BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: King of hearts - Queen of hearts
Early feelers haven't worked for us; in one case we folded 8-8 to a big bet on the flop and missed a winning 8 on the river. Now we have great-looking suited connectors, and a man ahead of us at our table of seven has raised to 700. We're happy to lay low and call; about half the table is in.
ON THE FLOP: Q-10-4 (no hearts; last card may not be precise)
Top pair and a strong kicker give us hope. But an older gentleman across from us seems even more optimistic; he tosses out 2,000 without a care. We're puzzled by what he has (two pair, maybe?!) - but we feel strong enough to call.
"If you called, I'm folding," a man next in line from us. He was one of the dealers on our last trip to Arrowhead, and will reveal later in the game that we "play tight." Doesn't he realize loose lips can sink ships -- such as ours?
ON THE TURN: 9
We're now heads-up against the older man, and he tosses out 2,000 more. This actually makes us more skeptical about what he has -- now thinking he has a Queen only. So we call again.
ON THE RIVER: A
Without hesitation, our opponent flips out his last pink 5,000 chip to go all-in. He's been tossing chips like coins into a fountain -- but that Ace was absolutely the last thing we wanted to see. So we take a moment to think about this.
"If you've got an Ace..." we finally say. He says nothing. We conclude (admittedly more out of hope than a read) that he missed some kind of flush draw. "I'll call."
Sure enough -- our opponent flips over A-J. He chased a winning hand to the river and won it, throwing up big bluffs along the way.
We never recovered from that big loss -- finally going all in for our last 2,500 with our own A-J amid rising blinds. Another man went all-in for even more, then showed A-K. The board paired, but his King kicker was better. On a day with only two tables playing, we missed the final one by finishing 13th.
MINISTRY MOMENT: The pre-game talk turned to a penny someone had picked up along the way. What, if anything, made it a "lucky penny"? Someone said it had to be face-up. This was news to us.
"All I know," we told a man next to us, "is if you find ten pennies, you tithe on one of them."
Are you familiar with a "tithe"? The word means a tenth, and it's often used in church-speak.
A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. - Leviticus 27:30
These instructions to ancient Israel were for an agricultural society. It's different from an "ante" in poker, where everyone contributes the same amount of chips pre-flop. The amount of the tithe depended on how much of a crop people produced.
The tithe was given to he Levites, who served as ministers -- then national leader Moses passed along a "tenth of that tithe" to Aaron the priest (Numbers 18:21-28). We suppose poker rooms work somewhat the same way; a certain amount from buy-ins is set aside for covering the room's expenses and salaries.
You might be giving more than a tithe of your income to the government today, in the form of taxes. But have you given God His tithe? There's a promise for those who do:
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." - Malachi 3:10
God blesses those who give -- especially if you give to Him. One way to do this is through a church congregation. It's only fair to repay ministers who work hard to preach God's Word and provide us spiritual support.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 140 final tables in 406 nights (34.5%) - 22 cashes.
No comments:
Post a Comment