Poker Night 372: Life on the Edge

Sometimes good poker advice comes from very unexpected places.  We try to keep in mind a warning given by veteran pastor Chuck Swindall, during one of his daily broadcasts on Christian radio.  Watch how we applied it Monday night at The Red Barn....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: K-K

This hand immediately follows one where we played K-2 in the Small Blind, saw a second King land on the flop, then caught a third on the river.  "We three Kings" captured a huge pot.  We're not sure exactly how many chips we have, because we're dealing now and haven't added them up from the last hand.  But we're guessing the total is around 20,000 (helped by a 10,000-chip bonus given simply for showing up).

We'd be glad to raise at this table of seven with this high pocket pair.  But a man to our immediate right does it first.  He raises to 350.  We choose to "tag along" and call.  But a man across from us raises 250 more.  The man at our right then elects to go all-in!  He has 5,950 extra to offer.  We can't resist calling him.

While his chips are being counted, a man at our left decides it's time to start debriefing us.  "You want to see that flop, don't you?"

"Welllllll," we say in a Bugs Bunny cartoon voice, "could be."

The man opposite us then calls the all-in bet as well.

"Would you have called, if he had gone all-in there?" the man at our left asks.

This question seems out of line for this moment.  "We're still playing the hand," we answer - then borrow words from former President George H.W. Bush.  "I won't respond to hypotheticals."

Besides, why say anything which might give away our intentions when another active player can hear it?  In any case, we smell a potential big haul for us here....

ON THE FLOP: 6-J-A

....until we deal the last thing we want to see: an Ace.  The man across from us reaches into his much larger chip stack and bets 20,000.  This would put us all-in.

"That settles it.  I fold."  We toss away our Kings, certain that we're topped.

Sure enough: the man across from us turns over not one Ace, but two.  His three of a kind tops the other player's 10-10 as well.  The remaining two cards don't change the outcome.  The "triple-A" prevail, and the low pocket pair is knocked out.

"Good fold," the man at our left says.  It's thanks to that Chuck Swindoll tip - you're most vulnerable right after you score a major triumph or victory.  You risk becoming overconfident, and having everything crumble around you.

(Homework assignment: Swindall offered Biblical evidence to support his point.  Can you find a case in the Bible which might illustrate it?  Offer a comment, and we'll offer our answer in a future post.)

That big decision kept us in the tournament through the first hour.  Then an all-in bet in the second hour with A-9 and an Ace on the flop improved us to 39,000 chips.  The total was 35,000 at the two-hour break.  Then with ten players remaining, we were dealt A-A.  We naturally went all-in for 20,000.  The flop brought a harmless-looking J-5-7.  Another 7 came on the river.

"I made trips!" declared a player who had called us.  Ouch!!  He had a third 7, and our Aces had crashed.  But for one card, we might have made the final table -- but instead we finished in tenth place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: A couple of players were willing to talk about the grade school killings in Newtown, Connecticut.  One young man admitted he couldn't help crying at the news of young children being gunned down.

"This is not God's world," we told him.  "Not right now."

"Yet so many people want to give Him the blame," the young man said, "when God gave people the freedom of choice, and they made a bad choice."

He describes the dilemma fairly well.  Moses put it this way in his farewell address, before Israel entered the promised land:

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.... - Deuteronomy 30:19

Sadly, humans have chosen the way of death too often -- and it started long before there was a Newtown.

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field."  And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. - Genesis 4:8

Where did Cain get such a murderous idea?  We think he was influenced by a fallen angel, who seemed to hang around the Garden of Eden one chapter earlier....

You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil.  He rules the world, and his spirit has power over  everyone who doesn't obey God. - Ephesians 2:2 (CEV)

It might seem hard to believe, but the Bible says Satan is in charge of this world -- at least for now.  The good news is that Jesus Christ will come back someday, overthrow Satan and make Earth a peaceful and happy place again.  If you're wondering how that might happen, this article may help you understand.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 129 final tables in 372 nights (34.7%) - 20 cashes.