"The tightest man ever to come in the door," a man across the table from us at River City Poker Room said Sunday. He's a dealer most of the time, so he "knows our works" (to borrow from Revelation 3:8) when it comes to playing poker.
He's also a man who talks a lot, and doesn't care where his words fall. In many jobs, his comments about ethnic communities would get him fired. In this tournament, he actually was one of the players -- and we tried to quiet him down right away:
BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: 3-3
It's practically the first hand of the day. The Big Talker tries to get things going by raising to 900. With a small pocket pair and 22,000 starting chips, it's worth taking a chance -- because he could simply be raising for the fun of it. Three or four of the ten at the table call.
ON THE FLOP: K-J-8
Mr. Big Talker makes a continuation bet of 900. Even though face cards are showing, we sense he has two other cards and is trying to bluff them as long as he can. So still holding a pair, we call.
ON THE TURN: 9
Our opponent now raises the stakes to 1,600 - and now we're more certain than ever he's bluffing. He knows how we play, and he wants us to get scared and run away. Not this time; we call again, and we're heads-up.
ON THE RIVER: 8
This advances us to two pair. But Mr. Big Talker has controlled the pot to this point, and we let him do it again. Now he bets 5,000 -- one-fourth of our stack. This makes things serious. But we still think it's a "fraidy-cat" bluff, with something like A-Q or A-10. We call.
"You got a boat?" our opponent asks. No, we don't. Trouble is.... he does. He turns over 9-9. He led us all the way, made a full house on the river, and showed us we didn't read him very well.
That hand set the tone for a come-from-behind first hour. Our efforts to rally fell short, until we went all-in with A-6 and two pair on the board. A man called us, and we chopped a pot which led to a gain for us. That opened the door for a big comeback, including three of a kind to get back to the starting line -- then a couple more big pots, including a 10-10 which took out two players.
Only ten players showed up for this tournament -- but we recovered from being all-in with 4,500 chips to 92,000. That led us to the final three, which put us in the money! Another push with K-Q fell short after that, but we won $40 on our investment of $20 - our first cash in a live tournament since late September.
MINISTRY MOMENT: One key hand in the comeback came when we went all-in with 6-6 -- and a third 6 fell on the flop. As the play rolled around, we gestured for a push to show what we'd already done.
"He wants to push again," Mr. Big Talker said. "We're all probably in trouble."
Sure enough, they were. When the showdown came and King-high seemed to be winning, we announced: "I've got a beast!"
As the big pot was moved our way, we added: "A little Revelation moment there."
Some players at the table knew what we meant. Mr. Big Talker didn't. "I don't go to church that often," he admitted.
Come to think of it, maybe you're like him. What did we mean? The book of Revelation explains....
This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. - Revelation 13:18
What kind of beast is this, and what does the number mean? These are deep questions which have caused a lot of debate and speculation over the years. Let's start by noting this chapter actually mentions two beasts:
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. - Revelation 13:11-12
Is this a literal beast -- like something from Monsters University? We doubt it. Modern society puts so much emphasis on good looks that we can't imagine a bizarre-looking creature being worshipped by everyone on Earth.
Beast #2 will order people to set up images to Beast #1 (verse 14), give that beast speaking ability, order non-worshipers put to death (verse 15) and require marks for trading (verses 16-17). It seems safe to say this will require governmental powers -- and Beast #1 will wear "ten crowns" (verse 1) while having a "throne and great authority" (verse 2).
Another verse offers a dead giveaway for identifying this Beast:
He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. - Revelation 13:6
If you're staying close to God through prayer, Bible study and worship, these acts will repulse you -- but also make you one of the Beast's targets. We suggest keeping close to your Creator, so you can tell who or what that Beast is -- and ask God to help you understand the numbers involved.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 147 final tables in 419 games (35.1%) - 25 cashes. There was only one table in this tourney, but it's still a "final" for us.
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