BLINDS: 25/50
IN THE POCKET: King of hearts-King of diamonds
Even though we arrived 20 minutes before the starting time, we were third on a waiting list to play. We've barely sat down with our 12,000 starting chips, but clearly the stacks and small blinds have the full table in a betting room. So with K-K (which we call "the donuts"), we raise to 400 in late position. Three players call.
ON THE FLOP: 9d-4h-5h
So far, so good. The players check to us, so we bet another 500. As we remember it, two players call.
ON THE TURN: 6h
Now hold on here. Three hearts in a row open the door for all kinds of trouble. A man across the table seems to stir up some, by betting 800. Did he make a straight? A flush? Or both? We suspect the real answer is "none of the above," and he's testing the newcomer. So we call, since we have an overpair and our own flush draw. We're now heads-up.
ON THE RIVER: Ac
No flush, but not much more comfort. We're pleased when our opponent checks. So do we.
"I have Kings," we say. To this moment, we don't know what the opponent had. He folds, so we're left to guess it was a bluff. We win a nice pot of more than 2,000.
We won a couple of other hands, to hit a high of 14,800. Then we took our own chances with small blinds and a big stack, but they didn't work. We were 25 above our starting total at the first break.
Then in the second term, everything went wrong. A-Q missed the flop for us twice, and raising players made us fold. Pocket 8's lost as well. We endured the entire 80-minute period without winning a single hand! Our stack deteriorated to a lowly 900 at the break, leaving us one remaining hand. We tried with Q-5 of hearts, but diamonds showed up and a flush fight knocked us out.
We ended the day around 44th place, out of 79 entries. But at least we followed up on our blackjack success of Thursday night by going to a table and recovering $20 of our $95 entry fee.
MINISTRY MOMENT: "I'm an honest man," a young man said as he turned over his cards to end a hand.
"Not to mention humble," we added. This brought a few chuckles from our end of the table.
Then we remembered a story we'd heard on Christian radio. "A congregation gave a pastor a trophy for being the most humble man in town. He brought it to church the next week.... and they fired him."
That's the funny thing about humility, isn't it? The Bible says we're supposed to have it....
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger. - Zephaniah 2:3
....and yet the seeking of humility can turn into a trap. Jesus told His own story about that:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." - Luke 18:10-12
The Pharisee prayed, thanked God, fasted on a regular basis and tithed to the temple. Those are all good traits. But Jesus continued....
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. - Luke 18:13-14
Translation: the Pharisee prayed with a sense of pride - even arrogance toward the despised other man in the temple. The tax collector humbled himself before God, admitted his sins and pleaded for God's mercy.
It's easy to get a "big head" in a poker room when you win a tournament or make a lot of money. We should thank God for whatever blessings come our way - but be careful to do so in a humble way. Give God the glory from start to finish. The result could be even greater blessings than you expect.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 192 final tables in 533 games (36.0%) - 40 cashes. Experiment update: Down $260.
