To be honest, that writer sums up well why we walk right by the rows upon rows of slot machines at casinos. We ask where is the challenge there. Where is the opportunity to outwit "the system" built into a video slot machine, and actually have success?
Yes, we've heard stories about people who have defied the odds and won consistently. They're stories mixed with allegations of cheating, primarily by casino operators catering to "high-roller" customers. But to us, poker requires more thinking than that -- at least to have consistent success.
Which leads us to ask: what do you think about away from the poker tables -- or even during games? There's one mind we need to be copying and emulating:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.... - Philippians 2:5 (KJV)
Some would say this sounds bland and boring. But it's actually a better way to think.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV)
God's way of thinking is "higher" -- which in the original Hebrew means it's loftier. Yet there's a catch here, because many times we think too highly of ourselves....
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. - Galatians 6:3-4 (KJV)
You might think you're a good poker player. But if the evidence doesn't show up in the statistics (such as cash game winnings or tournament final tables), you're deceiving yourself.
It may sound like the "mind control" of a cult, but ask God to help you think properly -- when you're playing poker, and in all aspects of your life. (For starters, we suggest reviewing every time "mind" and "think" appears in the Bible.) That help might bring you better skill at a table, and a better life overall.
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