Gut's Shot

We like to say poker hands sometimes teach life lessons.  Other poker players apparently agree - because one-time WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem is offering "eight poker tips" for "all walks of life."

His third point makes us squirm a little bit, because Hachem advises: "Trust your gut."

Sometimes the numbers lead in one direction but your gut is telling you something else. Personally, I find that if I listen to my gut – whether it’s in business, poker or life — I’m usually on the money.

Yet later at point seven, Hachem warns: "Emotions are the enemy"....

In poker, it’s important to stick with your principles and not let your emotions take over.

We're left to wonder what the difference is between the gut and the emotions.  In any case, our Bible advises this....

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it? - Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)

The Bible doesn't have the word "gut" in it.  But we think the heart is about on that level -- and following it can lead you into bad situations.

The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. - Ecclesiastes 9:3b

These are tough words.  But the Bible also says there's hope for our hearts, if we ask for it:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. - Psalm 51:10

A pure heart is one guided by God's Holy Spirit.  It's a voice you can hear (Psalm 95:7) - but it starts by "listening" to God by receiving guidance from His word, the Bible.  Remember it, and heed it.  Then you'll be following another of Joe Hachem's points for success - to "know your game plan."