Poker Day 531: 2 Works For You

Before a modern-day version of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre occurred in south Florida today, we were in the poker room trying to repeat last week's success. A big moment came early at Kansas Star Casino....

BLINDS: 25/25

IN THE POCKET: 2-2

The cards are small. But the blinds are small, and it's a late-arriving crowd. It's only about the third hand of the day. Of course we'll call with these, in mid-position. About four players get in for the minimum.

ON THE FLOP: 2-6-7

Our title borrows from the slogan of an Oklahoma TV station - and it's now live and in color! Two players check to our well-disguised three of a kind. We invite people in with a 50-chip nibbler. But a man to our left raises to 200. Too bad - that chases the others away. But not us; we call.

ON THE TURN: J

Obviously we didn't bet enough before for our remaining opponent. So now we drop down 200.

"Are you trying to take all my chips?" the man groans. (Actually, that is the object of the game.) Despite some obvious reservations, he calls.

ON THE RIVER: K

We'd determined this bet even before the card came out. We quickly toss out 500.

"Jiminy Christmas," the man whines. Then he enters the tank, thinking for the better part of a minute. We simply stare at him, but we think about calling for a clock.

"I'll call," he finally decides. "I have two pair." He shows a 6-7. But we show our 2's, and he acknowledges a good hand. We're rolling with a pot of about 1,900 chips.

A couple more winning hands came early, allowing us to reach a first-hour high of 5,900. We fell off by the break to 4,200. Then after a woman hurt us with pocket Kings against our Ace high, we made a huge leap and eliminated a player with A-10. Pocket Aces which we pushed also brought a nice win. After two hours of play, we stood at 8,500!

But then the cards went dry for us, as the field dwindled and we were cut to a six-player table. Finally we went all-in with A-J when a man next to us bet big. He had pocket Kings, and they held up. We came close to the final table, but fell short in 12th place on a 47-player day.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We did not have one today. On purpose. We'll explain the two reasons why in our next post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 192 final tables in 531 games (36.2%) - 40 cashes. Experiment update: Down $115.