Playing on the Edge

You never know what you'll see or hear at a poker table. But at the World Series of Poker Main Event, you'd think things would be cut-and-dried. Focused. Serious.

Not so. "A guy just sat down at my table he has a lot of chips and a naked barbie doll," was a Twitter message over the weekend by one of the Main Event players. She didn't say if the man used that doll as a card protector, or something else. But apparently the WSOP didn't think too much of it:

"The floorman just came over and made the french guy remove his barbie from the table," the woman tweeted three hours later.

There's a fine line between distracting opponents and, well, being tacky. The book of Proverbs offers some guidelines about this:

A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. (Proverbs 17:27-28)

Many people in the world consider Christians a "peculiar people" (Titus 2:14, KJV) because of the God they choose to follow or the lives they live. Why display any behavior that's strange or bizarre, to make matters worse? That would only harm your potential witness to players around you.

We say it's best to stay level-headed as you play, and let the Christian example come out naturally. In fact, you might stay in the tournament longer that way.