Three Down, One to Go

We were planning a Sunday trip to our most familiar local poker room. We hoped to play for the first time in several weeks.  But after what we learned during the Friday evening news, we didn't bother.

Arrowhead Poker has joined the list of closed rooms in our city. We documented here in recent weeks what it hoped to do: become a private club, hoping to get around the city police crackdown because no liquor was served.

But in a Friday TV interview (full disclosure statement: a TV station where we work), the manager of Arrowhead said he decided to shut down on the advice of his attorney - before police showed up and, well, forced his hand. The Arrowhead website already was unplugged before the interview appeared.

Gary Dorrell struck us as a nice guy. We could talk with him easily about faith topics, and his personality was easy-going. But as he put it: "I've never been arrested in my life. I don't need to find out what it's like now."

Given what's happened in recent weeks, we don't blame him. And it's a good lesson for all of us, extending beyond poker....

If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable - Proverbs 28:9

This statement comes at the end of a section about "law". It most likely refers to the law of God (as in the Ten Commandments) - but if you're breaking laws of the city or state that do not go against the law of God, why should God cut you any slack?

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. - Luke 16:10

In other words: yes, we should "sweat the small stuff" - when it comes to matters of law, as well as other things. They're hints to God about how you'll handle larger responsibilities.

So we'll miss Arrowhead Poker - the place where we started playing buy-in tournaments on a regular basis. We even won a few, from our first trip in May 2013 to our last trip a few weeks ago.  This leaves only one active poker room in our area - and the one inside Kansas Star Casino is very legal, since it's state-run.