Poker players can come up with curious online names. We watched a head-to-head fight over the weekend between "Peace4Twenty" and "LoveLiftedMe."
Peace4Twenty won a pot with a pair of threes. And it led us to spark a discussion, as the game continued:
Me: Peace over love
_pokerdiva: lol
TheHoy: lol
Me: Different from how I've seen that listed....
Dealer: Peace4twenty wins Main Pot ($820)
Dealer: loveliftedme wins Main Pot ($4554) with One pair, nines
Me: Love, joy, peace is the order I read in a book once.
No one responded to that comment. Do you know which "book" we're talking about?
If you visit us regularly, you probably guessed we're talking about the Bible. Galatians 5:22 has an even more complete order: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness...."
Some ministers say the fruit are listed in that order for a reason. We won't go into that here. Our point is that you need God's Holy Spirit to develop those fruit properly.
How do you obtain the Holy Spirit? Peter gave a two-step formula in Acts 2:38. "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of you sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (NASB)
Peace4Twenty soon fell out of the game. But LoveLiftedMe kept building chips, as we return to the chat....
Dealer: loveliftedme wins Main Pot ($9085) with Full house, sixes full of threes
Me: Love hurts.
loveliftedme: love prevails
Me: Now -- and ultimately. :-)
loveliftedme: yes
As Paul put it in I Corinthians 13:8, "Love never fails." Especially the love of God, if you care enough to obey Him. Do you?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Big Hand, Big Word
When was the last time you played at a poker table with a straight flush? An online National League of Poker game we played Saturday night had TWO.
The first one brought a player a straight flush on the flop. A "500,000:1 shot," wrote an opponent who had pushed all-in and wound up burned. Now for the second one....
BLINDS: 40/80 (we think)
IN THE POCKET: 8-10 of clubs
We jumped above 3,000 chips (from a starting 1,000) early in the match when a big hand took two players out. Now we're down to about 1,300. But the blinds are relatively small, so we try a call. A few other players join in.
ON THE FLOP: Qc - 8d - Jc
We make bottom pair, but have hopes of much more: straight, flush, or even straight flush. A player ahead of us bets 410 -- about one-third of our stack. But we can't run from these possibilities, so we call.
ON THE TURN: 9c
Wow! The 47-to-one shot (in terms of probability) came in! But the player ahead of us seems unconcerned, and bets 640. This is a rare case where there's no way he can beat us, so with 835 left we push all-in. That opponent calls -- and we frankly don't remember what he had.
ON THE RIVER: 8d.
A straight flush -- and three of a kind besides! "Deja vu," we write.
That nice pot and others gave us our best result yet in the nightly "big game" with $200 in prizes. Out of 841 players who entered, we finished 34th. In terms of weekly championship points, the return was almost 4:1. But only the top four players earned money.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Later in the tournament, we folded a weak small blind hand to a player named "Nightwolf." We joked we were afraid of wolves -- and that led to this exchange:
nightwolf: im scared of me 2
Dealer: nightwolf wins Main Pot ($6300) with Three of a kind, tens
Me: I C Y very good
nightwolf: ty
Dealer: nightwolf wins Main Pot ($4575)
nightwolf: this is y
Me: This is a word.
nightwolf: word is bond
Dealer: DonJuan420 wins Main Pot ($7290)
Me: Bond? James Bond?
Me: A Word once became flesh and dwelt among us.
Nightwolf didn't respond to the last one, as we were moved to a different table. But do you know which "Word" we're talking about?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So begins the gospel of John. Our chat exchange referred to a verse shortly after that - John 1:14. Christians believe that Word is none other than....
"Christ Jesus, who.... existed in the form of God.... but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Phil. 2:5-7, NASB) Read all the way to verse 9 to see why Jesus did that.
This "Word" truly is good -- although Jesus said at one point there's none good except the Father (Matt. 19:17). Are you "Word-Up" when it comes to Jesus? And even better, is your life focused upward?
The first one brought a player a straight flush on the flop. A "500,000:1 shot," wrote an opponent who had pushed all-in and wound up burned. Now for the second one....
BLINDS: 40/80 (we think)
IN THE POCKET: 8-10 of clubs
We jumped above 3,000 chips (from a starting 1,000) early in the match when a big hand took two players out. Now we're down to about 1,300. But the blinds are relatively small, so we try a call. A few other players join in.
ON THE FLOP: Qc - 8d - Jc
We make bottom pair, but have hopes of much more: straight, flush, or even straight flush. A player ahead of us bets 410 -- about one-third of our stack. But we can't run from these possibilities, so we call.
ON THE TURN: 9c
Wow! The 47-to-one shot (in terms of probability) came in! But the player ahead of us seems unconcerned, and bets 640. This is a rare case where there's no way he can beat us, so with 835 left we push all-in. That opponent calls -- and we frankly don't remember what he had.
ON THE RIVER: 8d.
A straight flush -- and three of a kind besides! "Deja vu," we write.
That nice pot and others gave us our best result yet in the nightly "big game" with $200 in prizes. Out of 841 players who entered, we finished 34th. In terms of weekly championship points, the return was almost 4:1. But only the top four players earned money.
MINISTRY MOMENT: Later in the tournament, we folded a weak small blind hand to a player named "Nightwolf." We joked we were afraid of wolves -- and that led to this exchange:
nightwolf: im scared of me 2
Dealer: nightwolf wins Main Pot ($6300) with Three of a kind, tens
Me: I C Y very good
nightwolf: ty
Dealer: nightwolf wins Main Pot ($4575)
nightwolf: this is y
Me: This is a word.
nightwolf: word is bond
Dealer: DonJuan420 wins Main Pot ($7290)
Me: Bond? James Bond?
Me: A Word once became flesh and dwelt among us.
Nightwolf didn't respond to the last one, as we were moved to a different table. But do you know which "Word" we're talking about?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So begins the gospel of John. Our chat exchange referred to a verse shortly after that - John 1:14. Christians believe that Word is none other than....
"Christ Jesus, who.... existed in the form of God.... but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Phil. 2:5-7, NASB) Read all the way to verse 9 to see why Jesus did that.
This "Word" truly is good -- although Jesus said at one point there's none good except the Father (Matt. 19:17). Are you "Word-Up" when it comes to Jesus? And even better, is your life focused upward?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Poker Night 114: Thanks and Nothing
Someone was in a Thanks-giving mood at Soho Bar and Grill tonight, and gave everyone at our table 5,000 bonus chips. So our starting stack was 11,000 (1,000 above the base, because we bought a soda) -- and then we returned the favor, and returned all those chips back.
A few promising hands came our way. But when we had A-Q, the board didn't pair and someone bet big with a King showing. So our raise before the flop was given up. When we had A-2, an Ace came on the flop. But other people bet big, we didn't trust our kicker -- and we were right, as another player made two pair with 9's and 8's. Eventually it came to this....
BLINDS: 500/1,000
IN THE POCKET: 9-8 offsuit
We're in the small blind, and down to 5,500 chips in the first hand after the one-hour break. The good news is that the table folds to us. We call, and the man in the big blind checks. It's a heads-up battle of the blinds.
ON THE FLOP: A-J-6
Not much there. Both of us check.
ON THE TURN: Q
That's a bit better. Now we have a straight draw. We both check again.
ON THE RIVER: 10
At last! A straight comes on the river -- our first real chance at a pot all night. "I'm all in," we announce with 5,000 left.
"I'll call," Mr. Big Blind says. Uh-oh.
"Please don't tell me you have a...."
He doesn't tell. He simply shows. He has a King, and made the "Broadway" A-10 superior straight. We hang our head, covering it in our cap -- but we're actually laughing a little as we show our losing 9-8.
"When it's not your night," we say to the Big Blind at our left, "it's not your night."
"That 10 helped both of us," he offers in consolation.
"No, it didn't," we answer laughing. "No, it didn't!" It left us out in the cold, the second to be eliminated at our table.
MINISTRY MOMENT: But that bad beat loss couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. For a change, we asked the players around us what they're thankful for this year.
"I give thanks all year long," the man to our left said after a moment. "Thankful for every day, just to wake up in the morning."
We couldn't have put it better. The man agreed with us that the best approach is Thanks-living -- and we challenge you to try it, even after the traditional U.S. Thanksgiving turkey is put away.
"I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness," says Psalm 7:17. He's righteous, even when we're not. David goes on to promise God, "I will give you thanks forever." (Psm. 30:12)
The only way David really can do that is through a resurrection to eternal life -- and Jesus makes that possible for believers. Are you thankful for that, at Thanksgiving 2009? Have you accepted that wonderful offer from Christ? If you need help with it, leave a comment and we'll be glad to assist you. May you truly be thankful to God!
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 47 final tables in 114 nights (41.2%) - 10 cashes. The holiday will mean no live tournament on Thursday.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,944 -- up $128 to a RECORD HIGH! That gain only took one quick 15-minute "lightning round" at a cash game table.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 2-2-1-0-0. Full tournaments - 3 final tables in 24 games (12.3%), no cashes.
A few promising hands came our way. But when we had A-Q, the board didn't pair and someone bet big with a King showing. So our raise before the flop was given up. When we had A-2, an Ace came on the flop. But other people bet big, we didn't trust our kicker -- and we were right, as another player made two pair with 9's and 8's. Eventually it came to this....
BLINDS: 500/1,000
IN THE POCKET: 9-8 offsuit
We're in the small blind, and down to 5,500 chips in the first hand after the one-hour break. The good news is that the table folds to us. We call, and the man in the big blind checks. It's a heads-up battle of the blinds.
ON THE FLOP: A-J-6
Not much there. Both of us check.
ON THE TURN: Q
That's a bit better. Now we have a straight draw. We both check again.
ON THE RIVER: 10
At last! A straight comes on the river -- our first real chance at a pot all night. "I'm all in," we announce with 5,000 left.
"I'll call," Mr. Big Blind says. Uh-oh.
"Please don't tell me you have a...."
He doesn't tell. He simply shows. He has a King, and made the "Broadway" A-10 superior straight. We hang our head, covering it in our cap -- but we're actually laughing a little as we show our losing 9-8.
"When it's not your night," we say to the Big Blind at our left, "it's not your night."
"That 10 helped both of us," he offers in consolation.
"No, it didn't," we answer laughing. "No, it didn't!" It left us out in the cold, the second to be eliminated at our table.
MINISTRY MOMENT: But that bad beat loss couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. For a change, we asked the players around us what they're thankful for this year.
"I give thanks all year long," the man to our left said after a moment. "Thankful for every day, just to wake up in the morning."
We couldn't have put it better. The man agreed with us that the best approach is Thanks-living -- and we challenge you to try it, even after the traditional U.S. Thanksgiving turkey is put away.
"I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness," says Psalm 7:17. He's righteous, even when we're not. David goes on to promise God, "I will give you thanks forever." (Psm. 30:12)
The only way David really can do that is through a resurrection to eternal life -- and Jesus makes that possible for believers. Are you thankful for that, at Thanksgiving 2009? Have you accepted that wonderful offer from Christ? If you need help with it, leave a comment and we'll be glad to assist you. May you truly be thankful to God!
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 47 final tables in 114 nights (41.2%) - 10 cashes. The holiday will mean no live tournament on Thursday.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,944 -- up $128 to a RECORD HIGH! That gain only took one quick 15-minute "lightning round" at a cash game table.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 2-2-1-0-0. Full tournaments - 3 final tables in 24 games (12.3%), no cashes.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
NLOP Senior Championship 1: Winning the 400
The trouble with that headline is that 812 players competed for the National League of Poker November Senior Championship tonight. We did well to finish #400, apparently thanks to dozens of players being disqualified for not showing up.
Things looked so promising. In the first ten minutes of play, we were dealt:
* K-K -- which prompted us to double up the pre-flop bet. But with three hearts on the board on the turn, a player went all in. "Too early," we wrote (holding no heart) and folded. (The pusher won the pot, and never showed.)
* A-K -- which came to nothing.
* 9-9 -- which we had to fold, when cards came to give someone an A-10 straight.
We finally won a pot at the 30-minute mark, when we pushed all-in with only 100 chips left. Our A-10 led to a pair of tens, giving us 250.
But we pushed again three minutes later with Q-J and building blinds. A player called with K-J, and a lower pair on the board gave him the pot. Oh well, December's coming.
Things looked so promising. In the first ten minutes of play, we were dealt:
* K-K -- which prompted us to double up the pre-flop bet. But with three hearts on the board on the turn, a player went all in. "Too early," we wrote (holding no heart) and folded. (The pusher won the pot, and never showed.)
* A-K -- which came to nothing.
* 9-9 -- which we had to fold, when cards came to give someone an A-10 straight.
We finally won a pot at the 30-minute mark, when we pushed all-in with only 100 chips left. Our A-10 led to a pair of tens, giving us 250.
But we pushed again three minutes later with Q-J and building blinds. A player called with K-J, and a lower pair on the board gave him the pot. Oh well, December's coming.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Bus ran me over
We admittedly missed the Fox Sports "$1,000,000 Poker Challenge" on the Sunday a priest from South Carolina hit it big. He won $100,000, and is through to the finals.
But today brought a reminder of how embarrassing that show can be -- when a contestant lost the first heads-up round to Jerome Bettis. Yes, the retired football player. (Is this why Bettis isn't on "Football Night in America" anymore?)
If you lost heads-up to an amateur like Bettis, what would your reaction be?
But today brought a reminder of how embarrassing that show can be -- when a contestant lost the first heads-up round to Jerome Bettis. Yes, the retired football player. (Is this why Bettis isn't on "Football Night in America" anymore?)
If you lost heads-up to an amateur like Bettis, what would your reaction be?
Sunday rewind: It's only metal
A woman at our poker table the other night indicated Jesus is better to have than silver and gold. Many poker players (or athletes in general) strive to "go for the gold." And that's OK -- to a point.
"The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty," says Haggai 2:8. Before you could declare gold "all mine," there had to be, well, a gold mine. God had to create it.
Tall stacks of chips look impressive at a final table, but you can't take them beyond the final table of this life. You need something more -- or better put, Someone more.
Consider these words of Peter: "You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from our ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver and gold that don't last forever. You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ...." (I Pet. 1:18-19, CEV)
A big poker payday might buy your way out of the slums of poverty, but Jesus offers something everlasting. He saves you by His resurrection from the dead (3:21) -- to eventually present you with "a crown that shall never lose its glory" (5:4).
Have you taken Jesus up on this offer? If not, why not?
"The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty," says Haggai 2:8. Before you could declare gold "all mine," there had to be, well, a gold mine. God had to create it.
Tall stacks of chips look impressive at a final table, but you can't take them beyond the final table of this life. You need something more -- or better put, Someone more.
Consider these words of Peter: "You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from our ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver and gold that don't last forever. You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ...." (I Pet. 1:18-19, CEV)
A big poker payday might buy your way out of the slums of poverty, but Jesus offers something everlasting. He saves you by His resurrection from the dead (3:21) -- to eventually present you with "a crown that shall never lose its glory" (5:4).
Have you taken Jesus up on this offer? If not, why not?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Poker Night 113: Cliffhangers
"Wait, I say, wait on the Lord," sang a duet on Christian radio as we arrived home from tonight's poker tournament at Soho Bar & Grill. But sometimes, the rules of poker won't let you wait. Blinds go up. Blinds come 'round. And if your chip stack's really down....
BLINDS: 1,000/2,000
IN THE POCKET: A-10 of hearts
We won a pot early in the evening with two pair, but nothing after that. Our chip count dwindled to a measly 500 shortly before this hand -- but J-J allowed us to stay alive and triple up. Trouble is, our 1,500 still doesn't cover the blind now.
But playing second at a six-player table, we're not likely to see anything better than this. We go all in, as we think most poker players in our situation would. Three other people bet the 2,000 minimum.
ON THE FLOP: 2-4-7, one heart
The first man in line bets 5,000. (We're second and all-in.) The other players in the hand call.
ON THE TURN: 4
A flush is now out of the question for us. Player #1 bets 5,000 more. One player folds.
"All right, let's see it," declares the bettor -- so we flip over the cards and....
"Hang on a minute!" says a player across the table. We quickly flip the cards back. He's still deciding what to do, and apparently trying to provoke a tell.
"You ain't got s***," says the prosecutor.
"If you want to stay in the game, you'd better get out of my pot," says the bettor.
"You're right, because you'd put me all-in if I call." But after a little more questioning which would make Phil Hellmuth proud, he folds.
Now we can show our A-10. But as usual, the opponent doesn't show his cards until the river comes.
ON THE RIVER: 9
Ouch. We didn't make a pair, and he did. He has a 9, and we finish in around 19th place.
MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed a woman to our left the "Jesus as Your Savior" coin. "Amen," she said to it. "Better than silver and gold."
She quoted the first line of another Christian song: "I'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold." Do you know which book of the Bible presents that idea? The answer's coming in a later post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 47 final tables in 113 nights (41.6%) - 10 cashes. A Thursday road trip probably will rule out our usual trip to Lil Kim's Cove.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,816 - unchanged. (No games played)
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 2-2-0-0-0. Full tournaments - 3 final tables in 18 games (16.7%), no cashes.
BLINDS: 1,000/2,000
IN THE POCKET: A-10 of hearts
We won a pot early in the evening with two pair, but nothing after that. Our chip count dwindled to a measly 500 shortly before this hand -- but J-J allowed us to stay alive and triple up. Trouble is, our 1,500 still doesn't cover the blind now.
But playing second at a six-player table, we're not likely to see anything better than this. We go all in, as we think most poker players in our situation would. Three other people bet the 2,000 minimum.
ON THE FLOP: 2-4-7, one heart
The first man in line bets 5,000. (We're second and all-in.) The other players in the hand call.
ON THE TURN: 4
A flush is now out of the question for us. Player #1 bets 5,000 more. One player folds.
"All right, let's see it," declares the bettor -- so we flip over the cards and....
"Hang on a minute!" says a player across the table. We quickly flip the cards back. He's still deciding what to do, and apparently trying to provoke a tell.
"You ain't got s***," says the prosecutor.
"If you want to stay in the game, you'd better get out of my pot," says the bettor.
"You're right, because you'd put me all-in if I call." But after a little more questioning which would make Phil Hellmuth proud, he folds.
Now we can show our A-10. But as usual, the opponent doesn't show his cards until the river comes.
ON THE RIVER: 9
Ouch. We didn't make a pair, and he did. He has a 9, and we finish in around 19th place.
MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed a woman to our left the "Jesus as Your Savior" coin. "Amen," she said to it. "Better than silver and gold."
She quoted the first line of another Christian song: "I'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold." Do you know which book of the Bible presents that idea? The answer's coming in a later post.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 47 final tables in 113 nights (41.6%) - 10 cashes. A Thursday road trip probably will rule out our usual trip to Lil Kim's Cove.
YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,816 - unchanged. (No games played)
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 2-2-0-0-0. Full tournaments - 3 final tables in 18 games (16.7%), no cashes.
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