Winner By a Hair?

Our last poker outing included a comment we hadn't seriously considered before. If the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair (I Corinthians 11:14), how do we explain Samson?

You probably know the legend of Samson. It's the stuff of movies and grand opera. Even a few websites seem to have taken some inspiration from it. But is it Biblical and accurate? Did Samson get his might and strength from his long hair.... or was something else involved?

We went back to the Old Testament, where we learn why Samson had long hair in the first place:

The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son.... No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines." - Judges 13:3, 5

Samson's long hair from birth certainly made him stand out - but for a purpose. It showed he was "set apart" by God. No one in New Testament times was under such a rule. The story continues....

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother.... suddenly a young lion came running toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. - Judges 14:5-6

Did the power come from Samson's hair? No - it came from "the Spirit of the Lord!" That phrase is repeated in verse 19, as Samson kills 30 people at a wedding feast.

To be fair, the Holy Spirit is not mentioned when Samson causes agricultural terrorism with 300 foxes (Judges 15:3-5). But later, after he is arrested....

The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands - Judges 15:14

Yet in chapter 16, Samson became too playful with Delilah. A series of lies led to this famous moment....

So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man." - Judges 16:17

Samson's seven braids of hair were shaved off while he slept, "And his strength left him" (verse 19). Yet look through the entire four-chapter story, and you'll never find a single place where Samson acknowledged God's Spirit at work in his life. Only in a dying plea does he ask God for one final feat of strength (verse 28).

We can draw many lessons from Samson's story. But this review was eye-opening for us, because the Bible gives the credit for his strength to the Holy Spirit and not his hairstyle. It's very different from the legend you may have heard!

So what does all this have to do with poker? Consider this: if you're successful at the table on a regular basis, it might not be because of your "lucky card protector" or what you eat before the tournament. Maybe God is trying to send a message to you through your success. Are you humble enough to realize it, acknowledge Him and listen to Him?

Poker Day 552: The Farm Hour

When you think of Catholics and gambling, what game comes to mind? Your first thought may be bingo. But today, we found a place where the Catholics tolerate poker.

While Cincinnati is considered a major league sports city, Dayton, Ohio about 50 miles north is considered "minor league." We headed north on Interstate 75 to see if the poker is "farm team" level as well, and found several tables set up at the Catholic Order of Foresters Hall in suburban Riverside.

On a Sunday afternoon, there was only enough interest for one tournament table. You can't blame the pricing; the $30 buy-in was the cheapest we've seen in years. Five of those dollars goes to a rotating charity; the supervisor couldn't remember if the heart or cancer society was benefiting right now. But one player left when that woman refused to turn a TV on for the opening Sunday of pro football season.

When the price of poker is cheap, the play sometimes can get wild. Take this example.....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: Ace-King of spades

Arriving early and adding $5 for the "charity chips" allowed us to begin at 12,000. But a man named Bud sitting next to us has doubled that in a hurry. He had 2-4, made two pair on the flop and eliminated a big bettor with a strong pocket pair.

So now we're in the Big Blind, a bit wary by what others are doing. When no one at the table of seven raises, we add 500 on top with "big slick." Bud calls, but a man at the left end of the table re-raises to 1,500. We call, as does Bud.

ON THE FLOP: 7s-2d-Qs

We miss the flop, so we check. Bud doesn't. He goes all-in. The man on the far left pushes as well.

Now comes a big decision. We're one card from the nut flush, which could bring a huge payoff. But Bud by his own admission is on a roll; he's made a winning straight as well in the early going. This smells too good to be true, so....

"I'm going to fold," we say. We're not even 15 minutes into the tournament, and want to stick around a while.

Bud now shows.... 2-2! He has three of a kind. The man on his left reluctantly turns over pocket Aces.

"I had one of your Aces," we tell him. But was our hunch right?

ON THE TURN: 3h

So far it is....

ON THE RIVER: Kc

Indeed it was! We missed the flush, and our pair of Kings would have been cracked along with those Aces. The man on the left is eliminated, and we pretend to fan Bud because he's so hot.

A couple of big hands came our way as well, in a "turbo" tourney that moved so fast we were down to five players at the 30-minute mark. A-10 led to a winning full house (not shown). Then J-10 led to a flop of K-Q-8 which brought a double-up beyond 20,000.

With the one-hour break approaching, only four players remained (unless re-buys occurred during the break). We saw K-Q suited and raised pre-flop. Wouldn't you know it - Bud called. And when the flop came Q-7-3, he called our all-in bet of 14,000.

"I hit the 3," he said. "But I also have another 3."

YEOW! He did it again! The last two cards didn't save us, and we left in one hour with a fourth-place finish. It's officially a final table, and quite a memorable one at that.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We took our "Lord's Supper" card protector, which wound up fitting in well at a "Catholic" hall. It had the dealer (the supervisor doing double duty) interested.

"I don't think He looked like that," we said when she turned it over to show a depiction of Jesus Christ. "I don't think He had long hair."

If you're new here, we base that view on this section of the Bible:

Isn't it obvious that it's disgraceful for a man to have long hair? - I Corinthians 11:14(NLT)

This prompted some good Biblical thinking from several people at the table. One man remembered the following verse....

And isn't long hair a woman's pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. - I Corinthians 11:15 (NLT)

But one man to our right took issue with that view. "What about Samson? He had long hair, and it was the source of his strength."

That's a good question - and we admittedly didn't have a good immediate answer for that. After checking later, we think the best answer is embedded in the Biblical account of Samson. You'll find it in the Old Testament book of Judges. Please leave a comment with your thoughts - what do you think it is? We'll compare notes in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 203 final tables in 552 games (36.8%) - 36 cashes.

Poker Day 434: Clash of the Titans

The manager of Arrowhead Poker admits Sunday action starts slowly.  But there still can be plenty of action, even in a one-table tournament.  We faced some big hands today, but we're deferring to one where we simply watched:

BLINDS: 2,000/4,000

IN THE POCKET:  Q-10 offsuit

To be honest, we don't absolutely remember what we had in this hand.  But we know we still had 9,000 chips in the fifth round of blinds, after winning several pots.  And we folded pre-flop, so it must not have been very impressive.  We know Q-10 came up at some point late in the tournament, and it seemed too marginal to play with our chip stack so precarious.

ON THE FLOP: 6h-5h-4h

We murmur noisily at the sight of this - three suited cards in a row.  Seven players are still in the running, including the manager.  As we recall, he made a bet which chased all but one player (the only woman at the table) away.

ON THE TURN: 7h

The plot thickens further - with four suited cards in a row.  Now both players check.

ON THE RIVER: 8c

So there's a straight on the table, but that may be the least of our issues.  The manager now goes all-in.  The woman thinks about it for a moment or two.  Is that a big bluff?  She decides it is, and calls.

The manager turns over.... 8h!  It's not a bluff; he has a straight flush!

The woman shows.... 3h-Ah!  She had the Ace for an old-fashioned "nut flush," and the 3 gave her a straight flush of her own -- but not the winning one.  She's eliminated in seventh place, with a true bad beat.

It was our turn to go all-in a few hands later, as we faced the Big Blind with our last 10,000 chips.  We had K-J, but a man called with A-J.  Two Aces on the board settled the matter, and we were ousted in sixth place -- better, but not in the money.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed our "Lord's Supper" card protector to a man on our right -- the one with an artist's depiction of Jesus on the flip side.  "I don't really think he looks like that," we said of the depiction showing a long-haired Lord.

"I don't know," the man said.  "Maybe they weren't able to cut hair back then."

We didn't tell the man this, but that theory doesn't match the Bible at all.  Consider one of the most infamous haircuts in recorded history:

So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazarite set apart to God since birth.  If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man." - Judges 16:17

These are the words of Samson - a man who had his hair in seven braids.  When Delilah put Samson to sleep and her friend shaved off those braids, indeed "his strength left him" (verse 19).  In fact....

Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"  He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free."  But he did not know that the Lord had left him. - Judges 16:20

Not only did Samson's strength go away -- the Lord went away.  It's curious to us that Samson bluffed (as in lied to) Delilah three times earlier in this chapter about the source of his strength.  When Samson finally told the truth, God responded by leaving him!

What sort of lessons should we learn from this?  In terms of poker, we think there's one obvious lesson -- don't lie in pressure situations.  Samson may not have realized he was in one, with his invincible strength at stake.

Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks the truth. - Proverbs  16:13

We think this especially applies to the "King of Kings," Jesus Christ.  Would Samson have kept his strength, had he told the truth to Delilah right away?  We're left to guess -- but in poker, we think it's better to say nothing about your hand before showdown, instead of lying and breaking God's command against offering a "false witness" (Exodus 20:16, KJV).

NOTE: There's more to the conversation with that man at the table; we'll get to it in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 154 final tables in 434 games (35.5%) - 25 cashes.  Until more players show up, the final table count will keep piling up.

Hamilton Downs Cash Game: Undressed to the Nines

It sits 11 miles from the nearest real city, Live Oak.  But the Hamilton Downs poker room in north Florida seems better positioned for card-playing travelers -- as it's less than one mile from Interstate 75 and about seven miles from Interstate 10.

A road trip this past week allowed us to stop at Hamilton Downs, hoping at least to win some gas money.  But there was no crowd at all on a Friday afternoon -- no jai alai action, and only one poker table with what we assumed were "the regulars."  We took that to mean we'd have to be very careful with our play.

You officially need $60 to take a seat at the 1/2 No Limit table.  We only had $56 on us, but the staff showed some mercy and let us in.  At least the sodas were inexpensive, at 50 cents for a cup.  Playing for a pot would cost a lot more....

BLINDS: $1/$2

IN THE POCKET: 9-9

We've tried to nibble our way in with marginal hands, only to miss the flop and get run off by players making large bets.  Showdowns at this table have been the exception, more than the rule.  Our opening $56 stack has dropped quickly to 28.  But this pocket pair is the hand we've been waiting for -- so when a man raises to six, we call with optimism.

ON THE FLOP: 7-5-4

Our overpair gives us more optimism.  So we make a lead-out bet of five -- only to see the pre-flop raiser raise again to 20.

We draw two possible conclusions from this.  Either he has a higher pair (maybe Kings) -- or he has nothing, and he's testing the willpower of a "newbie."  Other players at the table have been making bluffing bets against each other, so we decide to take a stand.

"I have to do it," we say as we call.  This leaves us two $1 chips.  Everyone else has folded.

ON THE TURN: 3

Before we can act, our opponent makes a mistake in our favor.  Apparently thinking we're all-in, he turns over pocket Aces!  The dealer quickly puts his hands over the cards, but we see them.

"Oh, I'll check," we say with an approach that indicates our answer is obvious.  That man has us seriously beaten.  To his credit, he checks as well.  We need a 9 to win, or a 6 to put a straight on the board and get a split.

ON THE RIVER: 10

We show our losing 9's, and announce we're leaving with our two-dollar consolation prize.  We might need emergency cash for the drive home (although thankfully, we didn't have to spend it).

We realized a walk into this format was dangerous ground.  We needed the income from a gain at the cash game, but took the risk of losing a lot in the process.  It's way we prefer limit cash games at the 1/2 level, because you have more time to get a feel for the table and play more hands.  At least we didn't take our entire "envelope of blessings" on this trip.

MINISTRY MOMENT: The regular players seemed intrigued by the coin protector we brought, depicting the Lord's Supper.  One of them apparently thought it was from a casino, and flipped it over to show the picture of a long-haired Jesus.

"I really don't think he looked like that," we explained to the players at our end of the table.  We noted the advice of the apostle Paul:

Does not he very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?  For long hair is given to her as a covering. - I Corinthians 11:14-15

One man then speculated about the culture of New Testament times.  He said sheep farmers tended to roam the desert, and "they couldn't cut their hair very easily."

"But they'd have to shear the sheep," we responded.  "Couldn't they cut their own hair as well?"

That admittedly was speculation on our part -- so we did some checking on this.  After all, Jesus was a "traveling evangelist" in the Middle East.

Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." - Matthew 8:20

Yet the Old Testament law actually contains some instruction about haircuts....

Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. - Leviticus 19:27

One study Bible notes this approach still is taken by modern-day Orthodox Jews -- but read the gospels and you'll find Jesus's approach was anything but Orthodox at times.

We found a detailed online analysis which indicates Greeks and Romans preferred clean-shaven appearances, and speculates "Temple barbers" existed at the time of Christ.  Remember Jesus appeared on Earth at a time of Roman rule, and Paul wrote I Corinthians when the Romans were in charge around 55 A.D.  Paul concludes his writings on the topic this way:

If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice -- nor do the churches of God. - I Corinthians 11:16

In other words, short hair for males and long hair for females was the standard practice.

"I never thought I'd be getting into a religious discussion at a poker table," a man across from us said about all this.  That's part of our plan, sir -- part of our plan.

(The religious chat didn't stop there.  Watch for more in an upcoming post.)

CASH GAME COUNTER: 2 gains, 5 losses, 1 even in 8 sessions - down $96.

Poker Night 260: The Jackson Four

"This is not my favorite hand," a player at our table said at Lil Kim's Cove tonight -- as he played pocket Kings. As we recall, they lost that hand. But we may have found a new personal favorite....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: A-J offsuit

We're sitting "under the gun," first to act at a six-player table. The play has been tight (others like to say "friendly"), so we choose to limp. No one raises, and about four players are in.

ON THE FLOP: J-J-J

Enough hooks for a deep-sea fishing trip -- and quads for us! But remember the house rules: no 5,000-chip bonus is paid for quads until the river. So we wait and watch the players in front of us check. No gain yet.

ON THE TURN: 10

Now there's a little action, as the lead player in the small blind offers a modest 500. The big blind calls. Sure, we can call that. Everyone else is out.

ON THE RIVER: K

A straight flush is not in play, so we hope someone gets daring. But the tight play continues, with two checks in front of us.

"How about 3,000?" we ask. Nope, too much -- as they fold.

"Plus 5,000," we announce. Showing the "case Jack" earns us the bonus -- and we're up to around 22,000 chips.

We had 21,000 at the one-hour break, and played carefully after that with one exception. When a man went all-in at the semifinal table for about 8,000, we called with 9-9. He had A-Q, so our read was right -- but he hit an Ace on the river to escape with a big pot.

We held on from there to make the final table on a three-table night -- but our own A-Q there didn't work so well. We pushed with 5,000, but the board didn't pair for us. A pair of 6's prevailed, and we left in ninth place. But it was still our best finish in more than a month.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "Toss that one in there," a man said as he playfully threw our card protector into the middle of the table on the first hand of the night. It was our "Lord's Supper" protector -- the one with an artist's rendering of Jesus Christ on the back.

"I really don't think He looked like that," we said to the man. "I don't think He had long hair, based on what I read in the Bible."

"Maybe they didn't have scissors back then," the man speculated. Now there's an argument we'd never considered before. Trouble is, history indicates the Middle East probably did.

"We don't know the truth," the man went on to say. On that point, he may be right.

"That's why I choose to stick with the truth -- of Jesus," we answered. In fact....

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but through Me." -- John 14:6 (NASB)

If someone tells you the Bible is "the truth" -- well, there's truth to that. Jesus said "Thy word is truth" in John 17:17. But don't get so focused on the written word that you overlook the One who is "the Word.... made flesh," as in Jesus (1:1, 14). Worship a Savior and Lord, not a book about Him.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 99 final tables in 260 nights (38.1%) - 15 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 155 point wins in 705 games (22.0%), 54 final tables, 7 cashes. We also played one late-night ten-player sit-n-go, hoping to qualify for the Sunday night weekly championship -- but we finished sixth.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $50,343, down $300.

Heads Up?

In our last post, we mentioned a man gave us a card protector with an artist's depiction of the "Lord's Supper" on it. But as they say, there are two sides to every coin. That depiction was really the "tails" side.

This is "heads" -- what we assume is an artist's rendering of Jesus.

Artwork along these lines dates from the Renaissance. Trouble is, we really don't think this is an accurate depiction. We don't say this based on photographic evidence (since cameras did not exist 2,000 years ago) -- but based on the Bible:

Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. -- I Corinthians 11:14-15

Experts say the apostle Paul wrote these words about 25 years after Jesus was crucified. While modern fashion trends may change by the decade, we really don't think they changed that quickly in the first century -- so we're led to conclude Paul had short hair, and so did Jesus.

(Some people use Numbers 6 to contend Jesus had long hair -- but that passage refers to a separated Nazarite vow, where no grape juice of any sort is consumed. Jesus was a Nazarene, which is different. And He actually drank wine at that Lord's Supper on the other side.)

But there's another thing which concerns us about that depiction of Jesus....

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...." -- Exodus 20:4-5

The King James Version of these verses warns against "any graven image." Bowing down to an idol can be a picture of Christ. Or Buddha. Or even losing control at a poker tournament and bowing down to a big stack of chips.

We appreciate the man's generosity, in giving us this card protector. But we're probably going to modify the "heads" side somewhat. Any suggestions about what we should do?