You Bettor, You Bettor, You Bet

Some newcomers can look at poker as a very simple game. You fold the bad hands. You play the good hands. And you push on the best hands of all.

But if you've played for awhile, you know there's much more to it than that. Several different strategies can win pots - including sometimes pushing when your hand is lousy.

We found an article online this week which promotes a pretty simple poker strategy, and applies it to investing.  Part of it recommends....

Poker players, however, know that good hands don't come around that often. You need to bet every round to build the pot and maximize your income.

That's a nice idea if you're investing (well, except for world stock markets in this first week of 2016).  But the analogy can break down in a hurry in a poker room. If you use the "bet every round" approach on a regular basis, wary players will catch on to you and adjust their games. They might fold early. They might make "I-dare-you" raises. You might have other ideas to offer.

There's one "betting strategy" that you may not have considered, which is promised to bring victory and a reward. It's hidden at the end of the Old Testament....

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." - Malachi 3:10

God challenges you to bring a "tithe" (defined as ten percent) to Him. We should realize God isn't really going hungry, and needs food for supper. But giving a tithe to His "storehouse" (we think that means church and ministries) is promised to bring abundant blessings.

We've done this for decades, even with money we've won playing poker. There have been lean times, to be sure. But our blessings have grown - and what happened to us at the table in 2015 may be a great example of that.

But just as you excel in everything....see that you also excel in this grace of giving. - II Corinthians 8:7

Do you have the "gift" of giving? Maybe it's time to invest in the things of God, and find out.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. - Psalm  34:8