When Free Isn't Free

What's the earliest exit you've ever made from a poker tournament?  We may have set a new standard today - by exiting before the tournament even began.

But we should start at the beginning.  For weeks Arrowhead Poker's website offered this event:

Sunday @ 2pm 

August 31st

$500 True Free Roll
Chair Rental $0-0**

You can qualify for this tournament by simply buying into any daily tournament. 

We played in a $20 Friday tournament a couple of weeks ago, so we presumed our spot was secure.  But no - our name didn't come up on today's qualifying list.

"Did you do the ten-dollar buy-in?" the manager asked us -- as in paying $10 extra up-front for bonus chips.  No, we didn't.  And that left an organizer with a look of frustration on his face.

"That ten-dollar buy-in pays for this tournament," the organizer explained.

We invite you to look up and down the website and tell us: where does it define "buying into" as paying the extra $10?  We don't think it does.  In most tournaments we've entered, the "buy in" is the main entry fee - in our case the $20.

But we decided against making an argument about it.  We shook our head, bit our lip a bit, walked across the parking lot to a convenience store for a "consolation prize" soda and drove home.

How many things in life claim to be free -- only to have hidden strings attached?  Yet Jesus Christ makes this offer:

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. - John 8:36

What does Jesus (the Son of God) mean by this?  He explains moments earlier:

Jesus replied. "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever." - John 8:34-35

Jesus wants to set you free from sin, to become a son of God.... not simply for today, but forever.  How?

And from Jesus Christ.... him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.... - Revelation 1:5

As orators like to say on holiday weekends such as this one: The price of freedom isn't free.  In this case, the blood Jesus shed when He sacrificed His life on our behalf frees us from sin.  We don't have to pay for that, because Jesus already did.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. - Galatians 5:1

So how will you respond to that truly free gift?  We've been studying a religious magazine article on how to respond.  The author seemingly doesn't want to use the phrase "go all in," but he could - and it seems we should.

Poker Day 423: Fake or Double Take

"If you're learning, this is a good place to do it," one of the managers at Winners Cardroom told a couple of players leaving the table this afternoon.

"Or if you're a cheapskate, like me," we said to him half-jokingly.

We were at Winners because "freeroll fever" has struck local poker rooms -- with several games being played with no chair rental every week.  It means we can play as we once did in Georgia: paying only the cost of food, drinks and tips.  And on Sunday, there's money to be won -- as Winners pays $150 to the tournament champ.

But with other players paying $10 extra for a "double stack" of chips, we'd have to play carefully to gain an edge.  So we tried to strike early....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: K-9 offsuit

It's the second hand of the day, and we have close to our starting amount at 11,400 chips (2,000 extra for arriving on time).  We have the dealer button.  No one at the full table is raising, so we dare to enter small.  Most of the table is in.

ON THE FLOP: 5-6-7

This 5-6-7 doesn't strike anyone as heaven.  Everyone checks -- and while we have a straight draw, we choose to do the same.

ON THE TURN: 3

That's a miss for us.  But the table checks again -- and since we're last to act, we can try what they call on TV a "stab at the pot."  We bet 700.

"Oh no, you might have a 4," a manager at the table declares as he folds.  Uh-huh.

A young man next to him says nothing - except to raise.  He goes up to 2,200.  The players between us get out of the way, leaving us with a tough decision.  Did he raise because he smelled (correctly) a bluff on our part?  Or is he trying to out-bluff us?  We think it's the latter.  And in a way, we have 10 outs (3 Kings, 3 9's, 4 8's) - so we dare to call.

ON THE RIVER: 8

Thank you very much!  We made the top straight.  Now we hope betting history repeats itself.  Our opponent checks.  We offer 700 again -- but this time, he simply calls.

"I didn't have the 4," we say as we slowly turn over the cards, "but I have a 9."

We never see what our opponent has - but we hit the river well, to take a pot of more than 5,000 chips.

We won a few other hands as well, including a timely deal of Q-Q which brought a third Queen on the flop.  But the cards went dry as blinds went up.  With 12 players left, we went all-in on the flop with A-K and a flop of K-3-J.  A man called us with J-9.  But of course.... a 9 came on the river.  His two pair prevailed, and we were eliminated in 12th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We took a small reflector light for our "card protector."  We told a man sitting to our left during the one-hour break we brought it as a reminder to reflect the light of Jesus Christ.

"What do you think of Jesus?" we asked.  "Is he your Savior?"

We might as well have asked the man to turn over his cards before the flop.  He said nothing, simply staring with his best poker face.

"I hope everyone believes in Jesus as their Savior," we said.  He still said nothing.

Maybe he didn't expect our question.  Or maybe he was reacting to Jesus as other people did long ago....

Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they remained silent. - Mark 3:4

"They" were people in the synagogue -- probably Pharisees, who didn't respect what Jesus was doing (verses 1-2).  Jesus refused to back down:

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. - Mark 3:5

The "Lord of the Sabbath" did a healing act in a synagogue on God's Sabbath day.  Then the crowd started talking....

Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. - Mark 3:6

There's a time when we should be silent when it comes to Jesus.  That time is in worshiping Him and God the Father....

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. - Habakkuk 2:20

But if you're silent when it comes to the simple (well, seemingly simple) question of believing in Jesus, that can be another matter.  God can track our thoughts -- so what is your silence about Him really saying?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 150 final tables in 423 games (35.5%), 25 cashes.  This was our first final table miss of the year, in six tries.

A Real Game-Changer

"As of today, the rules for playing poker at The Sports Page have changed," the tournament director announced before Monday night's game.  And it was NOT because we showed up for the first time in several months.

Up to now, the sports bar awarded cash prizes to the top two players -- and anyone who walked in and sat down had a chance to win the money.  But the tournament director received a big surprise from the management Monday.  The bar still will let anyone play for free -- but from now on....

• You have to pay a ten-dollar buy-in to be eligible for the prize money.  (If a "freeroller" wins, he/she gets nothing.)
• Only first place gets the money.
• "The money" comes to only 25 percent of the total buy-in.  Your $10 bill gets you a five-dollar voucher for food and drink that evening; $2.50 more goes into that night's jackpot, while the other $2.50 goes into a prize pool for a "major tournament" every couple of months.

This sudden change spoiled the mood at The Sports Page Monday night.  It certainly changed our approach to the tournament; we didn't carry ten dollars with us, so we couldn't win a dime.  And several people grumbled this effectively will mean the end of poker nights at the sports bar.

We don't know if the "end is near" there -- but it reminded us that many people are more comfortable when the rules are consistent.  Texas Hold 'em works that way, after all; a flush beats a straight today every bit as much as it did 50 years ago.

The original "rule book" for mankind works the same way.  God gave us a set of foundational laws long ago....

Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.  And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant -- the Ten Commandments. - Exodus 34:28

Some people think Jesus changed the rules of life's game when He came to Earth.  But He said otherwise:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. - Matthew 5:17

Read all of Matthew 5 and you'll find Jesus actually expanded the interpretation of one of the commandments (adultery), as well as other rules given to Moses.  And the Lord went on to say....

"If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."  "Which ones?" the man inquired.  Jesus replied, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" -- Matthew 19:17-18

Countries around the world still consider some of these commandments the settled law of the land today.  But sadly, some places have abolished or ignored several of them.

The place where you play poker might change the "house rules" tonight or next week.  But we can be thankful God's basic rules have not -- and obeying them is a way we can show love for our Creator (I John 5:3).

Poker Night 216: Club-Hopping

Some people like to play "power poker," making big bets to win pots. But Texas Hold 'em is a game where sometimes it can pay to look wimpy. It worked for us more than once tonight at Lil Kim's Cove....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: K-J of clubs

We're in third position at a seven-player table with fairly nice cards. We call, prepared to bet behind a raise. but no one raises, and nearly the entire table is in.

ON THE FLOP: 2c-3c-8c

A flop that's almost a dream come true! (Almost, because Ac would give us the "nut flush.") A man ahead of us checks, and we offer a tantalizing small bet of 250. A man across from us raises to 1,000. Another man joins us in calling.

ON THE TURN: 8d

This complicates matters a bit. We didn't think of it at the time, but what if that man across from us had two pair on the flop? He could well have a full house now. We're really not sure what he has (best guess: Ace of clubs), so we check. Both our opponents check.

ON THE RIVER: 5s

We check again. The man across from us bets 1,000 -- and now we have the feeling he's trying to buy the pot. The player between us folds, and we have little fear in calling.

"Do you have a flush?" we ask. "Because I do." We show ours. He doesn't show us, saying only that he didn't have a flush. It's a nice gain of thousands of chips.

The evening was spiked with nice hands for us -- a straight at one point, 10-10 twice to eliminate players, K-K once to win a race against A-J and knock out someone else. But we folded A-K against two players' big all-in bets, and missed out on a golden opportunity to eliminate more.

We reached the final table with about 45,000 chips -- but rising blinds and weak hands whittled us down from there. A big-blind last stand with J-4 fell short. But we still finished fifth, for our best live tournament since Thanksgiving week.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We happened to wear a "faux fraternity" shirt from our college years to the tournament tonight, and the conversation turned from there to a discussion of Freemasonry.

"You don't want to get the 33rd degree," a player said as he held up pocket 3's he'd folded. "You know why? How old was Jesus when He died?" The man asked us this question, knowing about this blog and our ministry.

"History says He died at 33 1/2," we answered. The man then said the 33rd degree in Freemasonry is honorary only, because that number is considered bad luck.

This claim was news to us. What do you think of it? We'll offer our thoughts in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 88 final tables in 216 nights (40.7%) - 15 cashes. Heads-up: 7-11.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 99 point wins in 525 games (18.9%), 40 final tables, 2 cashes.

We finished fifth Wednesday in a qualifying tournament for the monthly "Poker Studs Championship." That puts us in the running for big bucks, when we play for (giggle) Stud of the Month on the 29th!

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Full tournaments - 3 top ten percent finishes in 14 games (21.4%), no cashes. Pretend cash games - $28,674, up $1,825.

To our pleasant surprise, our Internet service was restored in time to play Sunday's Million Dollar Challenge Freeroll. But we won only one pot, and were bounced in 30 minutes -- #25,725 out of nearly 42,000 players.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $13,969, up $25.

Huh? Back at Yahoo? Yes, we returned for the first time in about a year -- playing at a library because our home Internet connection was down, and so downloads are required to play. Have to stay in practice, you know.

A Favor for Freerollers

7:30 pm UPDATE: We had our best showing in the Fox TV Challenge ever tonight! Our place was #2,167 out of 29,005 players -- a top ten-percent, which would have made us money at a casino. (But of course, only the top ten get paid in this freeroll.)

One more of these freerolls is on the schedule, 12 December. Well, actually TWO -- as PokerStars.Net had a 6pm and 8pm U.S. ET freeroll tonight. We found the same password works for both. But we have another commitment, so we're skipping a doubleheader.

= = =
First of all, the Poker Stars.Net Million Dollar Challenge Freeroll has been moved up two hours - to 6:00 p.m. U.S. ET.

And we're in a city which showed the Negreanu telecast early -- so here's the password: NAPT (all caps).

We might be able to play this after all. :-)

How We Came So Close

So what happened in Sunday night's Lamborghini freeroll, to help us reach 83rd place out of 10,000? We had several highs and lows....

:18 IN: We have A-3. Two Aces come on the flop and turn. Our big bet pays off, and we jump to 5,030 chips. By the end of the first hour, some losses have reduced us to 1,925. But we win a big pot early in hour two, to climb back to 12,956. (Apologies for not having details on every hand; PokerStars.net keeps play moving very quickly.)

1:10 IN: We have A-9. We win the hand with a big bet and several callers, and jump above 23,000 chips.

1:11 IN: We have A-6. Aces prevail again -- we're up above 27,000.

1:22 IN: We play Q-10 -- and two Queens hit the board! We bet big with them, and advance above 46,000.

1:43 IN: We have 6-6. The board delivers a 6, plus a pair of 10's. Full house -- big stack of $81,966!

Our holdings diminished from there, and we had 26.5K at the two-hour break. Only one more winning hand came after that -- but there was an interesting chat with another player during the break. That player asked us to loan him money to visit this blog (ha ha). He reminded us of a beggar we met at a bus stop days before:

flopblogger: Asked first for change (I carried none)....
flopblogger: then sked if my Pastor could help pay his rent.
flopblogger: (asked)
northeast123: lmao
northeast123: did paster help out?
flopblogger: The Pastor laughed at it, too.
northeast123: i asked for minum
flopblogger: The beggar didn't show up for the church service....
northeast123: lol
northeast123: get free bread
flopblogger: The bread of life, in fact. :-)
northeast123: yup

What sort of bread is this? The church service we attend usually has a snack table -- but we're talking about something even better:

"I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world".... Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." -- John 6:32-35

Jesus goes on to say He is "living bread.... If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (verse 51).

Win a little "bread" at the poker table (wow, that slang sounds so 1970-ish), and you'll be happy for a short time. Partake of what Jesus offers, and you can have eternal life. While we personally play for one, we really hope and long for the other.

In the Top 100

Finishing in the top 100 of something doesn't sound too thrilling, does it?

But when you're in an online tournament with 10,000 players, that's different!

Tonight was our best showing yet in a big PokerStars.Net tournament - 83rd place in a Lamborghini freeroll. (Details will be posted another day.)

If we were at the World Series of Poker main event, we would have won six-to-seven times our buy-in -- tens of thousands of dollars!

But in this freeroll, only the top 18 players qualified for next Sunday's weekly championship. So our big finish gained us.... well, you're reading what it gained us. Bummer.

(P.S. Just checked this week's Lamborghini weekly championship. After eight hours, seven are left at the final table.)

Lamborghini Wednesday?

PokerStars.Net changed its rules for the Lamborghini freeroll, allowing players to enter only once a day. That allowed us to get in the 8:05 pm ET game tonight.

The hands came fast and furious, so notes were hard to take. But we didn't do that badly....

:10 IN: We have Q-7 in the small blind. The flop has three clubs (we have none), but one is a 7. We bet the minimum, and the table folds for a $90 gain.

:15 IN: We have Q-Q and limp. The flop is 8-A-Q, and the betting rises until we're all in. No one else has three of a kind, and K-2 follow to bump us up to $3,310!

:18 IN: We have A-8 -- and after a 7-2-4 flop, A shows on the turn. We bet and win, gaining $450.

:22 IN: After a big loss, we have A-Q. Challenged to raise with blinds at 125/250, we bet $750 - leaving only $15 in our stack. When the flop is 2-2-9, we throw in the last 15. Then come 8-6 - but our A-Q tops an A-J! We rebuild to $2,130.

:33 IN: We have A-K offsuit, and merely call when another player named "SatanCardz" doubles the blind to $600.

ON THE FLOP: K-3-J

Satan bets 900, and we're ready to give an answer (I Peter 3:15). With 1,380 left, we raise all-in. A third player raises even higher! What are they hiding?

ON THE TURN: A

Top two pair? We're feeling good about this....

ON THE RIVER: J

....but we shouldn't. The third player who took on Satan and us has a Jack, and his three of a kind overcomes us. Out of 10,000 players, we finish #2,911.

Only the top 18 players qualified for Sunday's big game, so the odds were awfully slim. At a casino, the payouts probably would have started at #1,000. But we think this is our highest score yet in a huge tournament like this -- so we leave a little satisfied. Even if Satan's cards finished ahead of ours.

Fastest Finger

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to be learned; but time and chance happen to them all. -- Ecclesiastes 9:11

We don't know if King Solomon ever played poker -- but there's a lot of truth to learn from that verse he wrote. Yet in online poker, sometimes being swift is an advantage. There's an absurd example of that right now at PokerStars.Net .

Every two hours around the clock, there's "The Lamborghini Freeroll" - satellite tournaments leading to a big game Sunday afternoon to win a sports car, with perhaps some cash along the way. Registration for each freeroll opens 30 minutes before game time, with room for 10,000 players. So a few minutes ago, we were ready -- and clicked the "register" button almost as soon as it appeared.

Too bad for us. The field was filled with 10,000 players in less than one minute! And we apparently didn't click the follow-up "OK" button quickly enough.

Fast cars require fast mouse-clickers. Who knew?

Million-Dollar Mike and a $20K Dream

In case you missed it: A New York firefighter named Mike hit the jackpot today on the Fox "Million Dollar Challenge." An 8 on the river gave him a gutshot straight, to defeat Daniel Negreanu in the heads-up "Million Dollar Match."

(Come to think of it, has Negreanu ever reached the finals of NBC Heads-Up? We don't think so.)

Connected with that was another freeroll tournament for $20,000 tonight at PokerStars.Net. The play went incredibly quickly -- and it had to be that way, with 36,664 players registered. Here's how we did:

:00 IN: We start with 10-7 of diamonds. A 10 comes on the flop, and we bet with it. But another player has pocket Queens, and beats us.

We played the first three hands, in fact. K-J didn't pair, and lost. 8-8 was met with an Ace on the flop, and a player with an Ace beat us. We were deflated, until....

:05 IN: K-10 brings K-8-3 on the flop. Our top pair earns $550.

:09 IN: We have Q-7 of clubs. Two clubs come on the flop, and a third lands on the river. We hit a flush! Trouble is, another player hits a full house. We're deflated again.

:12 IN: A-Q brings an Ace on the river. We bet, players fold, and we gain $375.

:20 IN: Q-Q is met with A-A on the flop. Our two pair are good enough, for a pot of more than $1,100.

:31 IN: Q-Q comes again. This time Q-9-3 lands on the flop. After a modest bet is called, a 7 on the turn leads us to go all-in. A caller errs, and suddenly our stack jumps to $4,580.

:37 IN: A-10 is met with an Ace on the flop. That pair leads to $1,700.

:40 IN: We have A-10 of clubs, with $3,155. But a player ahead of us goes all-in. Blinds are 200/400 with antes of 50. What would you do?

We dare to call -- and see our opponent has A-K. The flop is K-J-7. That's followed by a 9 and a 5, and our dream is sunk.

Final score: we take seven pots in 40 minutes. But several other plays with promising hands blow up in our face. We finish number 17,961 -- which out of 36,664 at least gets us in the top half.