Eyes Upon You

Want to be a TV star? All you have to do is sit down in some casino poker rooms. Security cameras are placed above tables, to record every hand and ensure every player and dealer is ethical.

But in a recent post, we mentioned a watch that's even higher in the sky than that. The Biblical book of Ezekiel includes a vision indicating "living creatures" have wheels "full of eyes all around" (Ezekiel 1:16-18).

This admittedly sounds weird - like something from a horror movie. What could those eyes be looking for? Another Old Testament book hints at the answer:

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.... - II Chronicles 16:9

In the classic words of Bugs Bunny: Did you ever get the funny feeling you're being watched? Well, the Bible indicates you are. God is watching - and living cherubim are helping Him do it.

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. - Proverbs 15:3

God is doing this to build a case for a day of judgment, which will come after we die. It could be a case for you.... or against you.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it....And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.... each person was judged according to what he had done. - Revelation 20:11-13

What can you do to prepare for this judgment? The answer is back in that verse from II Chronicles. Be "fully committed" to God the Father and Jesus Christ.

So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. - I Peter 4:19

You might get mocked at a poker table for trying to do God's will. We faced that this past week, at a final table. But commit to doing good deeds for God, and He promises to notice. He's watching, keeping score - and if you last to the end, a nice reward is coming.

Poker Night 541: Steal a Pot, Steal a Taco

Did you take advantage of Taco Bell's giveaway Wednesday? It was called, "Steal a win, steal a taco" because Golden State won on the road during the pro basketball finals. We claimed our free taco(s), then drove to Hollywood Casino Indiana hoping to claim something bigger....

BLINDS: 400/800

IN THE POCKET: A-J offsuit

The first hour of play was mostly lower for us, although we turned pocket Jacks into three of a kind which eliminated a player. We reached the final table with 8,900 chips out of a starting 12,000.

Now we're down to 5,000 chips in the Small Blind, with nine players left. We have pretty good cards and no one has raised, but we play conservatively and simply call. We recall four players being in the hand.

ON THE FLOP: 10-4-Q (middle card not precise)

That's why we played cautiously. We miss the flop, although we have a big straight draw. We check, but the Big Blind bets 2,000. Other players bail out, leaving us with a big decision. After pondering a moment, we decide on a power play.

"All of it," we declare - raising to 4,200. As a small stack, we don't have much to lose. If the Big Blind calls, we have about 10 outs. If not, at least we made another final table.

Our opponent spends a good deal of time thinking about this. Did we read a bluff correctly? When we think he's about to fold, he calls.

"Do you have a pair?" we ask with a bit of concern.

"Yeah," he says, "but not much of one." He turns over 2-2! So yes, he bluffed - but we have two very live cards.

ON THE TURN: 4

No, that wasn't it. One chance left.

ON THE RIVER: K

"Yes!" we say and pump our arm in victory. But for a moment, the female dealer doesn't grasp it. We're sitting to her immediate left, and she's hard of hearing in her left ear!

Other players point out the straight we made. We stay alive, and return to more than 10,000 chips.

The final table was relatively tight, and it took a long time to whittle down the field. But we took a player out with K-J, and received a 9 in the Big Blind which turned into quads!

We held on until four players were left. But after more than three hours of play, rising blinds finally were too expensive. We pushed in the Big Blind with Q-2. A woman called with K-6, and won the race when two more Kings hit the board. We finish fourth out of 14 players - the third time in six tournaments there that we've finished fourth! Too bad only the top two earned money.

MINISTRY MOMENT: A man sitting to our left won a pot with an A-5 straight, known in poker as the "wheel."

"There's an old song about that," we told him. "Ezekiel saw the wheel.... in the middle of the air."

The man seemed intrigued for a moment, but then became distracted by other players and hands. But are you familiar with that song? It's a "spiritual" that we sang in our youth, and it has its basis in the Bible....

As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with his four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. - Ezekiel 1:15-16

What's going on here? The prophet Ezekiel is having "visions of God" (verse 1) - and he sees "what looked like four living creatures" (verse 5). Another section of his account helps explain....

The Lord said to the man clothed in linen, "Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city." And as I watched, he went in. - Ezekiel 10:2

So Ezekiel is watching "cherubim" in action - what our old hardbound dictionary calls "the second order of angels." It's quite different from the traditional pictures of cute angels. And one thing more about those wheels....

Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. - Ezekiel 1:18

Who needs "dash-cams" inside your car when you have eyeballs on wheels? And more to our point, what could all this possibly mean for us? Offer a comment if you'd like, and we'll get back to this section (and that song) in a future post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: Tonight we mark 11 years of playing live tournaments - and we stand at 198 final tables in 541 games (36.6%), with 40 cashes. Since moving to our new area, the final table count is six out of eight!

On the Diamonds

As poker hands go, a flush is pretty good. It's slightly better than a straight, because it's mathematically tougher to achieve. And it beats any pair, or even three of a kind.

In classic Texas Hold 'em, only one suit in a hand can be a flush. Other games open the door for more than one, and that's when suit rank might matter - with spades at the top, followed by hearts, diamonds and clubs.

But let's ask a silly-sounding question. If you were a flush, what suit would you want to wear? A spade might be more impressive at the table, but you won't find the word "spade" anywhere in the King James Bible. You won't find "club" there, either. But you'll see a reference to the other suits:

You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz and the diamond.... - Ezekiel 28:13 (KJV)

Some Bible translations replace "diamond" with "emerald" (which appears later on the King James list). But if diamond is correct, how nice it would sound to be covered by fancy jewelry. Someone was long ago.... but then:

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned.... - Ezekiel 28:15-16

God discovered this well-jeweled being was a sinner, so He cast it out of Eden. Here's the root cause of it:

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. - Ezekiel 28:17

Other Bible references indicate this "guardian cherub" (verse 16) was what we now call Satan, or the devil. Satan let beauty get to its head, became corrupted with sin, then was tossed away by God.

Does that mean diamonds and other jewelry are wrong? Some Christian groups think so, but they overlook another place in the Bible where diamonds come up:

And you shall make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work.... And you shall set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones.... the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. - Exodus 28:15-17 (KJV)

This breastplate was worn by ancient priests, when they did ministry service. God instructed the stones on the breastplate to be made that way. This indicates diamonds are OK, and not something to be avoided. They're as good on your body as they are in a poker room, as long as you let God position them as He wishes.


And here's the amazing thing: some people say we are to become diamonds. We'll get into that in an upcoming post.

Luck, or Something Like It II

We're considering whether your success (or lack of it) in a poker room is the result of "luck." Recalling this segment from a article our Pastor wrote for a national religious publication five years ago....

When blessings come upon an individual, they typically are linked to physical and/or spiritual obedience and good works. God plainly tells us that blessings are a result of our actions.

Clearly smart and careful play can be "actions" which lead to a big stack of chips. But let's face it - there are times when other players simply give their chips away. They go "on tilt," go all in pre-flop and walk right into your pocket Aces.

Our point is that gifts are blessings, too - and God gives even better gifts:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9

We mentioned in our last post God sometimes gives blessings to everyone in an area. Salvation is a gift God wants to provide. The question is whether you'll accept it - or think something's fishy about it, and fold.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23

Never dying? Now that's quite a gift! Yet the Bible also shows God doesn't really hand out that blessing to everyone right now....

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." - Acts  2:38

Here's another "gift" - but in this case, as the Pastor wrote, it's "a result of our actions." And in this case, folding can be a good thing. We need to....

....Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. - Ezekiel 18:30b

Turn to God, to live a life free of offenses and sins. That action can indeed lead to blessings from Him - and luck truly will have nothing to do with them. We'll have one more thought from this article in a future post.

Breaking Up the Band

What an amazing poker year it is for us. Not really in how we're playing, but what's happening to poker rooms where we've played. We've now found out another room has closed - a place we visited only once.

Prairie Band Casino in northeast Kansas has shut down its poker room, apparently to turn it into a bingo hall. When we were there last August, we finished second in a Sunday tournament. But apparently not many players showed up during the week. One man told us the "Bad Beat" jackpot there reached $250,000, but people still weren't interested.

One video we've seen online notes casinos really don't care about it, because they don't make much money from it. We'd guess that's especially true beyond tournaments. Cash games tend to have players shuffling chips (and money) between each other. The only time that changes is when a player is kind enough to tip a dealer.

Come to think of it, some poker players could learn a lesson from Prairie Band. If you're not making money and having success at it, you should minimize your losses and get out. That's true in card games, business.... and even bigger things:

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. - Isaiah 55:2

Some ministers would turn this into a commentary on eating whole wheat bread - but of course, the point is bigger than that....

Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. - Isaiah 55:3

You may be surprised to learn "souls" can die. The Bible says so more than once (Ezekiel 18:4, 20). But they can be resurrected to live again, under God's covenant plan:

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God.... They came to life and reigned with Chris a thousand years. - Revelation 20:4

The resurrected souls gave up their lives for Jesus - and Jesus is "bread" worth the cost of your money and time:

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.... If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." - John  6:35, 51

Listen to Jesus. Take Him into your life. And your life can last long beyond this one - long after the bread served in casino restaurants runs out, and the last poker room shuts down.

Up In Arms

Who could have imagined - when you're looking for "tells" in poker, you should not look at someone's face?

That's the claim of Stanford University visiting scholar Michael Slepian.  He recently said the best way to spot a good poker hand is to watch players' arms.  A smooth "push" of chips at the table indicates a good hand -- the smoother, the better.

But we see a problem with this reasoning.  Plenty of players don't simply push their chips.  They toss them in, or pound a big stack on the table like they're dropping a hammer on a nail.  And in some tournaments, simply saying "all in" is enough to constitute a push - so how do you read arms then?

There's only one real occasion when we think someone's arms reveal their intentions....

He took a little child and had him stand among them.  Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." - Mark 9:36-37

Jesus had open arms, when it came to children.  It's an example He repeated in Mark 10:16.  The common picture of Jesus's death (disputed by some) shows Him with arms extended on a cross -- as if He's reaching out to everyone.

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and outpoured wrath.  I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered - with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. - Ezekiel 20:33-34

God's arm is open -- not to push poker chips in, but to help pull you out of your problems and rule over your life.  No arms are more trustworthy.  Will you accept them?

The Master of Disaster

One of our recent posts mentioned what one poker player suggested was "an act of God" - when a burst of air in a bar flipped his cards face-up on the table, as he tossed them in to fold a hand.  It led us to ask a question.  Does God bring about disasters - either resulting from weather, or otherwise?

Christian groups have different schools of thought on this.  Let's use the recent Hurricane Sandy for an example.  It struck Atlantic City, New Jersey - a place with several casinos and plenty of gambling.  Was God sending a message, by stopping the games for days?  Some believers might quote....

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Disaster!  An unheard-of disaster is coming.... I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices.... Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes the blow. - Ezekiel 7:5-9

The phrase "wrath of God" is Biblical, occurring in some form in the book of Revelation seven times.  Why is it coming?

The wrath is God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.... - Romans 1:18

In reality, suppressing God's truth is only one of the reasons why God's wrath will be poured out.

But on the other hand, other believers turn to the words of Jesus when a disaster strikes:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish." - Luke 13:1-3

Consider the Lord's words with care.  He did not say the suffering people of Galileans were sinners, while everyone else was pure.  The truth is that we're all sinners (Romans 3:23) - and we all need to repent, turning to Jesus Christ as our hope of salvation and eternal life.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you - even Jesus. - Acts 3:19-20

After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, we heard a veteran minister describe New Orleans as a "very sinful city."  We pointed out to him many cities are sinful.  Jesus Christ has to return to clean up all of them, and create a righteous Kingdom of God.

The first two chapters of Job remind us Satan can bring mishaps and disaster, if God grants permission for the devil to do it.  So in the final analysis, we probably won't know for certain which side created any particular disaster until Jesus comes back.  That return will be the most magnificent "act of God," with incredible blessings for all who believe.

Good Light, Bad Light

Most local poker tournaments are played in bars, which can be pretty dark inside.  At The Red Barn this past week, the Tournament Director told someone how to turn on an overhead light.

"Let there be light!" the Director then said.  "God's first command...."

Hmmm.  We know this man is a believer in God.  But was he right about this?  Let's check the official record:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. - Genesis 1:3

This is the record of "creation week."  But deep Bible students realize there's a record of pre-creation as well - the time when the angel Lucifer rebelled against God.

How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! - Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)

A check of Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 shows no command from God toward Lucifer, so our Director's statement is correct.  But consider that name a moment.  The Contemporary English Version translates Lucifer by the meaning of the name: "the bright morning star."  Lucifer was bright.  But now as Satan, the devil is quite the opposite.

Giving thanks to the Father.... For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves.... - Colossians 1:12-13

Satan is called "the god of this world" in II Corinthians 4:4 - a world which the Bible calls "darkness," whether we'd like to believe it or not.

Lights are turned on in bars on poker nights so everyone can see the cards.  (Yet some players wear sunglasses - but that's another issue.)  And to see life more clearly, we need the light of God in us:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. - I Peter 2:9

As you play poker and live from day to day, whose light are you reflecting?  If you're involved in sinful activities, you're reflecting a bad light -- the light of Lucifer.  Wouldn't it be better to be a shining example of God's goodness, reflecting His light to others?

A Moment in Time

In a recent post, we mentioned a Biblical skeptic we met at a poker night. He wants to see "tangible evidence" of God's existence. And he claimed people "existed" somehow before they were born.

Let's take the second statement first. If you believe in an "immortal soul," this man would be tough to answer. Some Christians tend to talk about a soul living forever into the future -- but what about the past?

Our search of the Bible has concluded both sides are wrong in their thinking, and we have NOT always "existed." Consider what happened at creation:

And The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul. -- Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

Note man became one. He wasn't always one. God may have a plan to create humans with souls in eternity past -- but there's no evidence from the Bible He actually had the souls. God must have created them.

Our skeptic said, "When you die, you won't know anything after that." In one sense, the Bible backs up that skeptic's claim....

For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. -- Ecclesiastes 9:5

This statement is true because of sin. Souls that sin die (Ezekiel 18:4), and all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23).

Yet where did King Solomon (who wrote Ecclesiastes) get the idea of "no further reward?" Doesn't the Bible talk about a reward for believers when Jesus comes back? Yes -- in fact Jesus does:

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." -- Revelation 22:12

Some Bible commentaries explain Solomon's statement by saying the dead have no further reward in this human life. It actually comes later.

And that "later" brings us back to the skeptic's first comment. Many religious writers have offered various proofs of God's existence. The most compelling one to us involves radioactivity. If the Earth has decaying uranium that's billions of years old, how could life on Earth ever develop long ago?

But as we said to the man originally, matters involving God and eternal life ultimately are matters of faith. Some poker players have faith they'll hit a straight or flush draw after the flop -- except they're sometimes disappointed. Christians need faith in God's plan all the way to the river, because....

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

We've heard some ministers put it this way: if you believe in God and nothing happens after you die, there's no penalty. If you refuse to believe and something does happen after you die.... well, we shudder to think what you might face. Which one would you consider the safer bet?

Sunday Rewind: Hand (and Soul) History

A prior post included a poker player's unusual explanation of souls. He claimed his soul was own, passed down to him from his parents.

If we were talking about DNA and genetics, that might make sense -- but souls? Can you simply pass one on from parent to child, the way some people "pass the deal" to another player moments after sitting down at the table?

Perhaps we should start by defining what a soul is. Using the Bible as our defining point, it can mean a living being. Or it can mean the consciousness which gives a being life.

Who was first to have a soul? Adam? No - the Creator of Adam. Isaiah 1:10-14 indicate God has a soul. While His is immortal, ours is not.

"The soul who sins is the one who will die," says Ezekiel 18:4. Uh-oh -- Romans 3:23 indicates we've all sinned. So are all souls doomed? Not at all. Revelation 20:4 shows the souls of Jesus's followers will come back to life, and reign with the Lord 1,000 years!

This might be a new subject to some of you -- and it's certainly a complex one. We wrote a Bible study article about souls several months ago. We pray it will help you make sense of where souls start, and where they can potentially finish.

Poker Night #100! The Rulers Dethroned

Tonight was a big night for us at Lil Kim's Cove, although we never told anyone around us about it. It was our 100th night of live poker! But other than a couple of early pots, we didn't have much to celebrate -- as we finished 13th overall.

Pocket Aces and some aggressive betting won us one of those pots, and prompted a question from another man at the table about whether we had "Aces and Kings." We never answered him, hoping to set up another hand....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: Ks-Kc

We like to call them "Krispy Kremes" -- but we don't simply call before the flop. We raise to 300, and several other players join in.

ON THE FLOP: J-10-3

One player is ahead of us, and he checks. We bet 400, and a few other players call.

ON THE TURN: 3

We still possess the "over-pair," and now have two pair. But early this morning in the shower (yes, we thought about poker in the shower), we decided two pair is the most dangerous hand in poker to possess. It's too easy for opponents to disguise three of a kind. So when our bet of 400 is raised to 1,500, we smell trouble.

"I'm asking for it...." we admit out loud - but we call.

ON THE RIVER: 10

The first player in line goes all-in -- and now we really smell trouble. Two pair are showing, and it's too easy for one of our opponents to have a full house.

"I'm going to assume you've got it, and I'll fold," we say. Another player then calls the all-in bet -- and sure enough. They both have 10's, and split a big pot.

Would a bigger bet on the flop have chased people away? The way this table played, we don't think so -- as people made big bets often on relatively marginal hands.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We admittedly fumbled a chance at one tonight, when a man to our right was on a flush draw. "Can I have a heart?" he asked during the hand - but we didn't speak up.

God wants us to have new hearts -- but it's recommended in a section of the Bible you might not expect. It surprised us, in fact. "Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit," says Ezekiel 18:31. Read the entire chapter to learn why God (through Ezekiel) urged Israel to do that.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 41 final tables in 100 nights (41%) - 9 cashes.

Poker Night #94: Ezekiel Saw the Wheel

That title was one of the first "spiritual" songs our junior high school chorus sang years ago. It's based on a vision a prophet saw in Ezekiel 1:15. "As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces."

Read the rest of the chapter to figure out what the vision means. (And if you need help, please let us know.) But we bring this up because in poker, a "wheel" refers to the lowest straight: A-2-3-4-5. And tonight at Lil Kim's Cove, we saw a wheel....

BLINDS: 50/100

IN THE POCKET: A-3 offsuit

Standard calling takes place, and we join several at the table in this hand. Our chip count is about 7,500.

ON THE FLOP: 2-4-5

Wheel, wheel! A woman ahead of us seems confident for some reason, and bets 500. We're really confident, and raise to 1,500. One other player dares to call, and the woman reluctantly does as well.

ON THE TURN: 5

The woman playing first tries to frighten us again, betting 2,000. There's no flush threat on the board.

"That's not enough," we say -- and raise to 4,000. The man to our left doesn't have nearly that much, but he goes all-in. After other people sort out what his total potential winnings would be, the woman who started this pounds her remaining stack of 1,850 chips onto the table. She's all-in as well.

"I flopped a straight," we say matter-of-factly. The woman defeatedly slams down J-J. But she could make a full house if....

ON THE RIVER: Q.

Thankfully, she didn't -- and the man to our left couldn't match us, either. We take out two players, and gain several thousand chips.

Our chip count zoomed to more than 20,000 at one point -- but after a strong early start, the cards didn't come and we lost some marginal hands. We survived to the final table, carrying only 4,500 chips with blinds in the 4,000 range. That meant a push-or-else moment, and our A-K push fell short to a man with two pair.

Yet by finishing ninth overall, we made the final table for the third time in the last four live games. And we're guaranteed to be no worse than 40 percent on final tables, when we hit the 100-night mark in a few weeks. We give God the glory for helping us play well -- although we're clearly not perfect yet.

MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed our "Jesus as your Savior" coin to a man next to us tonight, and he agreed with the message. Unlike some players, he didn't curse very much either.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 40 final tables in 94 nights (42.6%) - 9 cashes.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $13,226 - unchanged (no play there).

NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player sit-n-goes - 27-33-9-4-8. Full tournaments - 18 final tables in 130 games (13.8%), 2 cashes.

We sadly had to file a report with NBCSports.com today, after a "Trojan attack" interrupted our game for the second time in three days. Both attacks occurred at 3:57 p.m. ET. They froze our computer, then proceeded to shut it down and restart it with some kind of "Spyware 2010" program added. When he hurredly called the online poker room back up 10-15 minutes later, we could not return to our table. (A man at Lil Kim's Cove told us the malware seems to have that goal.)