Poker Day 408: Tight and Tighter

It doesn't take long for a poker player to develop a reputation - even if you only play on a part-time basis.  That came through Sunday, on our first visit to Arrowhead Poker in three weeks.  It was only our fourth tournament there, and yet....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: A-3 offsuit

One thing which makes us easy to remember is that there's a late-arriving crowd -- only enough players for one crowded table at this point.  But it's early and we haven't offered at much so far.  We call with the dealer button, and no one raises.  About half the players are in.

ON THE FLOP: J-K-3

Having the button helps here, as everyone acts ahead of us.  In this case, they all check -- so maybe our little pair is worth something.  We bet 500.

"From the tightest player at the table," the dealer announces.  Thanks for the instant analysis, Sir.

A man down the table from us calls.  "Called by the second-tightest player at the table," the dealer says.  The others apparently take the hint, and bail out.

ON THE TURN: 3

We're about to loosen the purse strings with that card.  We now have three of a kind.  The man to our left checks, and we increase the bet to 1,000.  Our opponent calls.  We don't recall the dealer's commentary on this.

ON THE RIVER: 9

We don't see anything threatening on the board.  So when that other man checks again, we move things up to 1,500 -- hopefully not too much to scare him off.  Sure enough, he calls again.  Then he shows Q-J, giving him two pair.

"Tres a las tres," we say in Spanish -- borrowing from an old afternoon program on a Spanish-language radio station in Atlanta.  On this "casual Sunday," there's no penalty for us not chatting in English.  "Three times three" equals a nice pot.

We took one more pot in the first hour -- then threw away a disappointing one, when we had J-J and the board showed Q-J-10-9.  A man's big river bet scared us away, only to find he had a third 9 instead of a straight.

Our holdings evaporated with rising blinds, but an all-in split pot allowed us to make the final table on a day with only about 16 players.  Once there, we went all-in with A-10 in the Big Blind -- but the best we could do was miss a straight draw after a J-K-K flop.  A man with a third King eliminated us in ninth place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Before the tables merged, a man to our right hit it big on the river after going all-in.

"There is a God!" he declared as he stood to celebrate.

"There certainly is," we agreed -- then repeated our agreement several times, as he continued to make statements along those lines.

Could you make that statement, even if you didn't win an all-in bet?  Do you agree that there's a God?  Of course, some people in this world do not....

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. - Psalm 53:1

This verse can be taken a couple of ways.  On the one hand, it's the Bible's tough-talking answer to the atheist.  But on the other hand, what sort of "ways" do you practice?  Are they so vile and evil that you live as if there's no God?

In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. - Psalm 10:4

Yet Jesus Christ made a promise, which applies to everyone -- whether you believe in God or not:

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out -- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. - John 5:29

What sort of things are you doing today?  Do your poker nights and days lead to evil acts, which you know you'd regret if they received as much media attention as a British royal baby?  Or are you striving to do good things, which benefit yourself and other people?

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. - Psalm 34:14

That means peace with other people -- and perhaps ultimately with God as well.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 142 final tables in 408 tournaments (34.8%) - 23 cashes.  We're now at four out of six final tables, since moving to Kansas.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 283 point wins in 1,417 games (20.0%), 93 final tables, 10 wins, 13 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 32 point wins in 120 games (26.7%), 26 final tables, 2 wins, 3 cashes.

We haven't updated NLOP since right before our move in early April -- and we haven't had a lot of time for online play since that move.  The score is 0-for-8 in Sunday afternoon turbo tournaments, although a couple might have made the money at a casino as a top-ten percent finish.  And the last time we played No-River Hold 'em, we won it!

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $86,997, up $2,497.

Are You Cleaning Up?

The Wednesday night poker tournament is still on in our city, even though some local colleges canceled evening classes.  It was the result of a day of rough weather, which had a couple of tornado warnings.  A strong cold front brought us high winds and hard rain.

The storm could bring flooding and erode land.  But there's one thing rain cannot wash away -- the stains caused by sins in our lives.

In a post earlier this week, we noted some of the definitions of "sin" in the Bible.  If you lie to other players at the table about your hand, that's a sin under the Ten Commandments.  If you even become fixated on your opponent's big chip stack, that can be sin as well....

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.  You shall not set your desire on your neighbors house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. - Deuteronomy 5:21

There actually was a time in human history when God used rain against sin -- not really washing it away, but drowning it:

I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it.  Everything on earth will perish. - Genesis 6:17

God did this because our planet had become violent and corrupt (verses 12-13).  Yet Earth still has life and breath, because God made a big exception.  He spared Noah, his family and animals taken aboard an ark (verses 18-21).

Trouble is, our planet probably has more violence and corruption today -- if only because Earth has more than seven billion people.  So sin remains in our lives.  How can we get rid of it these days?  By something better than rainwater....

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. - I John 1:7 (KJV)

The atheist we met at the final table last week probably doesn't think she needs that blood, and might not even think she needs to be cleansed of anything.  But if the Bible is right, we'll all come before Jesus Christ for judgment someday.  Will you accept His blood sacrifice in your behalf now, by repenting of your sins and seeking forgiveness from God?  Will you "come clean" with God -- and by God?

A Three-Letter Word

When we moved to the final table at Thursday night's poker tournament, it was an amazing contrast.  Our seat had women on either side of us.  To our right sat the woman holding a John 3:36 medallion, who recently lost a close relative.  To our left sat a woman with a very different perspective.

We showed the woman at our left a small bottle of shampoo, serving as our card protector.  "I brought this to remind me that Jesus can wash away my sins."

"Is gambling your sin?" she asked.

(Some ministers probably would jump to her side right there.  But we'd note we play in free or entry-fee poker tournaments almost all of the time, instead of cash games where "gambling" occurs with real money changing hands.)

"We all have sins," is how we responded to the woman.  We know this from the Bible:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.... - Romans 3:23

 "How would you define sin?  What does sin mean to you?" we asked the woman at our left.

Her answer was a bit philosophical - involving actions that are not virtuous or proper.  But then came the punch line: "But since I'm an atheist, it doesn't make any difference."

Wow - without realizing it, we'd already mentioned Jesus to an atheist.  And we learned what an atheist thinks about a word which religious people are likely to use, but the world at large tends to avoid.

But back to our question - how would you define sin?  In the church groups we attend, ministers tend to have a cut-and-dried answer:

Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. - I John 3:4 (KJV)

Those ministers go on to define "law" as the breaking of God's Ten Commandments.  And yes, that's a definition of sin.  But if you search around the Scriptures, you'll discover it's not the definition of sin -- as there are many others.  Consider a couple of examples.

Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: 'The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing.  He may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. - Deuteronomy 15:9

Review the Ten Commandments list in Deuteronomy 5, and you'd be hard-pressed to find anything about giving to needy people.  Yet God says failing to give is a sin.  Here's one more....

As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.  And I will teach you the way that is good and right. - I Samuel 12:23

Our understanding of "sin" goes beyond not killing other people or coveting their property.  As the earlier verse hinted, we're supposed to think in an outgoing way toward other people.  If we don't show concern for them (such as in prayer), that's sin as well.

We encourage you to find a Bible with a concordance (a list of words in the back, with verses showing were those words appear).  Look up the verses about "sin," and consider whether you've been lax in any of the ways it's described.

You may wind up feeling guilty and convicted - but in the process, you'll hopefully also discover the antidote for sin.  We'll get into that in a future post.

Poker Night 378: Gimme a Break

Who said gift-giving season was over?  We received several during the Wednesday night poker tournament at Soho Bar and Grill -- and we never asked for any of them.  First a bartender sprayed us a Diet Coke "on the house," and threw in a 1,000-chip piece to boot.  Then the Tournament Director handed us 5,000 chips, seemingly for no other reason than he likes us.  And then....

BLINDS: 2,000/4,000

IN THE POCKET: Q-9 of spades

We've survived to the semifinal table largely through folding.  We haven't won a pot outright all night, and split one with a woman in the first hour due to matching straights.  But after being moved here, a debate developed over who took out whom to gain "bounty" bonus chips.  The Tournament Director wasn't sure whom to believe, so he gave 5,000 chips to everyone - including us!

But after folding 2-2 pre-flop and missing a big win when a third 2 came on the turn, we're down to 6,000 chips.  And now we're in the Big Blind, committed to two-thirds of our stack before things even start.  We're thankful simply to see the table call ahead of us, with no one raising.  We're tempted to push right now, but check instead.

ON THE FLOP: A-2-9, all clubs

Wrong suit.  But it's middle pair, and we see little choice but to act on it.  The Small Blind to our right checks.

"I've got to do it.  I'm all-in," we say as we commit our last 2,000 chips.  "Now or never."

In an online tournament, a few players at this point would have written "now" and rooted against us.  And the way this table is playing, we fear callers with Aces.  But an amazing thing happens.  The big stack to our left folds.  Then another.  Then another.  That half-sized desperation push works!

But the dealer shows the remaining cards, anyway.  The chip leader holds out his King of clubs.  But no club appears for a flush on the turn or river.

"I couldn't do it," the chip leader says.  "He's got an Ace.  I know how he plays."

Another man reaches for our cards, trying to confirm that.  But they're lost in the discards, and we say nothing.  It brings to mind a word mentioned a few times in the Bible....

Here is a trustworthy saying: if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer.... He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. - I Timothy 3:1, 7

In this case, our reputation for "playing it safe" kept us in the game -- and we made it into the third hour of play.  But a night when good cards were scarce eventually did us in.  Forced to go all-in with K-6 in the Big Blind, the flop was A-K-Q.  A man with a King topped us, and took out another man with us.  We finished tied for tenth place -- tantalizingly close to the final table again.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed our "Jesus as your Savior" coin to a young man, and asked if he agreed with the message.

"No," he said.  He explained he grew up in a "quasi-Christian" home, but finds his spiritual thinking complicated now.  "Buddhism, atheism...." are some of the views he's considering.

We offered one of the reasons why we're not persuaded of atheism.  "I see too much evidence in creation that there's a designer.  The sun and moon and orbits being in precise timing...."

You may have a 2013 calendar with the phases of the moon noted on particular days.  Astronomers are able to compute the next new moon (Friday U.S. time) right down to the minute   All the way through December.  Not simply for this year, but for years to come.

Unless Jesus intervenes and returns, those times should be accurate -- proving of God....

The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon.  It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter. - Psalm 74:16-17

We're not sure how supporters of evolution explain such precise time patterns in the heavens.  Believers in God don't try - they simply praise God for making it so.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 131 final tables in 378 nights (34.7%) - 20 cashes.

Where's the Evidence? II

That poker table discussion last Thursday night involving a religious skeptic brought up so many issues that we're still sorting through them all.

"Skeptic?" you might be asking.  "She sounds like an atheist."  In fact, someone at the table asked the woman if she was -- and she said she wasn't.  She doesn't believe in Jesus or the Bible, but she claims she's not atheistic.  Yet our dictionary defines atheism as "disbelief in or denial of the existence of God."  That's different from agnosticism, which "does not deny God but denies the possibility of knowing Him."

Some Christian ministers would turn at this point to a blunt message in the Psalms....

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. - Psalm 53:1

But while this woman made some bold statements about not believing in Jesus and having power over her own life, we're reminded of a prayer Jesus offered to God the Father shortly before His death:

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.  They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. - John 17:6

While God wants everyone to be saved (I Timothy 2:4), you might be surprised to learn He's not revealing Himself to everyone right now.  We even heard one player at the poker table mention that skeptical woman will have a "second chance" to understand Jesus someday.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened... The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. - Revelation 20:12

Those demanding proof of Jesus's existence will have it then -- because the Bible refers to this as "the judgment seat of Christ" (II Corinthians 5:10).  In other words, He'll be there.

This discussion went on well after we were eliminated from the poker tournament -- and we told the young woman at one point this issue ultimately is a matter of faith.  She seems to put plenty of faith in herself.  But the years of life may well reveal to her how we even let ourselves down at times.

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. - I Corinthians 2:5 (KJV)

P.S.  We received a comment via Facebook about this discussion.  She says using Bible wisdom is not the best answer in this case....

I think a good place to start is to try and show her that the Bible truly is the Word of God by revealing its accurate prophecies etc. 

One of the most amazing prophetic proofs involves Daniel 11.  It takes some time and digging in a library using encyclopedias (and the old-fashioned hardback versions are going out of style at many libraries) -- but years ago, we verified how historical events recorded by Daniel have been fulfilled, all the way through World War I.  Some ministers maintain the "time of the end" events from verse 40 on still have yet to occur.

What a Fool Believes

Me: A pleasant Atheists' Day to all.

We wrote this at the start of an online poker tournament today.

"Huh?!?!?" regular readers may be asking.  "You're marking an Atheists' Day?"  Well, the next line we wrote explained....

Me: (My pastor calls it that, based on Psalm 14:1.)

The pastor mentioned it in passing during his weekend sermon.  Let's turn to that verse and fill in some details....

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God".... - Psalm 14:1a

Atheists tend to believe there is no God.  This psalm calls them "fools."  And this day is April 1 -- April Fool's Day.  But this stinging verse doesn't stop there....

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. - Psalm 14:1b

If you think of the Bible simply as a "good book" preaching nothing but love, think again.  It can talk tough at times.

But instead of turning up your nose, slamming the book shut or clicking on "next blog," consider those words carefully.  What sort of deeds have you performed lately?  Are they good, uplifting and godly?  Are they tearing people down -- perhaps including your own reputation?

This is a week when many Christians should consider these things, as they prepare for the "Lord's Supper" or "New Testament Passover" service.  But it's something we all need to do year-round....

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test? - II Corinthians 13:5

Those words were written to a Christian church group which had acted foolishly at times (review I Corinthians for the details on that).

Look at your life as if Jesus is in the mirror, looking back at you.  If you see a need for changes, repent before God and start moving in a new direction.  Build a spiritual "chip stack" that will last for eternity.

Poker Night 188: The Great Escapes

We disrupted our usual poker schedule this week, and went to Soho Bar and Grill Wednesday night. It's the largest local tournament we play these days -- usually with enough players for six tables. Yet this night brought our best Soho finish to date: fourth place overall.

The first hour went very slowly for us -- with several easily-distracted players and few quality hands to play. A lost hand with an Ace left us with only 4,000 chips at the first break. But on the first hand after the break, we went all in with the Ace of diamonds and made a diamond flush on the river! A few other dramatic gains came later, which led to the final table and this....

BLINDS: 20,000/40,000

IN THE POCKET: 2-6 offsuit

Ugh. We're in the big blind, entering with only 45,000 chips left. Posting that blind left us with a mere 5,000. But most of the table folds, and two players ahead of us merely call. We're happy to check, knowing we have a little pad left.

ON THE FLOP: 3-4-8

To be honest, we halfway-expected that last card to be a 5. But at least there's hope, with an open-ended straight draw. And thankfully, the table checks.

ON THE TURN: 5

"Here it is! My last 5,000," we say plunking a gold chip firmly on the table after the first player in line checks. One player is so underwhelmed by the board that he doesn't even call. The first player does.

ON THE RIVER: 2

"Big blind straight!" we say as we show our cards. Our opponent can't beat it, and we triple our stack to 135,000.

Trouble was, the blinds kept climbing -- eventually to 50K/100K, the largest we've ever played in Columbus. We felt compelled to go all-in with A-4, but they didn't pair while a woman with J-8 paired them both.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Our small crust of bread still has people asking questions. But when we brought up Jesus as the "bread of life" to a man across the table during the one-hour break, a different response came.

"Do you believe in Jesus?" we asked.

"No, I don't."

"That's too bad," we said practically under our breath. But we knew this was an opportunity for dialogue. "May I ask why you don't believe?"

"No tangible evidence."

"Well, Christianity is a walk of faith."

This man clearly had none. "People have been doing that for thousands of years.... yet they're no better off for it."

His explanation continued: "Do you remember anything before you were born?"

Since we don't believe in reincarnation, the answer was no. But we added: "Franklin Roosevelt was President before I was born, yet I know he existed."

"There's that empty void space," the skeptic answered. "You don't know anything before you're born, yet you 'existed.' And when you die, you won't know anything after that. I'm sorry."

How would you respond to that man's explanation? We'll offer our thoughts in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 79 final tables in 188 nights (42.0%) - 15 cashes. We had two "final four" finishes this week!

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 69 point wins in 381 games (18.1%); 29 final tables, 1 cash.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $13,294 (up $225). We haven't played any of the extra-large freerolls lately.

Any P.R. Beats No P.R.

At least that's what we've heard. So we note our site has been added to the blogroll of "Purple Hymnal" - a blog run by a church member-turned-atheist.

If you connected with us from there, welcome. If you come for the poker, you might learn other things -- and even be challenged by them.