"They haven't shut this one down yet," a woman down the table answered. Perhaps sarcastically - but perhaps with a grain of truth.
"You'd better show us your ID," another woman said jokingly.
But then she gave us a break, as we had admitted it was our first time at Nilla's Poker Room. It's close to a main highway in our city, but a bit hard to find - hidden behind a rather notorious nightclub. We found a nicely set-up place, with a full bar and a few food items. Room for cash games were secluded behind walls in corners, while the main tournament was out in the open.
We went to Nilla's this weekend, even though Nikki's Poker Room is open again. Nilla's cost $30 to play, so we theorized the prize pool would be better than the Nikki's "totally free" approach. And as a side issue, we might learn more about the current poker crackdown by Wichita police.
One woman at our table put the two recent shutdowns together, declaring Nikki's led to the end of Cards for the Cure. "They applied to renew their liquor license, and said up-front: We are a poker room."
"They didn't have to be so honest," another woman said - and that's a topic for another day. Now let's get to the action....
BLINDS: 25/50
IN THE POCKET: King of hearts-King of diamonds
Nilla's is easily the busiest poker room we've visited in Wichita - with four full tables playing in the tournament on a regular Saturday night. We haven't won a pot yet, despite a couple of feelers.
Now we have "the donuts" (K-K) in lead position, holding about 9,900 chips (starting with 10,500, including a newcomer's bonus) - so we limp in. A man across from us raises to 500, and we call. As best we recall, about four players are in.
ON THE FLOP: 10d-7d-6d
The jewelry store is open, but we're thinking more about our overpair. We bet 700 on it. That chases a couple of people away, but not the man who raised pre-flop. He calls.
ON THE TURN: Qc (may not be precise)
Not a diamond - but not a rib-sticking Ace, either. We increase the bet to 1,000, and get called again.
ON THE RIVER: Jd
We hit the diamond flush - but one card beats us. Does our opponent have it? We bet 1,000 again to find out. We're not really sure if he calls or not - but he flips over pocket Aces! Thankfully, they're both black Aces! The flush is a winner, and we gain more than 3,000 chips.
Another pot win brought us close to 14,000. But then the third period of blinds brought disaster - as our A-K brought an Ace on the flop. But 2-3 showed up, and a man with 4-5 hit a straight which severely hurt our stack.
We staggered to the one-hour break at 5,500 chips, and couldn't recover from there. We went all-in with A-Q of spades (as best we remember) - but the board brought only two spades. It also brought three clubs, which a woman used to make a winning flush.
While two players were "eliminated" at the table ahead of us, they took a re-buy option. We did not, walking to the bar to finish our soda in roughly 30th place - and wondering if we should keep going to a place which seems on the edge of breaking city law.
MINISTRY MOMENT: A couple of women at our table were quite talkative. One of them mentioned how "God gave me such good looks...." We think she was making fun of herself, but we responded to it.
"You should be thankful to God for your good looks," we said. "We should be thankful to God for every blessing."
The woman didn't respond to that. But perhaps we made her stop and think for a moment. The Bible describes several beautiful women, even in ancient history....
..The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. - Genesis 6:2
But there's a different kind of beauty that God ultimately is seeking:
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. - I Peter 3:3-4
Outward beauty is "fleeting" (Proverbs 31:30) - but godly character from a proper spirit never goes out of style. If you're a woman who plays poker, what sort of beauty are you trying to develop?
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 174 final tables in 462 games (37.7%) - 32 cashes.
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