Poker Night 388: To Your Boats

It was a dark and rainy night.  But that doesn't stop a die-hard poker player.  More than 30 of them joined us at The Red Barn -- and at our long counter-turned-table, the emphasis was on keeping things dry.  Coasters were put under our drinks, so the cards wouldn't get wet.  And the wet thinking didn't stop there....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: 7-7

We split an early pot, and now sit with about 7,900 chips.  Sitting in the Small Blind, no one has raised.  We see no reason to get overzealous at this point, so we check.  So does the Big Blind.

ON THE FLOP: 7-K-J

Now we can fire things up, as we've made three of a kind.  So we lead off by betting 500.  Three other players don't consider that too expensive, as they call.

ON THE TURN: 10

Another higher card -- and now the table shows two hearts and two diamonds.  We again try to run off "flush chasers," by raising the bet to 800.  Two other players call, including the dealer.

ON THE RIVER: J

We're rewarded with a "boat," as they say in poker slang.  We want to make a bigger bet, but not too big to run people off.  A lack of 100 chips makes our decision a bit awkward, but we finally settle on 1,100.  It's too much for an older woman across from us, as she folds.  But the dealer calls.

"Do you have a full house?" we ask.

"No, I have Kings," the dealer says.

"I do," we say as we show.  The dealer curses, and accepts his loss.

Another "boat" came ashore for us minutes later, when 3-3 brought a 3 on the flop.  Those wins eventually inflated our chip stack to the 30,000 range.  But the success ran out after that, as we lost an expensive hand with A-Q when we missed the flop and a big bet forced us to fold.

At the two-hour mark we felt forced to go all-in with our last 5,000 chips and A-J.  But the board didn't pair again, and a man with a pair of 5's wound up topping us.  We stepped out into the rain with a disappointing 17th-place finish.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Two Harley-Davidson motorcycle fans were at our starter table.  One of them actually owns one - so we picked the perfect night to bring our "Jesus as your Savior" coin, with the logo of a Christian motorcycle club on the back.

"Do you believe in Jesus?" we asked the across the counter from us.  "Is He your Savior?"

"Please don't bring up that subject," the man said firmly.  "This is not the place to discuss that."

We said OK, and didn't bring up faith matters again.  But at least he read the message on the coin.  What might have made him so uncomfortable?  We can only guess.  But he's not the first to become discomforted by Christ:

But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. - I Corinthians 1:23-24

Jesus is a "stumbling block" to Jews because most of them think the Messiah has not yet come.  Yet Jesus fulfilled many prophecies of the Old Testament.  Belief in the Lord is considered foolish to other people -- yet the only hope we have for life beyond this one depends on believing in Him.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. - Acts 4:12

So what's making you uncomfortable, when it comes to belief in Christ?  Leave a comment anonymously if you wish, and we can address your concerns in upcoming posts.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 134 final tables in 388 nights (34.5%) - 20 cashes.

Odds Are....

We heard a thought-provoking radio commentary recently which can relate to poker, and many bigger things.  It started with a look at probability.

Flip a typical coin, call heads or tails, and you have a 50-50 chance of making the correct call.  If you flip the coin twice, the odds of it landing "heads" twice are one in four.  Flip it three times, and the odds of three "heads" are one in eight.  And on it goes.

If you play a thinking person's style of poker, you may compute your "outs" as you go.  An open-ended straight draw (let's say 3-4-5-6) gives you eight outs -- as four 2's or four 7's could come up on the turn or river, to complete the straight.  Four cards of the same suit provide nine outs for making a flush, as each suit has 13 cards (13 - 4 = 9).  That's a 9-in-46 chance for a flush on the river, or 19.6%.

So what's our point, you ask?  We'll answer with our own questions: have the odds for making a straight or flush changed over the last 20 years, since the online poker boom began?  Have they changed since the World Series of Poker began in 1970?  Have they changed at all from the days of "riverboat gambling" and the Wild West?

Unless there's cheating, the obvious answer is no.  Decks of standard playing cards still come in 52's, with four suits with an order of Ace-through-2.  The chances of completing big hands have not changed.  That's why they're called laws of probability -- they're constant, like the law of gravity.

If believers in evolution are right, shouldn't those laws have changed at some point?  The only way to improve your chances for a flush is to change the rules of the game.  But the creators of poker (we really don't think Jesus was among them) set "laws" in place, which apparently have been constant for more than 100 years.  God's Law works the same way, too:

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I gave you. - Deuteronomy 4:2

Moses was given a set of laws by God. including the Ten Commandments mentioned in chapter 5.  He said again for emphasis in his farewell address....

See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. - Deuteronomy 12:32

The U.S. Constitution can be amended; it's happened 27 times.  A world governing board over poker could change the rules of the game as well.  But we don't know of one, and "house rules" at each individual poker room deal more with details such as how you bet or claim a pot.  Yet despite what even some ministers claim, God's Law has not changed.

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. - Matthew 5:18

Those words came from the mouth of Jesus.  He was the Son of God -- but yes, He was a real "game-changer."  We'll explain what He changed in a future post.

Poker Night 387: Quads the Hard Way

When a big bettor comes to your table, he or she naturally invites someone to challenge them.  The dilemma comes in knowing when to make the challenge.  We thought we'd found the right moment tonight at Lil Kim's Cove.  We thought....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: 7-10 offsuit

We won the first hand of the night, then got caught bluffing and gave back almost all our gains.  Now we're in the Big Blind with about 7,000 chips.  That big bettor is two seats to our left at a table of six.  He's gone all-in twice in the last three hands, and made huge gains.  But he simply calls here, and we're happy to call when no one raises.

ON THE FLOP: 8-9-10

This counts up to us as "top pair," not to mention a two-way straight draw.  The Small Blind checks, and we try to show some strength by betting 400.  Mr. Big Bet calls, as do two others.

ON THE TURN: 6

Even better!  We've made our straight, so we'll turn up the heat.  Now we bet 1,400.

"I'm all-in," Mr. Big Bet says.  He counts out about 8,700 chips.  This doesn't scare us in the least.  Unless he has 7-J or Q-J for a higher straight, we're ahead -- and we really doubt he does.

"I'll call, man," a man across the table from us says.  The man to his left does the same thing!  Now this is a bit concerning.  It's a moment right out of an online tournament -- with three players all in early in the evening.

ON THE RIVER: 5

A card which really doesn't matter.

"I've got the straight," we're quick to say.  We show our 7.  Mr. Big Bet then turns over his cards -- and he has a 7.  The next man in line also has a 7.  And so does the fourth!

"No one had a Jack," the fourth man says.  Thankfully.  Our great minds thought alike, and the pot is split four ways.

The problem was that we couldn't even split a pot after that.  Potentially good hands lost to better ones, until we were down to 500 chips in the second hour....

MINISTRY MOMENT: We were forced to go all-in with that 500 for the Big Blind.  But the blinds were at 1,000/2,000, and the Tournament Director dipped into his huge stack to make up the difference for us.

"It's better to give than to receive," we told him with thanks.

"I don't believe that, man," a player to our left said half-jokingly.

"I read in a book," we told several players, "it's better to give than to receive."  Go down two posts from this one, and you'll see which book we mean -- the book of Acts.

"It depends who you're giving it to," the man to our left then explained.  Do you agree with that view?

The U.S. has more than one million different charitable organizations.  We've don't know of anyone who has given one dollar to each of them.  (If we tried to do that, we'd go broke -- and then we'd  need those charities to help us.)  So indeed, giving people make choices.  But consider these words of Jesus:

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Do to others as you would have them do to you. - Luke 6:30-31

Talk about a tough standard!  Give to everyone?!? Even to groups and people who do things exactly the opposite of what you believe?

Some Bible commentaries try to put boundaries on this, by claiming we should only give to those who are "proper" and are asking for "necessities."  One author puts it this way, agreeing to some degree with our earlier post: "Giving a person everything they ask for isn't necessarily love."  And "love" is an important word here....

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. - Luke 6:35

How far you show this love and take this principle expressed by Jesus is up to you.  (Your comments about it are welcome.)  We personally see a need to pray long and hard for God's guidance about it -- especially since we're in a tough financial situation at the moment.

Oh, we almost forgot: we had 5-8 in the Big Blind.  The board didn't pair for us.  We were eliminated in 12th place.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 134 final tables in 387 nights (34.6%) - 20 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 282 point wins in 1,357 games (20.8%), 92 final tables, 12 cashes, 10 wins.  No-River Hold 'em - 24 final tables in 94 games, (25.5%), 19 final tables, 1 cash win.

We came very close to winning money in a Sunday afternoon game - finishing 11th out of 1,086 players.  Only the top seven won money, and no points were awarded.  The next day we came close again, finishing 25th out of 930 players.

But with NLOP and related Zen Entertainment poker sites now in bankruptcy court, we're admittedly looking for a new online base.  What do you recommend, in terms of a "free poker" site that awards money to winners?

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $85,720, down $250.  Our trips there went down, of course, after a U.S. government crackdown barred us from playing even in freeroll tournaments for money.

Payday Someday?

National League of Poker has a "Wild Wednesday" tournament every Wednesday night.  We won $35 there last Wednesday night.

Well, at least we thought we did.

Our InBox had a notice late today that the company behind NLOP filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks ago.  The only article we can find online on this matter warns people who won money recently "are unlikely to be paid unless an investment knight in shining armor can be found."

But there's potential good news -- a notice we received today which was filed with Bankruptcy Court says, "The debtors intend to pay your claim in full."  A hearing on this plan is scheduled for March 20.

That's a potentially long wait for a little money.  And we need that money right now, because of our personal economic situation.  Please join us in praying all winners get the money they should have coming.

Give and Keep

No, we're not playing that longtime game from The Price is Right today.  We're going back to a post from last week, where we asked you to think about what it means to be "your brother's keeper."

Big-time poker establishments used to be "smoke-filled rooms."  But during the last decade, that changed in Las Vegas.  Now the World Series of Poker is smoke-free -- but when local bars host poker nights, smoke can rise almost as quickly as the beer levels go down.

So we asked about a poker player who asked another player if he could "borrow" a cigarette.  What would we have done?  We'll give this a two-part answer:

1. If we smoked and had cigarettes to spare, we'd probably hand one over.  After all....

....Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." - Acts 20:35b

It's interesting to note you won't find this quote from Jesus in the four gospels.  But it was uttered by Paul, who became an apostle after Christ's resurrection.  Perhaps other disciples passed along the statement, after Paul (then called Saul) became converted (Acts 9:19).

2. But we don't smoke, and never have.  We don't even hand money over to beggars, if they tell us they're going to use the money to buy tobacco.  Another part of the Bible comes into play here:

So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God.... - I Corinthians 10:32

The focus is on considering "the good of others" above your own interests (verse 24).  That's what being "your brother's keeper" is all about.  And science has proven "good" lungs are free of smoke from tobacco.

Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. - Romans 15:2

Giving is good, if you have something good to give -- for instance, tipping the dealer if you make a big winning hand.  But if someone asks for something that's not good, that's different.  Keep what's best for other people in mind -- especially if it keeps them out of danger.

Poker Night 386: Counsel Meeting

When poker players get together, what are they most likely to talk about?  At our first table at The Red Barn tonight, they talked about the most logical thing -- poker hands.  But should you believe everything they say?  And more importantly, should you do what they do?

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: K-K

We have yet to win a hand, and start this one in the Big Blind with about 6,150 chips.  People around us are analyzing the prior hand, where a woman to our left limped in with pocket Aces and saw them get cracked by a full house on the river.

"You should have raised -- something like 2,500," the man who's dealing tells her.  "No one would have called."

The Small Blind at our immediate right corrects him. "I would have called."

"So you would have one caller," the dealer says.  "But that's a lot better than four callers."

At about this point, we look at our cards.  No one has raised.  These aren't Aces, of course.  But we decide a big raise like the dealer's describing would be.... well, too obvious.  So we try something different.

"Raise - 300 more," we say.  Four players call.

ON THE FLOP: Q-A-5

Ugh.  That Ace was the last thing we wanted to see.  The Small Blind checks.  We make a continuation bet of 500.  The dealer and Small Blind call; everyone else folds.

ON THE TURN: 10

Now we want to see if anyone's ready to bet their Ace.  We check.  So do the other players.

ON THE RIVER: Q

This gives us two pair -- but still not a lot of comfort.  After the Small Blind checks, we bet 700.  The dealer has a big stack of chips and is ready to use it.  He raises 3,000.

"I fold," the Small Blind says.  That leaves us with a big decision -- and a small confession.

"After listening to this discussion, I should have done what you said.  I fold."

We conclude the dealer had an Ace, for a higher pair.  Instead, he stuns us -- and turns over K-6!  He made a big bluff to steal the pot.  Then we show our pair, which would have prevailed.

"You folded pocket Kings?!" the Small Blind asks.

"Too many hands beat me," we explain.  "An Ace beats me.  Another Queen beats me."

The winner then offers another moment of instant analysis.  "Your best guess was to assume I had a Queen, because I didn't bet when the Ace came out."

"Unless you were slow-playing Aces, after all that talk."

The dealer adds a straight also was possible, based on the board.  He doesn't fault us for folding.  We're left to kick ourselves.

That was our best shot at a pot all night, until we went all-in early in the second hour.  We had 8-8 in the Big Blind, and a third 8 came on the flop.  Trouble is, that 8 was a heart -- and the river brought a fourth heart.  A man across from us had the King of hearts for a flush.  Our final table run ends at three, as we were eliminated in 15th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Another topic at the table tonight was the music on The Red Barn's jukebox.  One song which sparked discussion was Pearl Jam's performance of Last Kiss.

"That was a hit 50 years ago," someone said.

"And who recorded it first?" we asked in a sudden round of trivia.  "J. Frank Wilson and the Playboys."

"It was J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers," a man across from us recalled.  A check of Wikipedia confirms he's correct; we forgot the Playboys was Gary Lewis's 1960s group.

But our main point about Last Kiss involved the song's refrain.  "It says 'She's gone to heaven,' and the Bible doesn't say you go to heaven when you die."

One man across the table wished people did go to heaven.  Yet Jesus said....

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven -- the Son of Man. - John 3:13

We realize that goes against what a lot of Christian ministers say.  But they're the words of Jesus, who should know what He was talking about.
 
Yet as we noted in a recent post, a resurrection day for the dead is coming.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead shall be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. - I Corinthians 15:51-53

The Bible says this life is not all there is.  Are you making plans for another one -- one where you can live forever with Christ?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 134 final tables in 386 nights (34.7%) -- 20 cashes.

Whose Side Are You On?

It's the biggest day of the year for U.S. football fans - the day of the "so-called Super Bowl" (as our Pastor called it during a sermon this weekend).

You may be rooting for one particular team.  But a new survey raises a provocative question: does God root for a team?  The survey found 27 percent of U.S. residents believing so -- to the point that they think God plays a role in determining which side wins.

This question can be extended to the poker table.  Does God care who wins your weekly tournament?  The World Series of Poker Main Event?  Even a televised contest, where a winner's profession of faith might be heard by large numbers of people?

We could turn to Bible verses on both sides of this issue.  Some indicate a good "work ethic" and training (which you'd think God would bless) doesn't always pay off in victory:

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. - Ecclesiastes 9:11

"Bad timing," one online player wrote when we escaped an all-in moment against him the other day.  We've had moments of good timing, too -- such as A-A being dealt to us at a decisive Big Blind.  But we're honest enough to admit that doesn't always happen.

Here's another verse we've heard ministers quote often, which relates to this topic:

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.... - Acts 10:34 (KJV)

So He doesn't care who wins the football game or poker tournament -- right?

Well, hold on.  The problem with that thinking is that many ministers stop quoting the Scripture there.  Keep reading....

But in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him. - Acts 10:35 (KJV)

Do you understand what Peter's saying?  If you fear God and live a righteous life, God will accept you -- no matter what your background, skin color or national origin.  And the Bible shows that "fear" has a payoff:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. - Hebrews 11:6

Faithfully seeking God will be rewarded -- and that can take many forms.  In this life, it could be an unlikely victory in a poker room.  But the ultimate reward from God is far more important....

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. - Matthew 16:27

We've leave it to God to reveal someday if He intervened and took sides in a Super Bowl or a WSOP tournament.  What matters more is that we're on God's side - to receive blessings from Him, both now and in eternity.