In the Long Run

It's a historic weekend for us - not at the poker table (well, not yet at least), but in another part of life.  We stepped outside for a Saturday night run.  And we ran.  And we ran.  And without planning to do it, we finally stopped about 58 minutes later.  By our figuring, we'd made it 6.2 miles non-stop.  It was a 10-kilometer run - our first in 16 years!

Admittedly our pace was slow.  As we told a man at church earlier in the day, he could beat us in a race by a mile.  But our running is based on a trait we also try to practice at the poker table -- a trait we've mentioned here several times, and Jesus Christ encouraged.  It's called endurance.

And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. - Mark 13:13 (KJV)

Have you ever played poker with someone who acts (to borrow a phrase from our Dad) like they have a train to catch?  We frequently face online players who go all-in on every hand.  They can be bullies, and perhaps get on a hot streak to build a big stack.  But in our experience, we don't remember anyone winning a tournament by taking that approach from start to finish.

A classic children's story should have taught us all "slow and steady wins the race."  It's a proven strategy in investing for retirement.  And it's Biblical -- only expressed in a different way:

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong.... but time and chance happen to them all. - Ecclesiastes 9:11

The longer you hang around in a poker game, the better the odds that a good "time and chance" will happen for you.

We're convinced that's why we make the points on a regular basis at an online "Midnight Special" poker game we play.  Some players are ready to go to bed, because they have to work the next morning.  Because we're currently out of work (an endurance contest in itself), we have the flexibility to play all night -- and waiting for good hands pays off.

The first couple of times we won money in live local tournaments, it worked the same way.  We played a "grinding" style, which took more than four hours to finish the game.  But the outcome was a payoff.  No wonder a New Testament writer concluded....

Behold, we count them happy which endure.  You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. - James 5:11 (KJV)

Review the book of Job and all he experienced in the beginning.  Then review the last chapter and see his holdings at the end.  We won't give away the outcome here - but enduring with faith in God worked for him.  It's working for us, in everything from poker to jogging.  It might work for you, too.