Can We Tempt You? II

We focused recently on a column about temptation in the poker room. We noted temptation can take place anywhere - and even Jesus Christ faced it while on Earth.

Yet Jesus successfully resisted three rounds of temptation from the devil. (You can draw your own comparisons to a flop, turn and river.) Note the words Jesus used to push the tempter away:

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" - Matthew 4:4

The Son of God may have been walking in the flesh, but He knew the Scriptures very well. He quoted from Deuteronomy, to put the "word of God" above physical food (Deuteronomy 8:3). In the same way, there are times when we need to put the Bible ahead of a non-stop poker life.

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" - Matthew 4:7

There actually are verses in the Bible where God allows you to test Him (see Malachi 3:10-11 for an example). But Jesus was responding to a challenge to jump off the top of the temple. As poker players need to discern the right time to take a big risk with a hand, Jesus realized this was not the proper moment for a "leap of faith."

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" - Matthew 4:10

The Son of God refused to worship the devil. Are you doing that - even in hidden ways that might surprise you?

In all of this, Jesus defeated the tempter by referring to Scripture; the other two quotes also come from Deuteronomy (6:13, 16). That can help us when we face temptation in life - even in a big poker hand.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.... - James 4:7-8

From time to time we've offered Bible verses to keep in mind as you play poker. Search for them on this blog, then make them part of you. We don't guarantee final tables or big wins. But by resisting the tempting moments, your outcome may be better than you expected.

A Tempting Secret

We returned to National League of Poker this week for the first time in months.  It turned out well - recovering from an early all-in moment of desperation with a flopped flush to finish second out of 153 players.  (Sadly, only first place paid off with money again.)

Along the way, we chatted with a man who's also written about poker online.  In fact, he claims he found "the secret to life" from several months of poker.  He sums it up in two words: "overcoming temptation" -- which he defines in several ways in our link.

He points out it's a Biblical secret -- and he's right.  Even though Jesus recommended this prayer....

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. - Matthew 6:13

....the facts of life are that moments of temptation will come, at the poker table or away from it.  Even Jesus faced it while walking the earth:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. - Hebrews 4:15

The first part of Matthew 4 and Luke 4 detail how Satan the devil tempted Jesus.  Yet the Lord said no through it all -- which is how we need to respond to sinful temptations as well.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. - I Corinthians 10:13

Pray for God to sound alarm bells when temptations happen -- whether it's an all-in moment at the table or something more serious in your life.  Ask Him to show where the escape route is.  Then don't be afraid to take it, even if it makes you look wimpy.

Whodunnit

We had a very good day in a National League of Poker tournament Sunday -- finishing in the top 20 out of 950 players. And along the way, we apparently played with someone from another culture.  We say that based on this chat:

THAKUR_SAAB: 　JMD
Me: 　In English that means...?
chipmover: 　lol
THAKUR_SAAB: 　JMD
Dealer: 　THAKUR_SAAB wins Main Pot ($5,250)
chipmover: 　and that means
sootedone: 　Jesus mademeDoit
Me: 　Jesus take the wheel :-)
A website which specializes in acronyms didn't give us much help figuring out the real meaning of JMD.  We don't think someone with that name would talk about Jamaican dollars.

But what about the other player's suggestion?  Does Jesus "make us" do things -- such as going all-in with pocket Queens?  The Bible seems to give conflicting answers to that....

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."  For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. - James 1:13-14

So much for the late Flip Wilson's legendary comic line, "The devil made me do it!"   James goes on to write our own desires lead to sin -- and eventually to death.

Yet there are also times when believers say God inspired them to do or say things.  There are verses supporting that as well:

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.... Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. - Galatians 5:18, 25

This refers to the Holy Spirit, which God provides to those who repent of their sins before Him (Acts 2:38).  To use Jesus's description....

....The Spirit of truth.... you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. - John 14:17

As a general rule, we'd say God and the Holy Spirit should get the glory and credit for any good things we do and decisions we make.  Let God "take the wheel" of your life.  But when we choose a sinful evil way, don't point fingers toward heaven -- blame your own human nature and repent of what you've done.

Poker Night 370: A Pair Too Small?

It might as well be "off-season" on the local poker circuit.  Attendance is down at the places we visit, perhaps due to the year-end rush of things.

Even though an afternoon storm was long past, only 13 players showed up at The Red Barn for Monday night poker.  With nine reaching the final table, it seems almost as easy as qualifying for a football bowl game.  But we'd still have to earn our way there, against much bigger starting stacks....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: 3-3

We've lost a couple of early tries, and have about 5,250 chips.  This is the kind of small pocket pair we've seen poker pros fold on TV.  But the blinds are small, and the play at our table of six has yet to become too aggressive.  So we get in for the minimum, and no one raises to cause discomfort.

ON THE FLOP: 4-6-5

People who thrive on high cards wince at flops like this.  But we've been handed an open-ended straight draw.

"Bet the pot," declares a man across the table from us.  After counting the chips in the middle, he bets 600.  We decide to be optimistic and call.  Everyone else bails out.

ON THE TURN: 6

"Continuation," our opponent says.  That means he bets 600 more.

"Call me stubborn," we answer halfway under our breath, daring to call again.

ON THE RIVER: 2

Thank you, Lord!  The straight has come.  Now will the bettor become overconfident?  Maybe not; he bets 500.

"Raise -- one-thousand more," we say.  That brings a quick call.

"I hit trips," our opponent says as he shows a 6.  Too bad for him - yet we fumble our cards a moment while making the announcement.

"Abdul-Jabbars for a straight."  We name 3-3 after the Hall of Fame basketball player who wore that number.

"Nice catch on the river."  Indeed he's right, it was.  Our chip count jumps back above 8,000.

Few good cards came after that, and we were in the middle of a do-or-die hand with 5-5 in the second hour when the "final table" call came from the other side of the room.  Another small pocket pair turned into a big payoff, as a third 5 fell on the flop.  We "quadrupled up" to make the last table with 8,000.

Moments after arriving there, we were dealt A-J -- and when a Jack became a top card on the flop, we went all-in again for our last 6,000.  It held up (thanks to the Ace kicker, topping an opponent's 10) and suddenly we had 34,000 chips.  Then we watched other players knock each other out, until we were in the final four.

At that point A-Q came, and we pushed again.  A man to our right called with J-9 -- but a Jack came up for him, while we missed.  We survived enough close calls, however, to finish in fourth place at The Red Barn for the second time in four weeks.

MINISTRY MOMENT: During one hand, a woman at our table admitted she felt like she was "dealing with the devil."

"I'd rather deal with God than the devil," we told her -- adding the outcome would be "much better."

Yet if we think about it, aren't there moments in all of our lives when we deal with Satan to some extent?  Jesus certainly did while on Earth --and the Lord even gave the devil a physical advantage of sorts:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." - ???

For a change, we are not mentioning where in the Bible these verses are located.  We invite you to track them down.  Please leave a comment telling us where you found them, and how Jesus proved victorious in this dramatic moment.  We'll compare notes in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 129 final tables in 370 nights (34.9%) - 20 cashes.

Poker Night 336: A Pair of Fours

Let's say right off the bat: we were never dealt 4-4 Wednesday night at Soho Bar and Grill.  Not once.  So why are using that title?  Because of a day of poker which rivals the best we've ever had.  Here's how the springboard started going in the evening....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 9-10 of clubs

It's early in the tournament, but a couple of players have won nice-sized pots while we've waited for better moments to come.  We try to get in small with suited connectors, and it works as no one raises.

ON THE FLOP: 7s-8c-Js

Well, thank you very much!  We make an embedded straight, and sit late in the betting order.  One man tosses out 1,000.  Another raises 2,000.

"I'll re-raise," we declare -- up to 4,000.  The sight of two spades prompts this aggressive move, to run people off a flush draw.  The two players who bet aren't scared; they call, and one of them is all-in.

ON THE TURN: Kd

The player ahead of us with chips checks.  We refuse to allow "free cards," and go all-in for our remaining 1,775.  Our opponent calls.

"Do you have a straight?" we ask as we show.  No, he doesn't -- he has two pair.

ON THE RIVER: 6s

Our straight wins a big side pot -- but the man who went all-in earlier turns over two spades.  His flush dream pays off with the main pot.  Yet we still double our stack, to about 12,600 chips.

We had few big setbacks after that hand -- helped in part by the arrival of an aggressive-playing woman to our immediate left, who kept us watchful.  (She ran us A-K of clubs right away with huge bets, which cost us another straight.)  But solid pots came our way -- with a 7-7 semi-bluff on the river winning one hand, and pocket Queens taking another.

Our stack grew and grew, until we reached the final table with 165,000 chips.  We won a couple of pots there as well, including one with A-Q of spades.  But once the field dropped to four, lower stacks won all-in bets and moved ahead of us.  Rising blinds eventually reached 50,000/100,000, and good cards ran out for us.  Finally forced to go all-in with K-6 and the Small Blind, a man made two pair and topped us.

So we finished #4 at Soho -- which matched what happened earlier in the day at a National League of Poker online tournament!  We were #4 there, out of 453 players.  And with the top seven being rewarded with money, we had our first NLOP cash in more than a year.  It was only five dollars (the top three won 50-20-10), but a payday is still a payday!  Soho paid $75, but only to the winner.  It was a "pair of fours" which left us thankful and satisfied.

MINISTRY MOMENT: As we sat at the final table, we could hear eliminated players at the bar nearby.  We couldn't hear every detail, but one man was talking about Cain, Abel and Job.

"Stop talking about religion at a bar!" a woman at the final table yelled at them -- perhaps jokingly.

"Why not?" we asked.  "The people there need it."

"Unless your name is Amy Grant, shut up," the woman responded.

Huh?  We've sung Christian music over the years, but we wouldn't dare compare ourselves to the "Queen" of contemporary Christian songs.

The woman across from us then shared a story (which we were unable to verify online) about how Grant actually walked into bars and performed years ago.  She reportedly did this to present the gospel at places where sinners were most likely to be.

If that's true, then we have more in common with Grant than we realize.  After all, that's part of the reason why we play like poker.  Consider a prayer Jesus offered for His disciples....

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. - John 17:15-16

Let's face it -- bars and nightclubs can be very "worldly" places.  Some believers say Christians shouldn't even walk near tavern doors, because the "influences" of things inside might corrupt them.  To a point, we agree with that view.  If Christians have a weakness for alcohol, tobacco or flirtatious affairs, they would be wise to avoid nightclubs.  Yet the Bible also says:

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. - I John 4:4

We take this verse to mean the "one who is in you" refers to the Holy Spirit, or "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27) -- while that "one in the world" is the devil.

We've been playing live poker for more than five years, almost entirely at bars.  And while we don't claim "super sainthood," we have never been tempted to buy one can of beer or smoke one cigarette.  Those vices (as the world commonly considers them) are things which we've simply never done -- not even from our youth.  Perhaps our "habits" of carefulness are too hard to break.  And in this case, that's a good thing.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 120 final tables in 336 nights (35.7%) - 19 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments- 254 point wins in 1,078 games (23.6%),  79 final tables, 10 total wins, 8 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 8 point wins in 41 games (19.5%), 7 final tables, one cash win.

Wednesday's "cash" technically was not a win, since we finished fourth.  But it followed an eighth-place finish in a No-River tournament Monday afternoon.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $79,564, down $316.

May Senior Championship: Times of Testing

We've attended church groups which like to suggest 40 is a "test" number -- such as Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness before Satan tested Him (Matthew 4).  Big tests came our way tonight at the National League of Poker Monthly Senior Championship.  But when we see 4-10 (which multiplies to 40), we tend to fold that....

:01 IN: We have Ax-4c.  The flop is 2c-K-8c.  Everyone checks.  The turn is Qc, giving us a flush.  A player bets 70 -- and even though our flush card is weak, we call.  The river is Qs.  The table checks -- and our A-4 flush is topped by a player with Ax-5c.  "Winner by a nose," we write.

:05 IN: After the first three hands of the night are won with club flushes, we have 8c-Kc.  The flop is 6-8-6, with one 6 a club.  We bet 60 with two pair, and the table folds.  We gain $210, and admit: "I had clubs."

:10 IN: We have K-5 in the Big Blind.  The flop is 6-J-K.  We bet 80, the table folds, and we gain $200.

:11 IN: The next hand brings us Q-Q in the Small Blind.  The flop is 9-6-Q (the first two clubs again).  We bet 150, and the table folds again.  We win $710, finishing a good round of blinds.

:20 IN: We have 6-A, and choose to fold to a raise.  We kick ourselves when the flop is 6-6-K.  But the turn and river are 9-9, and a player with a 9 wins with a full house which would have topped ours.

Then come a failed chase of a straight, along with K-10 which brought a pair of Kings on the flop only to lose to three 5's.  We reach the half-hour break tied for 254th place with 1,050 chips; 385 players remain.

:34 IN: We return from the break with K-Q.  The flop is J-10-Q.  With top pair and a big straight draw, we call a bet of 200.  The turn is 7h, putting three hearts on the table.  Our opponent bets 380, and we dare to call.  The river is 4 (not a heart).  The opponent bets 220, to put us all-in.  We fear we'll see A-K or two pair -- but it's Q-6!  Our kicker saves the day, and we jump to $2,500.

:46 IN: After seeing weak cards in the blinds, we have 8-8 on the button.  The flop is 10x-6s-5s.  We bet 200 after the table checks, and get callers.  The turn is a lovely 8s, and we bet 520 to put an opponent all-in.  That player calls with K-J, and Jc on the river isn't good enough.  We make a $2,000 win.

:50 IN: We have As-Js, and try to limp for 200. But a player to our left raises to 1,140.  We're quite wary of this, but after a moment thought choose to call.

ON THE FLOP: A-4-6

We check to the raiser, who follows up with a bet of 560.  But we have top pair and a nice kicker, so we're a bit more comfortable calling.

ON THE TURN: 2

We check again -- and now our opponent bets to put us all-in with about 1,120 left.  Something is telling us he has pocket Aces.  But after a moment, we decide that's unlikely.  We've rolled the dice before with success tonight, so we call -- and lo and behold, he has A-A.

The river card doesn't matter, because we're officially sunk.  We finish in 239th place, out of 1,106 players -- down 13 spots from last month's Senior Championship.

We don't play dice games in casinos, but this night reminded us you can roll them one time too many.  Or as Jesus said after those 40 days in the wilderness....

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" - Matthew 4:7

Heads-Up Week 4: Thou Shalt Not Tempt....

Bad beats happen in poker. Top players talked about their most painful losses today, during the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. Then we saw one, as Jason Mercier caught a 5 on the river to eliminate Phil Laak.

Mercier had pocket 5's, and only two outs. Laak decided to be playful, and put Mercier's cards on either side of the spot where the river card would come. Shame on him -- it was tic-tac-toe.

But shame on NBC's Craig Hummer for declaring Laak "tempted the poker gods." Why do we say that? Let's look at some simple statements....

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." - Deuteronomy 6:4

"I am the Lord your God.... You shall have no other gods before me." - Deuteronomy 5:6-7

"For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." - I Chronicles 16:26

We believe there are no "poker gods" -- only the one true God, presented in John 1 as a Father and a Son named Jesus Christ.

Yet Hummer was right in one sense. Jesus said during a moment of trial, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." (Matthew 4:7, KJV)

Laak might have been better off doing what Chris Moneymaker did as he was eliminated -- simply turn away from the table, and be pleasantly surprised if a blessing comes.

P.S. We could go after NBC colleague Ali Nejad as well, for comparing Laak's attitude to Zen and Oprah Winfrey -- but not this itme.

Remember as you play....

"Don't cause problems for someone with a weak conscience, just because you have the right to eat something.... Then what you know has destroyed someone Christ died for." -- I Corinthians 8:9, 11 (CEV)

Paul wrote this guidance about food offered to idols. But a sermon we heard on radio this week reminded us the principle applies to poker as well.

We're very careful in how we talk with fellow church members about poker. We realize some might consider it a sin simply to walk into a nightclub or poker room, where alcohol and tobacco (among other things) flow freely. Others might consider it "the spirit of gambling," even though the tournament is free to play.

We've said it here before: if you're easily tempted to excess with alcohol or gambling, playing poker outside a home or church probably isn't right for you. Online games are a comparatively safe alternative -- although bad language and attitudes can be problems there as well.

We have yet to invite anyone in our church congregations to join us on a poker night. If they're curious about where we play, we'll tell them. Otherwise, we don't want to offend by being imposing.

By extension, we hope you don't offend other poker players in a room with your habits. Don't force alcohol or tobacco on anyone who doesn't want it. That's showing courtesy. As Paul put it in another letter: "Let each esteem other better than themselves" (Philippians 2:3, KJV).

Temptation Island

We mentioned in our last post how poker is a game fraught with temptations. Take the player who bets big ahead of you, when you have a "gut shot" straight draw. Do you call that bet, in hopes the one missing card comes?

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap," warns I Timothy 6:9. This is the sad with many compulsive gamblers. They keep spending money, thinking the cards or numbers are bound to "come their way" sooner or later -- only to wind up destitute.

So what should you do about temptations at the table? You might not believe what we're going to recommend -- but you should pray in advance for wisdom. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves," Jesus said in Matthew 10:16 (KJV).

I Corinthians 10:13 adds: "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." There's a word for that in poker -- folding. :-)

We should note the atmosphere at many live poker tournaments can also be tempting. They're often held in bars, where alcohol and tobacco are everywhere. If those issues are problems for you, perhaps you'd be better off sticking to online games. As Jesus said when He faced a great temptation, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." (Matthew 4:7; see also Deuteronomy 6:16)