A King on the River

Today is a holiday in the U.S., marking the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Do a search for his name and "poker," and you might find "bonus points" offers at casinos or special holiday tournaments.

If you really want to "honor King" by playing poker, you can order a King Memorial deck of playing cards online. For only ten dollars, he can stare at the other players for you. And if you really wanted to have a holiday theme, we suppose you could have a poker game where Kings are wild.

People old enough to remember Dr. King's causes and campaigns probably would find these things tacky at best, and insulting at worst. But some people invoke Dr. King's name in support of poker cash games and similar gambling. One casino website put it this way several years ago:

The Reverend spoke of equality, and the freedom of every American to have choices. Gambling is a choice that Americans should have the right to decide whether they want to take part or not.

If Dr. King made a direct statement on gambling in a speech or sermon, we could not find it. (If you know of one, please let us know in a comment.) But that website strikes us as turning words out of context. In fact, Dr. King's semi-rival of the time Malcolm X gave up gambling because he thought white people had "forced" it on black people to keep them economic slaves.

Yet the website has a valid point about choices. As a minister by trade, Dr. King might have said God gives humans choices. For instance....

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.... - Deuteronomy 30:19

God does more than offer a choice. He tells humans the right answer. For instance, "choose life" - a phrase we're sure would get the late George Michael in some trouble, if he wore it on a T-shirt in a music video today.  But back to our point....

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable for you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. - Joshua 24:15

You can serve "the Lord" - the God of the Bible - or some other god that is fake and false. Joshua chose to follow the Lord which led Israel into a land of promise. We face that same choice today. If you make poker your "god", as in the thing you worship and idolize more than anything else, consider this...

Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.... - Proverbs  8:10

Will you pay attention to what God instructs, or your desire for money and riches? In reality, living God's way could lead you to all these things. We'll develop that concept in an upcoming post.

Seeking an Edge

If you're looking for ways to cheat at poker and win - sorry, you've come to the wrong website.  But it's noteworthy to us when even top-level poker players are accused of cheating.

That's what an Atlantic City casino is accusing Phil Ivey of doing.  Not at poker, but another card game.  He's accused of closely watching the edges of playing cards in baccarat for flaws, and using that knowledge to win millions of dollars.

We admit we've never played baccarat; we might have confused that word with a legendary composer of music.  We'd also never heard of "edge sorting" - but we're amazed at the things some people might use to gain, well, an edge at a card table.

Some people think they need to cheat to get an edge in life.  They might cut corners on their job, or even do deceptive things at church to "get ahead" with God at the expense of other members.  But God is too smart to be fooled by that....

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. - Proverbs 15:3

That "knows if you've been bad or good" stuff.... well, God was doing that long before anyone thought of a Santa Claus.  And beyond that....

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.... This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. - Romans 2:12, 16

When judgment day comes, Jesus could remember things about you that you've forgotten (or maybe wished you had).  But there's a way to escape that "true confessions" moment:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - I John 1:9

God already has seen your cheating -- whether it's at the poker table, or other places in your life. Isn't it better to admit it to Him now, receive forgiveness and turn to a more ethical way of life?  Or would you rather dare to go "all in" against Jesus, and lose?

Poker Night 361: Too Jacked Up

Tonight marked our first trip to Lil Kim's Cove in three weeks -- and it may go down as the craziest night we've ever had in a poker room.  We'll explain why in a moment.  But first, we want to ask for your help in an unusual way -- especially if you live in our area:

MISSING PERSON: Jessie Everett's picture was posted on a wall at Lil Kim's tonight.  He was last seen Thursday, November 1 walking from the First Avenue club toward the Oakland Park area. He's described as disabled (with a limp), and has a bad left hand and arm. If you've seen him, call Columbus 911.

At the table, we won one pot by making a straight from a starting 5-6.  But we didn't win any others, and finished in 16th place.  But this was one of those nights when the most memorable hand was one we didn't play....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: 9-10 offsuit

A brand new deck of cards has been introduced for this hand, because the old one had a few clipped corners.  We have about 5,700 chips -- and a man sitting "under the gun" challenges us by raising to 1,000.  We look at him, stare for a moment seeking clues, see none and fold.  But most of the table gets in.

ON THE FLOP: J-10-10

Ouch!  We would have made three of a kind right away.  On top of that, the table checks.

ON THE TURN: J

Now we would have had a full house.  As we recall, the table checks again.

ON THE RIVER: Q

The checking now stops and the fireworks start.  A woman across from us bets 1,000 (as best we remember).  The man under the gun goes all-in.  The woman to his left (our immediate right) also pushes.  Then a young man to our left who's playing in his first live tournament also pushes!  It looks like a mad case of full house fever.

"I've got the boat with a Jack," the first woman says -- turning over a Jack of hearts.  So she would have beaten our "10's over Jacks" full house.  The other woman in the hand also shows a Jack.

"I guess you don't have a Jack," we say to the new player at our left.  But no -- he also shows a Jack!  A grand total of five Jacks are showing!

"There are two Jack of hearts," we note -- pointing to one on the board, and the one the first woman has.  We turn over the cards for a moment, to make sure they're both from the same new deck.  What's going on here?

After a moment, the dealer figures it out.  He turns over the rest of the deck -- and there are no low cards at all.  He was given a pinochle deck, instead of the regular Ace-through-two deck used in poker!  Our late Dad played pinochle for decades, and he would have been thrilled.

The Tournament Director is called, and he rules everyone gets their bets back.  But after reviewing the pinochle rules online, we wonder why the dealer didn't notice that deck had only 48 cards.  We watched the count, and it didn't look quite right to us -- but we deferred.  And we wound up with the two lowest cards, anyway.

(That wasn't the only crazy moment at our table tonight.  But we'll hold another matter for a future post.)

MINISTRY MOMENT: We apologized before the game to the man who was outside our front door Monday evening.  It turns out he used to live in the apartment next to ours, and is friends with the owner of the property.

"I was not offended," he assured us -- adding he understood we were hurrying to The Red Barn.  That was comforting.  We don't think he's a Christian, yet he reflected a Biblical trait....

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. - Proverbs 19:11

The sports world (and perhaps to a lesser extent the poker world) is filled with "grudge matches" and rivalries.  But holding long-term grudges against other people is something believers in Jesus should not do.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you. - Colossians 3:13

God showed His willingness to forgive men and women by sending Jesus Christ to pay the death penalty for our sins.  Have you confessed your sins and repented before God, to receive the comforting forgiveness He wants to provide?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 124 final tables in 361 nights (34.3%) - 19 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 272 point wins in 1,215 games (22.4%), 84 final tables, 10 wins, 10 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 17 point wins in 63 games (27.0%), 13 final tables, 1 cash win.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $86,449, down $1,373.  The re-election of President Obama may mean pretend games still will be all U.S. residents can play for awhile.

Pick a Card, Any Card

But would you choose to play with a poker deck which looks like this?

Our first thought: a deck of cards which costs more than three beers isn't going to show up in many bars and clubs.