Poker Night 386: Counsel Meeting

When poker players get together, what are they most likely to talk about?  At our first table at The Red Barn tonight, they talked about the most logical thing -- poker hands.  But should you believe everything they say?  And more importantly, should you do what they do?

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: K-K

We have yet to win a hand, and start this one in the Big Blind with about 6,150 chips.  People around us are analyzing the prior hand, where a woman to our left limped in with pocket Aces and saw them get cracked by a full house on the river.

"You should have raised -- something like 2,500," the man who's dealing tells her.  "No one would have called."

The Small Blind at our immediate right corrects him. "I would have called."

"So you would have one caller," the dealer says.  "But that's a lot better than four callers."

At about this point, we look at our cards.  No one has raised.  These aren't Aces, of course.  But we decide a big raise like the dealer's describing would be.... well, too obvious.  So we try something different.

"Raise - 300 more," we say.  Four players call.

ON THE FLOP: Q-A-5

Ugh.  That Ace was the last thing we wanted to see.  The Small Blind checks.  We make a continuation bet of 500.  The dealer and Small Blind call; everyone else folds.

ON THE TURN: 10

Now we want to see if anyone's ready to bet their Ace.  We check.  So do the other players.

ON THE RIVER: Q

This gives us two pair -- but still not a lot of comfort.  After the Small Blind checks, we bet 700.  The dealer has a big stack of chips and is ready to use it.  He raises 3,000.

"I fold," the Small Blind says.  That leaves us with a big decision -- and a small confession.

"After listening to this discussion, I should have done what you said.  I fold."

We conclude the dealer had an Ace, for a higher pair.  Instead, he stuns us -- and turns over K-6!  He made a big bluff to steal the pot.  Then we show our pair, which would have prevailed.

"You folded pocket Kings?!" the Small Blind asks.

"Too many hands beat me," we explain.  "An Ace beats me.  Another Queen beats me."

The winner then offers another moment of instant analysis.  "Your best guess was to assume I had a Queen, because I didn't bet when the Ace came out."

"Unless you were slow-playing Aces, after all that talk."

The dealer adds a straight also was possible, based on the board.  He doesn't fault us for folding.  We're left to kick ourselves.

That was our best shot at a pot all night, until we went all-in early in the second hour.  We had 8-8 in the Big Blind, and a third 8 came on the flop.  Trouble is, that 8 was a heart -- and the river brought a fourth heart.  A man across from us had the King of hearts for a flush.  Our final table run ends at three, as we were eliminated in 15th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Another topic at the table tonight was the music on The Red Barn's jukebox.  One song which sparked discussion was Pearl Jam's performance of Last Kiss.

"That was a hit 50 years ago," someone said.

"And who recorded it first?" we asked in a sudden round of trivia.  "J. Frank Wilson and the Playboys."

"It was J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers," a man across from us recalled.  A check of Wikipedia confirms he's correct; we forgot the Playboys was Gary Lewis's 1960s group.

But our main point about Last Kiss involved the song's refrain.  "It says 'She's gone to heaven,' and the Bible doesn't say you go to heaven when you die."

One man across the table wished people did go to heaven.  Yet Jesus said....

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven -- the Son of Man. - John 3:13

We realize that goes against what a lot of Christian ministers say.  But they're the words of Jesus, who should know what He was talking about.
 
Yet as we noted in a recent post, a resurrection day for the dead is coming.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead shall be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. - I Corinthians 15:51-53

The Bible says this life is not all there is.  Are you making plans for another one -- one where you can live forever with Christ?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 134 final tables in 386 nights (34.7%) -- 20 cashes.