Poker Night 374: Two Wild and Crazy Guys

Twas the night before.... oh wait.  We don't celebrate Christmas, and trying to make rhymes about poker hands probably would be too difficult.  But you might be surprised how many poker players in our area consider December 24 a day when the words "deck" and "cards" refer to 52 in a box.

"This is my third Christmas here," one man said during tonight's tournament at The Red Barn.  Enough players gathered to fill three tables.  And we happened to sit between two men who acted like they had "holiday cheer" from a beer bottle before the game began.  If the right cards came, a big payday could come....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: K-Q

After an early miss, we start this hand with 6,550 chips.  The man around us have been in an "I dare you" raising mode before the flop all evening.  But on this hand, they back off.  We call, no one raises, and about five players are in.

ON THE FLOP: 9-K-K

It never crosses our mind to sing that "We Three Kings" song.  We're focused on maximizing this golden opportunity.  A man across the table from us offers 200.  The man to our immediate right raises 200 more.  Thank you.  We call in the hope of more raising -- but the table stops there.  Four players are still in.

ON THE TURN: 9

This secures us a full house -- but we might have to share it.

"I'm all-in," a man across from us declares first.  He has 6,150 chips -- and we suspect he has the missing King.  The man who raised before has a large stack of chips, and calls.

"I'm 100 short of that," we say after a count.  There's no choice but to call, for our last 6,050.  No one else calls.

ON THE RIVER: J

Seemingly inconsequential.

"I've got a 9," shows the man who pushed first.

"I have a King," we say.  Our full house tops his.  The man at our right shows Q-10.  He made a straight on the river, but that's not enough.  We hit the jackpot, and jump to more than 20,000 chips.

The man around us returned to their big betting ways after that, and tempted us in with promising hands.  But we fell short a couple of times, and had to whisper under our breath, "Discipline!" to calm things down.  We still reached the one-hour break with 15,500 chips.

But we went incredibly "card dead" after that, with very few quality hands to play.  Hopes went up with Q-6 when a Queen came on the flop, but we lost to a man with Q-9.  We finally were forced to push in the Small Blind, but were dealt a lowly 3-6 which missed everything.  Amazingly, two players were eliminated at another table as we went out -- and we wound up tenth.  Again!  For the third live night in a row.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "You brought a rusty nail," a man across the table noticed tonight.  But he kept talking about things in general, so we couldn't really explain the reason why to him.  That came near the end of the evening, to a man sitting at our right.

"This is why He came," we said - referring to the focus on this night about the birth of Jesus.

That man understood, and went us one better.  "You should have four of them."

The Bible doesn't specifically say how many nails were used to crucify Jesus.  But we read....

So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"  But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." - John 20:25

These are the words of "doubting Thomas," who had not seen what the other disciples saw earlier in the week (verse 20).  Jesus appeared before him at another "group meeting" days later.

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:28-29

The man who mentioned four nails told us he believes Jesus came.  If you take Jesus at His word, you can have the blessing He mentioned as well.

Hey -- that reminds us of a question we posed from a poker night a couple of weeks ago.  We think it's more important to believe the blood of Jesus can wash away your sins.  It goes beyond simply knowing He can do it.

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in hall he does. - James 1:6-8

Asking for things from God in prayer (James's example involves wisdom) is good.  Believing He'll answer your prayer requires faith.  Sometimes that can be challenging.... but that's a topic for another post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 129 final tables in 374 nights (34.5%) - 20 cashes.