Poker Night 361: Too Jacked Up

Tonight marked our first trip to Lil Kim's Cove in three weeks -- and it may go down as the craziest night we've ever had in a poker room.  We'll explain why in a moment.  But first, we want to ask for your help in an unusual way -- especially if you live in our area:

MISSING PERSON: Jessie Everett's picture was posted on a wall at Lil Kim's tonight.  He was last seen Thursday, November 1 walking from the First Avenue club toward the Oakland Park area. He's described as disabled (with a limp), and has a bad left hand and arm. If you've seen him, call Columbus 911.

At the table, we won one pot by making a straight from a starting 5-6.  But we didn't win any others, and finished in 16th place.  But this was one of those nights when the most memorable hand was one we didn't play....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: 9-10 offsuit

A brand new deck of cards has been introduced for this hand, because the old one had a few clipped corners.  We have about 5,700 chips -- and a man sitting "under the gun" challenges us by raising to 1,000.  We look at him, stare for a moment seeking clues, see none and fold.  But most of the table gets in.

ON THE FLOP: J-10-10

Ouch!  We would have made three of a kind right away.  On top of that, the table checks.

ON THE TURN: J

Now we would have had a full house.  As we recall, the table checks again.

ON THE RIVER: Q

The checking now stops and the fireworks start.  A woman across from us bets 1,000 (as best we remember).  The man under the gun goes all-in.  The woman to his left (our immediate right) also pushes.  Then a young man to our left who's playing in his first live tournament also pushes!  It looks like a mad case of full house fever.

"I've got the boat with a Jack," the first woman says -- turning over a Jack of hearts.  So she would have beaten our "10's over Jacks" full house.  The other woman in the hand also shows a Jack.

"I guess you don't have a Jack," we say to the new player at our left.  But no -- he also shows a Jack!  A grand total of five Jacks are showing!

"There are two Jack of hearts," we note -- pointing to one on the board, and the one the first woman has.  We turn over the cards for a moment, to make sure they're both from the same new deck.  What's going on here?

After a moment, the dealer figures it out.  He turns over the rest of the deck -- and there are no low cards at all.  He was given a pinochle deck, instead of the regular Ace-through-two deck used in poker!  Our late Dad played pinochle for decades, and he would have been thrilled.

The Tournament Director is called, and he rules everyone gets their bets back.  But after reviewing the pinochle rules online, we wonder why the dealer didn't notice that deck had only 48 cards.  We watched the count, and it didn't look quite right to us -- but we deferred.  And we wound up with the two lowest cards, anyway.

(That wasn't the only crazy moment at our table tonight.  But we'll hold another matter for a future post.)

MINISTRY MOMENT: We apologized before the game to the man who was outside our front door Monday evening.  It turns out he used to live in the apartment next to ours, and is friends with the owner of the property.

"I was not offended," he assured us -- adding he understood we were hurrying to The Red Barn.  That was comforting.  We don't think he's a Christian, yet he reflected a Biblical trait....

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. - Proverbs 19:11

The sports world (and perhaps to a lesser extent the poker world) is filled with "grudge matches" and rivalries.  But holding long-term grudges against other people is something believers in Jesus should not do.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you. - Colossians 3:13

God showed His willingness to forgive men and women by sending Jesus Christ to pay the death penalty for our sins.  Have you confessed your sins and repented before God, to receive the comforting forgiveness He wants to provide?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 124 final tables in 361 nights (34.3%) - 19 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 272 point wins in 1,215 games (22.4%), 84 final tables, 10 wins, 10 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 17 point wins in 63 games (27.0%), 13 final tables, 1 cash win.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $86,449, down $1,373.  The re-election of President Obama may mean pretend games still will be all U.S. residents can play for awhile.