Poker Night 358: The Perfect Escape

"The best place to see the dregs on Columbus society."  That's what a reviewer wrote this past summer about a restaurant/bar/game room called Players, on the north side of our city.  Sounds like the perfect place to do poker ministry, doesn't it?

We went to Players for the first of two weekly Sunday tournaments.  And for the first time in our city, we paid a buy.... oops; the proper wording under city regulations is cover charge.  The fee was small, at five dollars.  The potential payoff was large, as enough players showed up to fill six tables.

Unlike other local tournaments, everyone starts at Players with the same amount of chips: 5,000, with nothing extra for buying sandwiches or Jell-O shots.  The chances are even for all - and the drama maybe was a little higher....

BLINDS: 500/1,000

IN THE POCKET: A-9 of diamonds

Our game started with a slow decline -- losing several times to players hitting winning hands on the river.  But K-J turned into a timely pot with a winning pair of Jacks, so we reached the one-hour break at 5,050.  Now after a failed round of blinds, we have 4,000 and little margin for error.  We call; most of the table of seven gets in with no raises.

ON THE FLOP: Ax-8d-5x

That's top pair and a big moment.  When the table checks to us, we go all-in for our last 3,000.  We'd be happy to buy the pot right now, but a man across the table from us calls.  Everyone else folds.  He shows A-2, so we have a comfortable lead.

ON THE TURN: 10d

Good, good.  Let's dodge one more....

ON THE RIVER: 2d

"Noooooo!" we cry aloud.  Our opponent hit two pair on the river to take us....

"He wins," a woman next to him points out -- but gesturing toward us.  "He made a flush."

"Ahhhhhh!" we now declare.  We didn't notice three diamonds on the board.  We're glad she did.  Our opponent gained his second pair -- but in the only wrong way possible.

That restored us to 10,000 chips, but rising blinds and a couple of missed chances with promising cards were our downfall.  Forced to go all-in again in the Big Blind, we had a lowly 2-9.  It didn't pair for us, and a man with three 7's took another player out with us.

The scorekeeper at the door to the Players "poker room" noted we were the 28th player eliminated.  That means 28 points for us, if we want to press on toward a quarterly championship.  That number would sound great at other local venues -- but on this day, we barely missed the semifinal table by finishing (by our eyes) tied for 18th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We took our Lord's Supper card protector, which a woman sitting down to our left found interesting.

"Is Jesus your Savior?" we asked her.

She said yes - then explained one recent blessing.  "I had brain surgery recently."

You'd never know that from looking at her, except perhaps for a scar near her right forehead.  That woman apparently believes in a God with great power....

O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. - Psalm 30:2

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sin and heals all your diseases.... - Psalm 103:2-3

The medical profession can do wonderful things.  But ultimately, life and death are in the hands of God.  And even when difficulties occur in hospitals, such as the spread of dangerous infections, we can look to the Lord:

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. - Psalm 32:7

Has God ever performed a healing miracle in your life, or perhaps someone you know?  Leave a comment with your "testimony" if He has.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 124 final tables in 358 games (34.6%) - 19 cashes.

To Protect and To Serve

We asked the man if he considers Jesus his Savior, and he said yes.  So then we followed up: "What has Jesus done for you lately?"

The man's quiet voice two seats away was a bit hard for us to hear -- but it sounded like he said the Lord has protected him, along with several of his friends.

The word "protection" comes up in poker from time to time.  We take "card protectors" not only as conversation-starters, but to make sure our cards aren't considered thrown in and folded during hands.  The word also can refer to a player making a huge raise when someone is all-in, giving the at-risk player "protection" from having too many opponents.

But as the man suggested to us the other night, there's a "Protector" in heaven who offers to do much more:

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.  Selah. - Psalm 32:7

We can think of several times over the years when God seemed to protect us from harm or disaster.  But we also can hear the scoffers, wondering why God didn't protect other believers from harm and death.  At times such as those, our understanding of "protection" needs to change....

For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.  They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off. - Psalm 37:28

Forever?!?!  How?  Another Old Testament book offers this explanation....

The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. - Isaiah 57:1 (KJV)

The Bible warns evils will increase and times will get worse -- until Jesus returns to bring the kingdom of God in fullness to earth.  I Thessalonians 4 indicates believers then will be resurrected to celebrate and rule with Jesus.  They're protected by the "sleep" of death, until they are raised to eternal life.

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?