Poker Night 312: K-9 Bites

Things even up eventually in poker -- don't they?  If your Aces get cracked in one hand, shouldn't they win the next time you have them?  Most players probably would tell you Texas Hold 'em doesn't always work that way.  But we hoped it would Monday night at The Red Barn....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: K-9

Remember "The Rodney" -- the hand which can win you a 5,000-chip bonus at the Barn?  The hand which dealt us a fatal blow last Monday night?  Here it is again, as we sit in the Big Blind.  A man to our immediate left raised 200 right off the bat.  Most of this table of six is calling, so we do the same.

ON THE FLOP: 5-9-J (Not absolutely sure about the first card)

Middle pair puts us halfway there.  We check -- but the man next in line makes a continuation bet of 1,000.  Most of the table folds.  We decide to be tenacious (or is that stubborn?) and call.

ON THE TURN: 8 (Not exactly sure about this, either)

That didn't help much.  We check again.  The man to our left bets 1,000 again.  What if he's had an overpair all along?  Still dreaming of that Rodney bonus, we call again.

ON THE RIVER: J

This gives us two pair -- but not quite the way we wanted.  We check once more, a bit resigned to our fate.  But our opponent gives us hope, by checking himself.

"Two pair, with The Rodney," we say as we show.

Our opponent shows.... 9-10 suited!  He had an open-ended straight draw which missed.  Our King is a better kicker -- and this time K-9 wins!  With the bonus, we jump to about 15,000 chips.

Surrounded by players who "bought" much larger stacks through food and alcohol, some costly chases failed after that.  But in a rematch with that man to the left, we dared to call his all-in challenge with A-7 of spades near the one-hour break -- and caught him bluffing with a weaker hand and no pair.  That lifted us back above 15,000 chips.  More timely cards came in the second hour, while several big spenders pushed each other all the way to the rail.

A patient approach helped us reach the final table.  Once we got there, Q-Q improved us to 55,000 chips.  But we folded Q-5 in the small blind in an "all-in" decision, which cost us a winning straight.  A final push with A-Q lost to a man who actually made a straight.  It wasn't a win, but it was a satisfying evening -- as finishing fifth as a "David" against chip Goliaths is a bit of an accomplishment.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Genesis 1:12," said a man across from us before the game began -- a man nicknamed "Buddha" who's struck us often as a skeptic of anything Biblical.  He went on to quote part of the verse, then declared: "D****t, I'm enjoying it!"

What was he talking about?  It's a passage from the creation account....

The land produced vegetation; plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good. - Genesis 1:12

For the second time in recent weeks at The Red Barn, marijuana use had come up.  But Buddha's quoting of this verse wasn't quite accurate, as he transplanted some of God's later instructions to Adam and Eve:

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food." - Genesis 1:29

Some Christian groups use this verse to explain why they practice vegetarianism.  But "food" refers to something you eat.  We've heard of people smoking marijuana, but not putting leaves atop their hamburger patties.

"Marijuana is not addictive," Buddha insisted.  We were skeptical about that.  Do a Bing search for "marijuana addictive" and you'll find web pages with multiple views on that issue.  We'd point out as we prepared this post, ABC News Nightline aired a report on something else psychologists haven't officially classified as an "addiction" -- even though some counselors say pornography among teenagers really is.  This is clearly a topic for a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 110 final tables in 312 nights (35.3%) - 17 cashes.

Good Bread, Bad Bread

"My bread of life is a marijuana leaf."

This declaration came from a man at our poker table Monday night, well after we brought up the piece of matzo we used for a card protector.  We had said Jesus was the bread of life, based on John 6.  This man's somewhat flippant follow-up came as a surprise -- but he had a different point to make.

"If God created the universe and He made marijuana, then there must be a reason for it....?!"

This topic actually goes back to the beginning of the Bible account....

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground -- everything that has the breath of life in it -- I give every green plant for food."  And it was so. - Genesis 1:29-30

We admittedly haven't studied the chemical makeup of marijuana over the years; we accepted the warnings in our youth about how dangerous it could be, and avoided it.  But hemp is a seed-bearing plant -- and we admitted to the man the variant cannabis might have medicinal benefit in moderate amounts for some hurting people.  (We haven't studied that to be absolutely sure, however.)

But as we consider this discussion, two thoughts come to mind.  The first one obviously involves the man's idea that a psychoactive drug can be a "bread of life."

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.  Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. - Isaiah 55:2-3a

This is an invitation from God to those who are spiritually thirsty (verse 1).  Looking to fill who some have called a "hidden hunger" in your life with drugs or alcohol may bring temporary relief, or what Hebrews 11:25 calls "the pleasures of sin for a season" -- but not a long-term answer.  Jesus described a far better bread....

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. - John 6:51

This leads to our second thought.  We accepted the warnings adults gave us about marijuana -- but other people obviously don't.  They choose to take a chance and experiment, a bit like poker players trying out different strategies in free tournaments.  By doing that, they repeat one of the Bible's earliest lessons:

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"  "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.  "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." - Genesis 3:2-5

Mother Eve in the garden of Eden had to weigh two conflicting sets of advice.  She chose to go against the guidance of her Creator -- and the rest of Genesis 3 shows the bad consequences which began to develop for humans from there.

When you're having fun at a poker table with nothing to lose, that's one thing.  But when it comes to an item which can affect your body and mind such as marijuana, that's very different.

Why take a chance with a bogus bread?  The true "bread of life" named Jesus may seem bland and boring, but it's the diet which leads to eternal life in God's kingdom.