Show and Tell

Player A had grown tired of how the poker game was going, so he pushed all-in early in a hand. Player B, who was dominating the play, called.

The board was nothing special -- K-J plus three small cards. No flush or straight likely, either.

Then the debate began. "You got an Ace?"

"No, I've got nothing."

"If you've got an Ace, you got me."

"I don't have an Ace."

"If you've got an Ace, you got me!"

Player A took this repeated statement to mean Player B had an Ace. He mucked his cards, which under usual poker rules means automatically losing the hand.

Then Player B showed a 10 high with no pair. Player A had thrown away a Queen, which would have won!

Player A appealed to the tournament director, and explained what he thought he heard and what had happened.

"I never said I had an Ace," Player B maintained -- and sitting next to both of them, that's how it sounded to us as well.

The tournament director showed mercy on Player A, letting his Queen high prevailed to stay in the game. But then we turned to a man on our left, who wasn't part of the hand.

"If they had simply shown their cards, that wouldn't have happened," we said -- and the man agreed.

Watch professional poker on TV, and you won't see this sort of posturing at the end of a hand. Players tend to show their cards at the showdown, to see if they've won. But we marvel at how seldom that occurs in the free tournaments we play. Players will claim they hit it big, or deny they have anything of value -- but they only show their cards when they're absolutely pressed.

The lesson of all this? Big talk seldom pays off at a poker table -- especially after the river betting. You have to show what you have to win the pot. In fact, God works the same way.

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" (I John 4:9).

Jesus was the personal, in-the-flesh expression of God's love. Yet do a word study of the word "love," and you'll be surprised to find Jesus never really said the phrase "I love you" while on Earth.

Instead, our Lord put love into action -- and ultimately, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). To borrow from an old ad campaign for shoes: Talk is cheap. Jesus just did it.

It probably takes a lot less effort to turn over two cards, than engage in a conversation about them. It also can calm emotions, for you and everyone else. So as someone once said, let your cards do the talking at the end of a hand. A "showdown" is supposed to be about showing a hand -- not showing how macho you are.