Poker Night 542: What's Your Sign?

We asked God in prayer during the day if we should play poker tonight at Jack Casino, or do something else. Then during the day, something happened that.... well, let's jump to the moment in the tournament where we were able to share it with everyone:

BLINDS: 1,500/3,000

IN THE POCKET: 8-8

It's been a big night for us, in terms of hitting big hands. Pocket Aces in the Big Blind led to one win. We hit full houses at least twice, with one of them gaining 7,000 chips on the river. With little trouble, we made it to the final table with about 52,700 chips!

Now nine players remain, with six officially getting money. We have about 51,100 chips. And when we see this pocket pair in second position, we smile - then slow-play them by calling. The man sitting next to us then goes all-in. The rest of the table folds.

"There's a story behind my decision," we then explain.

"Is it a long story?" a man out of the hand asks.

"I'll keep it short. I was looking for a sign about whether I should play here tonight. And then at work, I saw a number pass my desk - LOTS of this number. So...."

"Was it A-K?" people around the table ask. "Sixes?"

"So I'm calling.... with eights."

"Then I feel better," the man who pushed says. He turns over.... pocket 10's. This is an expensive play for us; it's 29,900 to call.

ON THE FLOP: 2-4-7

Not looking good here. We need a third 8 - but we've made full houses on the turn and river already tonight.

ON THE TURN: 5

OK - now a 6 could rescue us with a straight.

"Did you have some sort of premonition about this?" a scoffer asks. "Did you see snowmen?"

ON THE RIVER: 4

The 10's win, and we take a crippling loss. But we've put the table in an uproar, by explaining we considered all those eights we saw at work a sign from God. More on that in a moment.

Back at the tournament, we were left with about 18,000 chips. We feared we might miss the money again. But then other players with much more pushed - only to be eliminated. Within minutes, only seven players were left!

The group then agreed to pay the "bubble boy" - a poker phrase for the player who misses the prize pool by one spot. We join the other six men in contributing $10 cash. As it happens, we were in the Big Blind - and saw A-Q!

"No story. Just pushing," we said. Our last 16,200 went in. The man who beat us minutes earlier called us again - and was pained to see our cards, because he had A-J.

"Did you see anything with the name Jack in it today?" he asked. We couldn't think of anything. But the flop brought a Jack, to give him a winning pair. We finished in seventh place, out of 37 entries.

Someone paid one dollar too little to the "bubble boy" fund, so we wound up with $69. That didn't cover our $80 buy-in - but we're calling it a "cash", anyway. We're thankful to God for little wins. And you know.... that "sign of the eights" may have been right after all.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "You mean God told you to play poker?!?!" one man across the table exclaimed as we told our story.

"God doesn't care about a poker game," said another.

"But God made the greatest gamble of all, by sending His Son," we responded. "How'd that turn out?"

Only one man wanted to comment on that. "They rolled dice for His clothes." And that's true....

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares.... "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said: "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing," So this is what the soldiers did. - John 19:23-24

Some Bible translations openly call this "gambling" - but did you notice it fulfilled a prophecy about Jesus? That moment was predicted in Psalm 22:18!

But our point was more about how the first coming of Jesus to Earth actually had a happy ending, beyond the crucifixion. Well, "had" and "will have"....

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.... And so we will be with the Lord forever. - I Thessalonians 4:14, 17

Your Bible says Jesus Christ will come again, to resurrect believers and give them eternal life. This won't be a gamble - it will be guaranteed. Are you ready for that moment, whenever it might come?

(As for numbers and signs - we'll dig deeper into that in a future post.)

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 199 final tables in 542 games (36.7%) - 41 cashes. Tonight was our second cash of 2018. And our remarkable final table run in our new area is now seven out of nine!