The Humbling Game

Forbes magazine has posted a thought-provoking interview with pro poker legend Annie Duke.  There are lessons from it for business leaders, as well as poker players.  But there's also this interesting section:

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

Quote of the Year (so far)

"You're a poker player! That is beyond white trash!"

-- Joan Rivers telling off Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice Sunday night.

First Brad Garrett, now this. Why is Annie Duke getting all this heat?

Black and Red, Not Black and White

It's a one-of-a-kind weekend in the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, then Barack Obama is inaugurated as President on Tuesday.

So what does this have to do with poker? Simply this -- poker is a game of equality. (Or should be.)

Anyone can become a big winner at the table, regardless of their nationality (see Humberto Brenes), gender (see Annie Duke) or skin color (see Phil Ivey). But admittedly, it takes a big bankroll to do the buy-ins necessary to win at top-dollar events in Las Vegas and on the WPT.

At local tournaments which are free to enter, the equality should be on display even more. We sat down last Thursday night at a table which was mostly African-American. We're Euro-American, and everyone got along well. The cards can't tell any difference, you know. Every hand can cause equal opportunity success -- or failure.

"There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female...." -- at the poker table? No, this is somewhere else. "For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28)

Paul indicates the Church and its members should have no racial or gender barriers. Hopefully you don't have any mental blocks in your poker game, either.