.  The blinds will go up after the upcoming break to 200/400, so having 575 left in our hand wouldn't allow much breathing room.  So we bite the bullet, and call.

"Do you like racing?" the dealer asks after our opponent turns over 7-7.  That's a curious statement, considering the Kansas Speedway several miles away now has its own casino next door.  (But then again, we did refer to our A-J as "Allmendingers.")  In any case, this is what poker pros call a "coin flip."

ON THE FLOP: Q-10-9

No hearts appear to make a flush possible, but we have plenty of hope.  An Ace or a Jack gives us a higher pair, and now a King or an 8 provides us a bail-out straight.  That's a total of 14 "outs" from 45 cards, or about a 31-percent chance of hitting.

ON THE TURN: 5 (as best we recall)

That missed, but we still feel optimistic.  Now it's 14 outs from 44 cards, so our odds actually have improved a bit.

ON THE RIVER: 2

Two strikes and we're out.  His 7's win the race, after we went one-for-two with pocket 7's in our hand during the game.

Had we simply checked in the Big Blind, we could have bailed out with a small loss had our opponent bet the flop.  But all things considered, we thought the time was right to make a big move.  Yet it didn't pay off, we finish in 21st place, and now stand two-for-three when it comes to making money in big poker room tournaments.

MINISTRY MOMENT: This Harrah's poker room now has a rule banning portable music players, which opens the door for us to do ministry.  We took our Lord's Supper card protector along on the trip, and showed it to a player sitting to our left.

"Do you believe in Jesus?" we asked.

"I think He existed."

"So He was a person?"

Yes, he accepted that.  But he didn't want to go any farther.  We explained we'd traveled to Kansas City from a church convention picturing a time when Jesus will come and reset the "game" this world is playing.

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." - Revelation 11:15 (KJV)

The only way we can envision Jesus taking over "the kingdoms of this world" is for Him to return to Earth and rule here.

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. - Matthew 24:30

While Jesus called Himself the "Son of Man," our Lord truly was much more than a man 2,000 years ago.  He was God come in the flesh (John 1:1, 14).  What will it take to convince you of that?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 123 final tables in 353 nights (34.8%) - 19 cashes.  Updates on our online play (there hasn't been much lately) will resume next week.