BLINDS: 100/200
IN THE POCKET: K-Q offsuit
We're in the Small Blind early in the game. No one has raised at a full table of eight. These cards might tempt you to do it, but we decide to sandbag and simply call. Five players are in.
ON THE FLOP: A-J-9
We're one street off "Broadway" (a top straight), but the Ace has us wary. Sitting first in line, we check. So does everyone else.
ON THE TURN: J
The board pairs, but we're still more concerned about that Ace. We check again. So does everyone else.
ON THE RIVER: 3
If no one else is going to take a stab at this pot, we might as well with King high. We bet 500 in a semi-bluff, and two players to our left fold.
"One-thousand," says a man across the table. The fifth man to his left folds.
"I wanted you to do what they did," we say to our opponent as a joke. It appears to us that someone else was sandbagging - and since we lack a second pair, we assume the worst and fold.
"Bought the pot," a man to our left guesses. He certainly outbid us.
"Had a Jack," we hear the winner say quietly. If that's true, his tactic worked perfectly.
We won a few good-sized pots to reach the first break at 11,900 chips. But things didn't go well from there, and we finally had to go all-in with a lowly 4-2 of hearts in the Big Blind. The dealer flipped over two Aces, and the Small Blind had a third Ace to top us. We finished 11th, which was our best showing there in a month.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Our biggest win of the night was a 7c-3c hand that made a flush and cracked pocket Aces. But then other players made expensive pre-flop raises in the next couple of hands, while we had better cards.
"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away," we said to the table as we called. "Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Those words seemed to go over the heads of the entire table. If you know where they originated, you may be a real Bible scholar....
...Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked will I return.... the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. - Job 1:21 (KJV)
These are the words of Job. If you read the entire first chapter of his story, you might be amazed at how he was able to say them.
God allowed Satan to take Job's farm animals, camels, several groups of servants and at least his seven sons (Job 1:14-19; some translations indicate his three daughters died as well). Many people would have responded by blaming God for it all. But Job did not.
Then he fell to the ground in worship.... In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. - Job 1:20, 22
We don't think Job was tipped off to what Satan did. He simply realized God is the ultimate provider of everything in our lives. Job was reminded of that by God later....
Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. - Job 41:11
If you've had big losses in poker lately, think about these words. Can you see a God who's bigger than your chip stack? Bigger than all your physical possessions? Can you worship Him, whether you have a lot or a little? If you faithfully can, God promises the ultimate prize in eternal life after this one.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 188 final tables in 518 games (36.3%) - 38 cashes.
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