Our Real Story: 2018 in Review

With two days left in 2018, we're "putting the cue in the rack" as they say in Australia. We'll declare our poker-playing finished for the year, and review how we did.

All in all, we did very well! It was a year of transition, as we moved from a location with one nearby poker room (others closed by police) to another area with two competing casinos - one only ten minutes from home. So our live play increased, and that may be why our success rate did:

KANSAS STAR CASINO - One final table in nine games, one cash
FIVE-STAR BILLIARDS - Two final tables in two games, no prizes (the Wichita billiard hall closed in mid-January)
JACK CASINO CINCINNATI - 10 final tables in 16 games, four cashes (two of them "bubble boy" consolation money)
HOLLYWOOD CASINO INDIANA - 10 final tables in 13 games, one cash
DAYTON FORESTERS - One final table in one game, no cashes

TOTAL: 24 final tables in 41 tournaments (58.5%) - six cashes for $942!

After the move to metro Cincinnati, we made a stunning 70 percent of our final tables!

Admittedly, five of those 30 tournaments had only enough players for one table. And not many were large tournaments with more than two tables - at least eight, by our records. But in most cases, we had to play our way to the final group. And by God's grace and guidance, we did....

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. - Ephesians 4:7 (NASB)

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER: No final tables in one tournament; 80 tokens lost in two cash games. Grand total: 290 point wins (top 10%) in 1,452 games, 93 final tables, 10 wins, 13 cashes.

NLOP's notorious connection problems seemed to be gone when we tried a tournament this past week. But overall, the cash prizes here don't thrill us now - especially when casinos are close. At least NLOP has added a cash game option for building tokens, even though we failed there.

POKERSTARS.net: Cash games - Up 93,476 play money chips. Welcome bonuses: 95,000. Total: 1,126,682 (yet for some odd reason, the website shows us with 6.1 million).

We sat down at "cash game" tables nine times in 2018, and had gains at eight of them!

This past year also will be remembered for our increased blackjack play, spurred by a Kansas Star Casino tournament in which we finished in the top ten. We gained $68.50 there, after being in the "minus column" a good part of the year.

What will 2019 bring? We can only guess. We had no idea when 2018 began that we'd be in Kentucky now, working at a different job and playing live poker nearly every week. But we ought to step up to one of the big-money weekend tournaments, to see how we'd do.

Whatever happens, we'll keep looking to God for wisdom and discernment - in how we play, as well as how we present Him and ourselves wherever we go. May you do the same.