I asked Duke if great poker players were humble. “Yes and no,” she replied. “They’re very humble in the face of the game. They know poker is an unsolvable game that they can never master. But they’re not humble in the face of their opponents.”
We've said for years poker is a game that keeps people humble - and Duke verifies that here. You can have the nicest-looking pocket Aces in the world, yet someone with 3-2 of hearts can make a straight or a flush on the flop and beat you. It's a reminder of these wise words:
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. - Ecclesiastes 9:11
Duke goes on to quote Phil Hellmuth: "If it weren’t for luck, I’d win every time.” But luck can happen in poker - both for and against you.
The same thing can happen in life; we saw a news story this week of a driver who lost a tire on his car on the freeway - and it bounced over a center wall, hitting another driver and injuring him.
We've heard some ministers say a right relationship with Jesus can eliminate the "time and chance" part. And perhaps that's where the other side of Duke's words about being humble kick in. God actually wants us to be humble, even when opposition is staring across the table at us.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. - Proverbs 11:2
For some people, June is a "Pride Month." We could cite verses about the sinful nature of homosexual lifestyles - but God opposes pride of any sort.
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. - James 4:6b
So when you face a challenge before the flop, how should you treat it? Humbly. Respectfully. As you should when you're before God -- which, if you think about it, really is all the time.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. - James 4:10
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