Dependence Day

Happy Fourth of July to you. And do you know what they call the Fourth of July in Australia?

The answer should be obvious.... the "fourth of July." It's that day, everywhere on Earth!

But in the U.S., of course, the day is different and special. It's Independence Day, marking the declaration away from British rule in 1776.

As we suggested in a recent post, few things show personal independence as much as a poker game. As far as we know, only the World Series of Poker has come up with a "tag-team" tournament format. The rest of the time, you succeed or fail on your own.

But have you ever asked if it's right or wrong to be "independent"? Can anyone really be - in this life or beyond? A well-known book mentions the word only in one place....

In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. - I Corinthians 11:11-12 (NIV)

We can understand these words on many levels. God created the first woman from the side of a man (Genesis 2:20-23). Both a man and a woman (traditionally) are required to develop a family.

But note the last part - that "everything comes from God." Despite what evolutionists might claim, you wouldn't be here without Him creating humans a long time ago:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27

Yet God created humans with brains and "free will." To that extent, we're independent - free to play poker, free to fold or raise pocket Jacks, and so forth. But God expects us to ultimately admit our lives depend on Him:

For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die in the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. - Romans 14:7-8

This idea goes quite against the flow of this holiday, and even the "American spirit" itself. But will you be humble enough to admit to God you need Him - not only now, but in order to live eternally in His Kingdom?

A Different Sort of FOLD

In this age of text message shorthand, you may have heard of FOMO - the "fear of missing out." We'd like to create a new one for poker. It's FOLD - "fear of losing dollars."

We're inspired by an online column by poker millionaire Jonathan Little. He explained the proper mindset poker players should have. In part....

Learning to think in terms of equity (instead of dollars) is a great way to conquer the fear of losing money.... You must accept that you will win and lose pots when you play poker.

In some cases, the FOLD is logical. If you have 7-2 offsuit, that's not statistically likely to turn into a winning hand. But when you have something like J-J or 10-10, the walk becomes more unbalanced. A big bet by other players (whether they have something or not) could make you wary and lead to FOLD.

In short, poker is a game with no guarantees. If you develop a serious case of FOLD, you're not likely to do well. We need a different mindset - one that we think is downright godly:

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought, and never fails to bear fruit. - Jeremiah 17:7-8

Trust completely in your own skills, and you set yourself up for failure. It's far better to put your trust in a God whose plan never fails.

Yes, "heat" will come - perhaps from aggressive bettors who want to test your courage. But if you accept the fact that drought sometimes will happen and stay close to God in those times, fruitful times will follow.

Some Christians are marking an example of this today. They consider it "Palm Sunday," when Jesus entered Jerusalem five days before the "Passover" festival week (John 12:1, 12). He arrived knowing He would be arrested, bloodied and killed five days later. Yet consider how Jesus faced it....

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." - Matthew 26:39

Jesus could have FOLD-ed - with the "D" here standing for His divinity. Yet He did not. In a restless moment of tense anticipation, He accepted God's will. Many of His disciples reacted differently - and Jesus was not surprised by that.

"You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'".... Then everyone deserted him and fled. - Mark 14:27, 50

Jesus put His life all in - putting His confidence in a Father who could resurrect Him. Days later, it happened. His disciples didn't understand until after it happened. Whose example is better for you to follow, when things in life become uncertain? The FOLD way - or the faith way?

The Choice Is Yours

"Can I see that?" a man to our left asked during our last live tournament. We happily showed him our card protector - a "Lord's Supper" depiction given to us years ago by a man at a poker night in Alabama.

The man then pulled out a gold-looking coin of his own. He wasn't using it for a protector, but apparently carried it around in case he needed one. "They say it's gold, but I think it's bronze," we recall him saying. (We don't think ours is gold at all.)

But then the man pondered about what we were showing him. "Are you a Mennonite?" he asked. We're not sure what led him to think that. No, we're not - although we've met in their church buildings for worship several times.

We explained we attend a Sabbath-keeping group called the United Church of God. Sabbath (Saturday) services allow us to play poker on Sunday afternoons. But a comment by our Pastor this weekend reminded us of this conversation. He said we have no choice in what way of life we live. Is that really true?

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.... - Deuteronomy 30:19

Moses actually did set a choice before Israel in his farewell address: life or death. The late singer George Michael and his group Wham wore "CHOOSE LIFE" T-shirts in their first hit song. Whether they realized it or not, they promoted God's choice for humans. But that's not the only choice we have....

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable for you, then choose for yourselves this day who, you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. - Joshua 24:15

This world offers all kinds of "gods" to follow. In the U.S., you can also choose from many church denominations (even different Sabbath-keeping groups). Joshua made his choice to "serve the Lord." What does that mean?

If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. - John 7:17

Now we have the words of Jesus Christ - the One who claimed to be the Son of the true God (John 8:54). He invites you to choose to "do God's will." Finding that will requires some study. In fact, it can take a lifetime. But examining the Bible to find it truly is worth the time and effort.


Poker players have many choices these days - playing in person or online, in a tournament or a cash game, then raising pocket Kings pre-flop or trapping with a call. When it comes to the bigger choices of life, may you make the correct ones. The denomination we attend is ready to help.

Poker Night 189: Short Trips

"Trip" is poker slang for three of a kind. Tonight at The Red Barn, trips appeared on the board several times at our opening table. A man across from us insisted we dealt them all. We only recalled dealing this one....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: K-10 of hearts

It's early, and one or two players have been aggressively betting before the flop. But no one does here, and we call. Two other players jump in.

ON THE FLOP: 7-2-7 (suits won't matter)

We call flops like this a "Boeing flop." As in the airplane, you know. :-) But anyway, everyone checks -- and so do we.

ON THE TURN: 7

"There are those trips again," we remember saying. (Only as we write this do we remember dealing three Kings by the turn earlier.) No one's bailing out of the plane; everyone checks again.

ON THE RIVER: K

If no one else hit the board, we just did! The two players ahead of us check. We bet 800, hoping to entice callers. A man to our left does.

"Do you have a King?" we ask. He doesn't. We do. A nice full house gains us about 2,500 chips.

But we missed some draws later -- and once we survived to the final table, we folded back-to-back hands which would have given us trips on the flop. Finally forced to go all-in in the small blind, our desperation 5-10 fell short. We finished in a three-way tie for sixth place (eighth in points), due to a triple take-out.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "I know several of those guys," a man said as he reviewed our "Jesus as your Savior" coin tonight. It was a gift from someone in a Christian motorcycle club several years ago -- and the man analyzing it belongs to a different biker club.

"Do you agree with that message? Is Jesus your Savior?"

"No, He's not," the man answered after a moment.

"Is there a reason why not?"

The man gave this question a lot of thought. A noisy room made his answer difficult to hear, but it involved not accepting the idea of "predestination."

"Not all Christians agree with that," we said. "There's the predestination side, and the free will side. It's a big religious dividing point."

The biker then explained he tends to live his life without religion, by "playing the cards as they're dealt." That admittedly caused us to have a lot of thought. How would you answer this? We'll compare notes in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 80 final tables in 189 nights (42.3%) - 15 cashes. With this third final table in a row, we clinch a goal of making 40 percent for 200 games.