Poker Day 506: Push to Talk

On a day set aside to "pray for Texas," we went to a casino and played Texas Hold 'em. Yes, we prayed first for the people affected by the hurricane. In fact, we put a little Texas lapel pin on our hat - perhaps too small, because no one mentioned it. But would our Sunday tournament have sunshine or clouds?

BLINDS: 75/150

IN THE POCKET: A-J

We were originally the 14th alternate on the casino list, even though we arrived 25 minutes early. Thankfully, the top ten were placed in a separate table. Then we sat down about 35 minutes into the tournament.

Some nibbles have failed, mainly due to a man with a huge stack at our immediate left who is raising early and often. We now sit two seats off the button with great cards. We smell a chance to gain, so we check to wait for raisers. Sadly, there are none; about four players are in.

ON THE FLOP: K-Q-10

Jackpot! we say to ourselves. It's a "rainbow" flop of three different suits. We hit the top straight, so let's sit back and wait. A man across the table moves first, trying a pre-emptive 675. Fine, we'll call. Then Mr. Big Bettor to our left goes over the top, raising to 4,500. Other players fold.

"He wants me to go all-in," we say - recalling his pushes of minutes before. "So I will." And Mr. Big Bettor insta-calls!

"Did you hit a straight?" we ask him.

"Did you?"

"I'm asking you."

He turns over.... Q-10! That's bottom two pair.

"Because I did hit a straight." We show our cards, and he mutters about his fate. Then he roots for a Queen, to hit a full house.

ON THE TURN: J

We actually pair. As if that matters.

ON THE RIVER: 8

We couldn't have dreamed it any better: a big hand, and a big bettor walking right into it. Our push of 8,775 turns into 19,200 chips!

We were quiet from there, taking 19,050 to the first break. But then, attempts to gain ground failed over and over.  We won one pot, only to give back most of it in the very next hand. We staggered to the second break at only 5,700.

A rally started to come in the third term - first when we pushed with A-9 and everyone folded. Another A-9 with diamonds took out a player when we hit a flush. But not enough big cards came - so we finally pushed a third time with A-9. This time, two players had A-K. No one paired the board, so they split our last 5,500 chips. It wasn't a bad day - 21st place out of 84 players. But we left dreaming of what might have been.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Your turn," the man to our left said later when we played a hand he folded pre-flop. Trouble was, our cards missed and we had to fold on the turn. Then he chided us for not pressing on.

"I had hope," we explained to him. Then we quoted part of a Bible verse, whether he realized it or not:

...Hope that is seen is not hope.... - Romans 8:24 (KJV)

We don't think he understood that - but do you understand it?  It's different from that other hand, where we hit the straight on the flop. We don't need to "hope" we hit it. We can see the board and see our cards, and know we did.

Look at the entire verse to understand this better:

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is not seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? - Romans 8:24 (NIV)

Paul is writing here about salvation. Note this version has it in past tense - "we were saved." The King James Version has it in present tense: "we are saved." And the Moffatt paraphrase puts it, "We were saved with this hope ahead." This indicates both a past and a future aspect.

So what are believers hoping for, and has it arrived yet? Read all of Romans 8 if you'd like for a head start, and we'll get back to this in another post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 184 final tables in 506 games (36.4%) - 37 cashes.