That's what we encountered over the weekend when a family road trip led us to stop at the Hollywood Casino. It's not located in Hollywood, but next to a Kansas City racetrack -- and it has a Hollywood movie "theme" to it, somewhat like a theme amusement park.
We didn't want to risk all our cash at a table game, so we tried using our ATM card. And tried. And tried. All the machines turned us down, and apparently turned down other players as well (although not all).
We could have taken it as a sign from God, watched some Saturday night college basketball on a big screen and gone on our way. But then we saw it -- a "Texas Hold 'em Heads Up" electronic machine, somewhat like a slot machine. You play poker one-on-one against the machine's computer.
We inserted $20 into the slot to find out -- and quickly won a few hands. We reached $49, then dropped to around $33. Then came this hand:
BLINDS: $2/$4 (it's set up technically as a limit game)
IN THE POCKET: Q-8 offsuit
The machine tends to raise pre-flop more often that not. We play along, and call with $4 invested.
ON THE FLOP: A-Q-Q
Ooo - this looks like fun! We didn't write down every detail -- but as we recall, we checked here. The machine bet, and we called.
ON THE TURN: 4
No harm done. Now as best we remember, we bet the standard $4. The machine was "thinking" for a moment -- then raised to $8. We called, of course.
ON THE RIVER: 8
Our house is full, and we think our wallet will be as well. We check here, to lure a bet. It does. We raise to $8. (The machine is smart enough to check-raise from time to time as well.) It calls.
The computer has.... A-10! Our boat beats its two pair, and we claim a massive pot. Our $20 investment is now at a high for the night of $69.
And at that point, we press the white "cash out" button. We tripled our investment in less than 15 minutes. How easy could that be?
Of course, we had to find out how easy. So on the way out of town this morning, we stopped by the casino again (a casino with lots of open space at 8:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning) and went to that very same machine. This time the tables turned on our $20 bill. We won one all-in hand to get above par, and reached a high of $33 -- but the computer made a couple of big hands to top us.
We cashed out in less than 10 minutes for a $2 consolation prize, and drove home realizing we still had a $31 gain for the weekend. That's still a profit of better than 150 percent.
But even as we drove to our weekend lodging Saturday night, we realized something was missing from our poker experience. That something was people -- and these days, that's a main reason why we play poker at all.
A poker ministry (and for that matter, most ministries) requires interaction with people. You can't ask a machine if Jesus is its Savior. In fact, you couldn't even type a text message to this machine at all. Yet Jesus said....
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. - Matthew 28:19-20
You can program a machine to play poker. But can you really program it to obey the words of God? You might fix it to shut down for the Sabbath, or not "lie" (as in bluff") during a hand. But machines can't do this....
Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. - Deuteronomy 5:16
If you want a quick poker experience, and perhaps some fast cash for other tables, the Heads-Up machine is worth a try. But table games are far better for sharing things with other people -- especially the deep things of God.
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