Poker Day 477: Passive? Aggressive?

The British vote on leaving the European Union came up during our Friday poker tournament at Kansas Star Casino. But of course, no one was there to make a "Brexit" - they wanted to stay and win:

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: A-10

We've made it well past the first break, as a few good pots ballooned us from a starting 3,500 chips to a high of 6,125. We start this hand with 4,900, and a player at our table of eight raises to 1,500. With some people already showing they're making desperation shoves, we sense it happening again. These cards are high enough that we call; two players are with us.

ON THE FLOP: A-Q-J

This is a flop that can produce fireworks well before Independence Day. We have top pair and a nice kicker - and we're first to act. What would you do? We decide to move toward winning the pot right now, matching the 1,500 bet an opponent made pre-flop.

"I'm all-in," the man sitting to our left says.  He's been one of the pushers since the break, so that's not really a surprise. But then a young man with a strange-looking hairdo calls, and that concerns us. Did someone hit a two-pair jackpot - or better? Or are they both dreaming with big draws?

We don't think about this long, primarily because we started all this. "I've committed this much," we say, "so I'll call." Our last 1,900 goes into the middle, and it's time for the explosion.

The man to our left shows - K-10! He hit the jackpot, all right - a straight on the flop.

The weird-hair guy doesn't like seeing that. He has J-J - three of a kind on the flop! We moved forward with the weakest hand of all. We need a King to escape with a straight and a split.

ON THE TURN: A

A is for Arrrgh - anything but that! The three-Jack man now gets a winning full house.

ON THE RIVER: 3 (for the record)

So the bulk of the chips go to Mr. Full House. "Do I get some back?" we ask the dealer.

"No, they go to him" - as in the man who pushed first. His straight gets a consolation prize - and we simply get a walk to the door, in about 35th place.

Looking back at it, we realize some poker experts don't consider A-10 strong enough to push at a time like that. We probably should have held our fire on the flop, and checked to see what others would do. But we thought we were in a strong position - much to our sad surprise.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "What time does the game end? Around 4:00-4:30?" asked a man to the dealer's left during a break. He admittedly preferred cash games, and had entered only his second tournament.

The dealer indicated that timing was correct. It was great timing for us. "I can stick around till about 8:55. For those of us keeping a seventh-day Sabbath, it's a great time of year."

Longer days mean longer "preparation days" for people who keep the Sabbath. But the dealer seemed a bit stunned by our comment - and perhaps you are as well.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God... - Exodus 20:9-10

The Sabbath is one of God's ten commandments - and it's considered so important that the word is capitalized in many Bible translations (curiously not in the King James). Sabbath matters so much to God that it was part of His creation:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. - Genesis 2:2-3

The Sabbath is a holy time - and it's supposed to be a rest time, to take a break from your work. That's why you'll never see us playing in a tournament on Friday nights or Saturday mornings. If we're trying to make money, we consider that work. Besides....

...On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. - Exodus 20:10

We admit we played "fast and loose" with this part of the command for years - going out to dinner on Friday night after sunset, or filling the gas tank on the way home from a Saturday worship service. We don't do that anymore, because we don't want other people working on Sabbath, either. That includes the staff at a poker room or casino.

Of course, we realize the dealer was probably stunned by our comment for another reason.  Can you figure out what that reason is? We'll explain it in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 177 final tables in 477 games (37.1%) - 33 cashes.