A big night at the Casino!

So, after that huge laydown of QQ blogged about two posts down, I guess it was time for my comeuppance. And, sure enough, I found it this very evening. A big Canadian Poker Tour event was held in Regina this weekend and a few pros had shown up, I guess. One of them, Mark Karam, decided to sit at our tiny little $1/$2 no limit table for a while - I'm not sure why - maybe just to amuse the rest of us fish that were there.

Well, after a couple hours at the table, I ended up with 84 in the big blind and was unraised. I checked. Flop came 4 4 10 and I'm ecstatic. Mark bets $20, I call and he looks at me really funny. I got a weird feeling that he was playing a 4 also - but was hoping he had a 1o. Turn came A - exactly what I wanted. He checked, I bet $50 and he called in a blink of an eye. Now I'm a bit worried. I began seeing visions of A4 in Mark's hand. River came 5. He checked, I thot for a long time, pushed all in (for about another $120) and Mark quickly called and flipped over 6 4. My eight was live and I stole about $200 from Mark. I have got to learn to stop shaking at the table, however, because I could hardly stack my chips after that. That was a pretty cool moment - and thot I have to blog about that big win after whining about that tough loss earlier.

The Latest Addition

Congratulations to Jeffrey Peters on being the first winner on the fine poker table pictured here. After a month of waiting for the final materials to arrive, I assembled the last pieces this week and must say I am quite proud of the results. All you poker aficionados out there are most welcome to stop in whenever there is a game and enjoy the new atmosphere. Stop in here to sign up for the next tourney on April 14th!

How Would You Have Played This Hand?

I sat down in Casino Regina this evening and put some money on the $1/$2 no-limit cash table. I was in seat 9. The play was really loose, money flying everywhere - and I noticed that a player in seat 3 would play any Ace from any position. He was young and obviously very new to live poker - he was doing the Phil Laak thing - hoodie and sunglasses. He constantly put money in out of turn and was playing like he believed that any A was destined to win. The table was so loose, that I just hung onto my chips and didn't try to make any plays at all, knowing that if I just hit one hand - I'd make a huge profit.

About an hour into the game, I caught QQ in my pocket. I'm on the button. Several players limp, telling me there is nothing of real strength there. So, of course, I raise, hoping to scare off all those silly little hands. I made it $20 to go - 10X the big blind and about 1.5X the size of the pot (which wasn't a terribly over-sized raise at that table but big enough to tell everyone that I'm good - and drawing hands are getting a terrible price). Seats 10, 1 and 2 all fold. Seat 3 calls. I'm assuming some kind of A in his pocket - but no pairs, at least not big ones. Seat 4 folds. Seat 5 calls - a player I don't have much of a read on yet. Everyone else folds. Flop comes 10 A 2 rainbow.

Player 3 is first to act and he bets $25. He is quickly called by Seat 5. I am now assuming that my Q's are dead - especially considering 3's penchant for playing ANY ace. And seat 5 wouldn't call $25 on that scary of a flop with nothing, would he? So, it hurts, but I fold.

Turn comes K. 3 bets hard, 5 calls. I'm really glad I folded now. River comes 5 - a blank (except for the off chance that someone stayed in with 34 - but with the $20 raise, I doubt it). Again, heavy betting after the river. (That's Betting with a B, Gil) It goes to showdown. Seat 5 showed his cards first and turned over 66. Seat 3 mucked. And I'm stunned. Should I have folded that hand? How could I have possibly played it?

Eisenhans

Some of you may be aware that I am involved in a spiritual director's formation program - held at Queen's House of Retreats one weekend a month for the next two years. Well, 1/2 a year has already passed. It has been a marvelous experience thus far. We are learning much about how to connect with the journeys of others as they find their way. And I am learning even more about myself and my own journey. My eyes have been opened to so many things that have up until now, remained dormant, unseen, lying in shadow.

This last month, we explored the issue of sexuality and spirituality - and it was refreshing to hear and affirm that sexual energy and spiritual energy come from the same place - from the very depths and core of our identity as humans. Part of the discussion about sexuality and spirituality was centered around the topic of gender, and how our journeys in life reflect our sexual identity (that seems obvious, eh?). Much of the discussion hit very close to home and I saw many things I had never seen before. One small area that I heard that relates to the male spiritual journey is the old fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm called "Iron John" or "Eisenhans" in the original German. An American poet by the name of Robert Bly has picked up on that fairy tale as a deep metaphor for the journey of a man through this world and has written a very intriguing and engaging book.

Bly argues that men have lost much of what makes them men in the current age. There has been a push (the author states) to make men more "new agey". As such, he claims that men have learned to become passive, numb and naive. Passive because they ask their wife or girlfriend or children to do their loving for them. He believes that men must learn to keep the thread of intimacy unbroken by learning that "Talking is not everything, but it is a part of loving, as are buying gifts, getting to 'completion' in a conversation, praising the other person..." (p62). Men have become numb because (and this may be controversial) they have been pushed to adopt the emotions of females - most specifically their mothers. Fathers have remained emotionally distant so boys have looked to their mothers for emotional protection. But, boys are men, not women and so have found themselves in a women's emotional world which, as good as it is, is foreign to men. So, many men have therefore, chosen to feel nothing.

The third criticism Bly has of the modern man is that they have become naive. Men have learned to accept the attacks of others as sick way of loving the other. Men will be proud to pick up the pain of others, particularly women's pain. To this, Bly writes, "I think each gender drops its own pain when it tries to carry the pain of the other gender. I don't mean men shouldn't listen. But hearing a woman's pain and carrying it are two different things. Women have tried for centuries to carry men's pain, and it hasn't worked well" (p64).

Bly continues by stating that, because of naivete, men have not learned to state what it is that hurts them, to set boundaries, and use their strength as men should. "The naive man often...lets things go on too long. At the start of a relationship, a few harsh words of truth would have been helpful. Instead he waits and waits, and then a major wounding happens farther down the line. His timing is off. We notice that there will often be a missing beat a second or so after he takes a blow, verbal or physical. He will go directly from the pain of receiving the blow to an empathetic grasp of the reason why it came, skipping over the anger entirely. Misusing Jesus' remark, he turns the missing cheek" (p66-7).

Bly refreshingly states that there is a gender difference - a very politically incorrect comment in the modern day. He calls for men to accept their maleness - to learn to be active, alive and aware as opposed to passive, numb and naive. There most certainly is something that is different between the genders (thank God!). Openness to discussion about this topic would be very welcome. As would a growing respect from each gender to the other. How often have we heard, when men get together, the common language of running down the female gender? I believe that it would be incredibly wonderful to hear language expressing ourselves for who we are rather than for who we are not - and all the while celebrate what makes us human, male and female, in the image of God.