The Chance card

We ask in a post below if poker is a game of skill or luck. We've concluded it's really a mix of both. Luck in the cards that you receive, then show up on the table -- skill in how you handle them.

Our lives can be like that, too. The word "luck" doesn't appear anywhere in the King James Bible, but a similar word shows up a few time -- "chance." For instance:

"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." -- Ecc. 9:11, NIV

The Contemporary English Version puts it: "We each have our share of bad luck."

Play poker long enough, and you'll probably be able to build a folder filled with stories when chance and luck didn't go your way. We've felt that in the last two live tournaments we've attended. But we've also learned that good cards sometimes can come when you need them most.

We think success comes in mastering the skill part of poker -- knowing how and when to bet, and when to call or fold. That means, well, careful thinking.

But remember these words of Paul in I Corinthians 8:2. "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know." The prior verse warns, "Knowledge puffs up...." -- as in making you a proud, arrogant know-it-all. Don't think too highly of yourself, or the chance card that beats you will sting that much harder.