Poker Night 475: House A-fire

Maybe it's because the players shuffle their own cards. Maybe it's because Kansas Star Casino has an automatic shuffler under its poker tables. Whatever the reason, we're finding Yvie's poker games tend to have stranger hands. Here's an example from Monday night....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: K-K

Blame us for this one. We're dealing, in a game where we've won a couple of small early pots. A woman at our table of seven has raised to 1,600. We're certainly not going to run away from "donuts," so we call. About four players are in.

ON THE FLOP: Ad-Ah-Ac (suits may not be precise)

Talk about stunning the table!  "The Auto Club flop," we say - as we've dealt ourselves a superior full house.  But there's one nagging little problem. The deck has a fourth Ace somewhere. Does the woman across the table have it? She makes a continuation bet of 1,000. A man to our right calls. So do we. Everyone else is out.

ON THE TURN: 2d

A card from the other end of the galaxy which doesn't seem to matter.  Now the woman across from us checks, The man in the middle checks.  We sense some insecurity from this, make a bet of 1,500 - and get two callers.  If one of our opponents had that fourth Ace, wouldn't they have raised?

ON THE RIVER: 3d

Now three diamonds in a row are showing - but we know a straight or flush won't do someone any good. Our opponents check again, and we reach for chips.

"C'mon, just call," someone at the table tells us.

"No, I have to bet," we answer - and set out 2,000.

"He has to be an a*s about this," someone else says.

"I have to call," the woman opposite us then decides. "I have a boat, too."  Those actually are comforting words. We were concerned she might have quads.

"I'm going to fold," the man in the middle says. "My boat's not good enough."

Then the woman shows - J-J!  Our Kings top her and the other player who admitted to 6-6. We make a massive gain of more than 10,000 chips, and receive a bonus of 5,000 from the Tournament Director for the best hand of the night so far.

"You weren't afraid of the Ace?!" the woman asks. Well, that's why we didn't go all-in at some point. We made the bets big, but not so big as to be potentially crippling.

Good cards kept coming for us, and our starting stack of 10,000 grew to 34,600 by the first break - then to 60,500 in the second term. We reached the final table with 45,000.  But then the good cards ran out, with the blinds getting huge. We went for it all with K-10 of clubs and our last 25,000. But the board didn't pair for us, while A-9 by another man was rewarded with 9 on the river.

We finished the night in fifth place, satisfied to score our best finish since mid-April. And the take-home lesson for us from the last two tournaments is that being slightly more disciplined can make a big difference.

MINISTRY MOMENT: At one point we bet 2,500 to take a pot. An opponent across from us said, "I'll fold, you silver-tongued devil."

"I try not be a devil," we answered. "I try to be an angel." Then we turned to a man at our left. "But I can't even be an angel. I can be a child of God, but not an angel."

Does this confuse you?  If you think humans are on Earth trying to "earn their wings" to become angels in heaven, what the Bible says might come as a surprise.

But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor...." - Hebrews 2:6-7

Humans are made "a little lower" than angels - and verse 9 goes to say Jesus was "made a little lower than the angels" when He came to Earth. Yet should our human goal be to become angels?

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life? - I Corinthians 6:3

That's not merely a rhetorical question. Your Bible says humans someday will judge angels. This implies we won't simply be on their levels - we'll be above them. How is this possible?

...Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.... Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in is sufferings in order that we may also share in is glory. - Romans 8:14, 17

True "children of God" have an amazing future - as heirs of God's Kingdom, joining in an inheritance with Jesus Christ Himself. That's a step above angelic living. If you'd like to know more about it, leave a comment and we'll try to explain it further.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 177 final tables in 475 games (37.3%) - 33 cashes.