The Secret Life of Pots

"I could go play in a casino every day, to try to make a living," the young man said.

That man is trying to find a career path - and he was joking. We simply smiled at his comment, but said nothing in response.

Some would say this was an awkward moment for us - because the comment came during fellowship time at church last Saturday. Yes, one day after we made a final table and top-four finish on a Friday at a casino about 15 minutes away by car.

But we've become used to biting our tongue and saying nothing about our poker games - at least not at church services. We doubt anyone in our congregation even knows we play in tournaments. (Our pastor might, though; he asked once about our blog-writing, but we gave a vague answer because we weren't sure which of our online projects he meant.)

Why do we stay silent? Because our church movement officially preaches against gambling. There's a Biblical principle we follow in cases like this....

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. - I Corinthians 8:9

We all have "boundary lines" in life - areas we refuse to cross and enter, because we might hurt ourselves or other people. For instance, some people in our movement drink beer after a service. Others don't; they might be recovering alcoholics or simply are concerned about what might happen. The point of this verse is to avoid offending others, in the boundaries you cross.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do to anything else that will cause our brother to fall. - Romans 14:20-21

Playing games or gambling in a casino is one of those areas for us. We've done it for years, but other worshipers around us might consider it a sinful act. So to borrow from a once-popular U.S. military practice, we play "Don't ask, don't tell." We normally only bring up our poker ministry if someone specifically asks if we do it.

When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. - I Corinthians 8:11

There's actually a side benefit of taking this approach. By staying silent in a church setting, we get to practice our "poker face" away from the table.

So please, offer your thoughts on this - anonymously if you wish. Are there places where you dare not bring up poker? And how do you handle situations where the game might come up?

Evening Joe

It's the biggest win for Philadelphia since the Phillies won the 2008 World Series over Tampa Bay. Joe McKeehen from the suburbs wore Eagles and 76'ers gear, as he rolled to victory Tuesday in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

One report on the "November Nine" indicated McKeehen was able to dominate because he never lost a pot which cost him a lot of chips. But not everything went perfectly for McKeehen in Las Vegas. Last Saturday he tweeted:

hey thanks Rio and @wsop for the suite with the shower that doesn't work AND the lack of customer service to have anybody fix it!

— Joe McKeehen (@dude904) November 7, 2015

McKeehen later tweeted he "instantly felt 10 times better" after leaving that hotel.  And hopefully a champion's prize of $7.5 million will improve on that.

But isn't it interesting how small things can become big annoyances -- with social media around to make them seem even bigger? Here's what the Bible recommends instead:

He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. - Proverbs 17:9

Hotel showers will fail.  Customer service teams will let you down. But how you handle those moments reveals the sort of person you are.  You can start a Twitter or Facebook rant and bring the weight of your friends down on someone. Or....

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. - Matthew 18:15

Jesus gave this advice about personal relationships. We think it can work with fellow poker players, and even with businesses hosting poker tournaments.

So best wishes to what one news report called the "soft-spoken" Joe. And may we all learn to communicate softly at all times - promoting love that pours out better than any shower head.

Poker Night 361: Too Jacked Up

Tonight marked our first trip to Lil Kim's Cove in three weeks -- and it may go down as the craziest night we've ever had in a poker room.  We'll explain why in a moment.  But first, we want to ask for your help in an unusual way -- especially if you live in our area:

MISSING PERSON: Jessie Everett's picture was posted on a wall at Lil Kim's tonight.  He was last seen Thursday, November 1 walking from the First Avenue club toward the Oakland Park area. He's described as disabled (with a limp), and has a bad left hand and arm. If you've seen him, call Columbus 911.

At the table, we won one pot by making a straight from a starting 5-6.  But we didn't win any others, and finished in 16th place.  But this was one of those nights when the most memorable hand was one we didn't play....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: 9-10 offsuit

A brand new deck of cards has been introduced for this hand, because the old one had a few clipped corners.  We have about 5,700 chips -- and a man sitting "under the gun" challenges us by raising to 1,000.  We look at him, stare for a moment seeking clues, see none and fold.  But most of the table gets in.

ON THE FLOP: J-10-10

Ouch!  We would have made three of a kind right away.  On top of that, the table checks.

ON THE TURN: J

Now we would have had a full house.  As we recall, the table checks again.

ON THE RIVER: Q

The checking now stops and the fireworks start.  A woman across from us bets 1,000 (as best we remember).  The man under the gun goes all-in.  The woman to his left (our immediate right) also pushes.  Then a young man to our left who's playing in his first live tournament also pushes!  It looks like a mad case of full house fever.

"I've got the boat with a Jack," the first woman says -- turning over a Jack of hearts.  So she would have beaten our "10's over Jacks" full house.  The other woman in the hand also shows a Jack.

"I guess you don't have a Jack," we say to the new player at our left.  But no -- he also shows a Jack!  A grand total of five Jacks are showing!

"There are two Jack of hearts," we note -- pointing to one on the board, and the one the first woman has.  We turn over the cards for a moment, to make sure they're both from the same new deck.  What's going on here?

After a moment, the dealer figures it out.  He turns over the rest of the deck -- and there are no low cards at all.  He was given a pinochle deck, instead of the regular Ace-through-two deck used in poker!  Our late Dad played pinochle for decades, and he would have been thrilled.

The Tournament Director is called, and he rules everyone gets their bets back.  But after reviewing the pinochle rules online, we wonder why the dealer didn't notice that deck had only 48 cards.  We watched the count, and it didn't look quite right to us -- but we deferred.  And we wound up with the two lowest cards, anyway.

(That wasn't the only crazy moment at our table tonight.  But we'll hold another matter for a future post.)

MINISTRY MOMENT: We apologized before the game to the man who was outside our front door Monday evening.  It turns out he used to live in the apartment next to ours, and is friends with the owner of the property.

"I was not offended," he assured us -- adding he understood we were hurrying to The Red Barn.  That was comforting.  We don't think he's a Christian, yet he reflected a Biblical trait....

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. - Proverbs 19:11

The sports world (and perhaps to a lesser extent the poker world) is filled with "grudge matches" and rivalries.  But holding long-term grudges against other people is something believers in Jesus should not do.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you. - Colossians 3:13

God showed His willingness to forgive men and women by sending Jesus Christ to pay the death penalty for our sins.  Have you confessed your sins and repented before God, to receive the comforting forgiveness He wants to provide?

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 124 final tables in 361 nights (34.3%) - 19 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 272 point wins in 1,215 games (22.4%), 84 final tables, 10 wins, 10 cashes.  No-River Hold 'em - 17 point wins in 63 games (27.0%), 13 final tables, 1 cash win.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $86,449, down $1,373.  The re-election of President Obama may mean pretend games still will be all U.S. residents can play for awhile.

Love Is a Choice

Let's head back to that discussion at The Red Barn from earlier this week.  One woman tried to change her language, because she realized we don't use profanity.  Other players at the table (including one who said he's a Christian) pointed out cursing is commonplace at bars.

So who set the best Christian example in all of this?  If you weren't watching the table, it wouldn't be fair to jump to conclusions.  But let's use a standard written into the Bible by the apostle Paul:

Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. - Romans 13:10

We've heard ministers define love as an "outgoing concern" for others, away from self.  The woman who changed her language showed that way of thinking, even though she never called herself a Christian during the conversation.

On the other hand, the two players at the table who called themselves "Christians" used language during the evening which would have been censored from broadcast TV and radio years ago.  This brings to mind some more words of Paul....

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. - I Corinthians 13:4-5

The language we use at the poker table (and in the rest of our daily lives) is primarily a matter of habit.  Certain words become so commonplace that you might have to make a special conscious effort to avoid saying them.  Yet that's what another New Testament book recommends:

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be. - James 3:9-10

We admit we've been guilty over the years of saying things which offended or upset people.  (In one workplace, all we did was quote one verse from the book of Amos -- not even saying its source.)  While attempting to avoid offense may seem like "political correctness" to some people, it's also a way to show you care about others and their feelings.

Doing a Slow Burn

The pre-flop bets were made.  The dealer held the deck up, almost to eye-level.  Then he took the top card, and moved it to the bottom for dealing the flop.

 

"Hold it," a man to his left said.  "You can't do that."

 

"Sure, I can do that," the dealer answered.  "In all my years playing poker, I've never cheated."

 

"You don't burn cards like that," the man insisted.

 

"I can deal the cards any **** way I want to!" the dealer said with anger growing in his voice.

 

Welllll -- no, he really can't.  We pointed out under the rules, he HAD to deal off the top of the deck.

 

"I did that," the dealer said.  And yes, he had.  The issue was the "burn card," and how he handled it.

 

Burn cards are removed from the top of the deck before the flop, turn and river.  From watching poker on TV and seeing dealers in poker rooms, we're used to them being put face-down on the table -- off to one side, or under chips already in the pot.  That's how we handle them when we're dealing.

 

This dealer apparently has a habit of doing things differently.  But when someone objects to such things, some guidance from the apostle Paul comes to mind:

 

Abstain from all appearance of evil. - I Thessalonians 5:22 (KJV)

 

You may be perfectly right and within the rules.  But if it makes someone else uncomfortable, we should consider that other person's feelings.  Paul put it this way elsewhere:

 

Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all man in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. - I Corinthians 10:32-33 (KJV)

 

We must note if another person asks you to do something unethical or sinful, that's a very different case.  Doing things the right way before God always comes first.

 

So how did the hand with that burn card turn out?  Stay tuned; the answer will be in a future post.

Poker Night 176: A Little Scared

"I think I've spotted a tell," a fellow player told us quietly during tonight's game at Lil Kim's Cove -- as in spotted on us. He said we seem to "tense up" when we're about to play hands, and part of our face starts to twitch. Maybe we need to play online games in front of a mirror, for practice?!

The man mentioned this well after a challenging early hand, where another player apparently didn't notice anything unusual....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 9-5 of diamonds

The night is young. The blinds are small. So when a player across the table doubles the bet to 100, we don't mind calling suited cards. About four people get in the hand.

ON THE FLOP: Ad-10d-8c

The man who raised throws out a minimum 50. We're on a flush draw, and that's a small price to pay for one more card. We call.

ON THE TURN: Ah

The betting man bets 50 more. Compared with some online tournaments we play, this is bargain-basement shopping. We call again. No one else is left in the hand by this time.

ON THE RIVER: 7d

There's the flush -- but now along comes trouble. The man who bet small goes big, tossing out 2,000. Does he have a face-card diamond to top us? We have about 5,800 chips, and think a moment before deciding.

"Prove it," we say as we call. "I've got the diamonds."

Our opponent does not. He has two pair, and admits he had that on the flop. His bets were designed to run off everyone else. If he had made bigger bets in the first place, it might have worked with us -- but small ball early gave us a big pot at the end.

Not much else went that well for us tonight. We made it past the one-hour mark, but then felt compelled to push with A-9 and an Ace showing on the flop. A woman to our left with A-J wound up topping us, and we finished in about 22nd place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: The tables were turned tonight, as we received correction from another player about something we've written elsewhere online. We won't go into details (it had nothing to do with our religious views), but we could understand why the player was upset. After the person spoke his/her piece, we said "thank you" and went on our way.

"If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body," says James 3:2 (KJV). That's a very high standard -- one that religious and political leaders admittedly can't always match.

Romans 14:21 adds, "It is best not to.... do anything else that causes problems for other followers of the Lord" (CEV). We're tempted to go one step farther, and say you should do nothing that might hinder non-believers from becoming a follower of Christ. It includes watching what you say, and even what you write.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 73 final tables in 176 nights (41.5%) - 14 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: Full tournaments - 57 point wins in 323 games (17.6%), 26 final tables, 1 cash.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Pretend cash games - $10,088, down $530.

Practicing What We Preach

Our last post mentioned how we try to keep the talk polite at live poker tournaments. Then Wednesday night, an online player with an apparently long memory took us to task for something we'd written there in a prior game.

While we want to win money at online tournaments, we try to keep the mood light and have fun in our chat comments. But one person's humor can be another person's slap in the face -- especially when players can't see each other's facial expressions or grasp their moods.

"I lost all respect for you as a player," the critic wrote. We don't even remember what we wrote to cause this, but it apparently was a one-liner after the player was eliminated from the game -- a comment that player saw, but apparently couldn't answer at the time.

"For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned," Jesus warned in Matthew 12:37. We don't want Jesus to condemn us in the day of judgment, for words which might turn people away from a proper example of God and a closer relationship with Him.

We invite online players to visit this blog. So if you're visiting from one of those games, we apologize for attempts at humor which may have interpreted the wrong way. Perhaps the lesson for us is to use emoticons more, and puns less?! :-)

Look Like Laak

The last time we played poker at Lil' Kim's Cove, it was a rainy night. So we wore a hooded rain jacket to the club, and told people we were trying to look like pro poker star Phil Laak (aka the "Unibomber").

Well, except we had on regular glasses instead of sunglasses. It was raining, after all.

A few people who knew we meant. But at least one player next to us said, "Take that thing (hood) off. You're scaring me with it."

Looking back, that player may have had a point. He was African-American, and our hooded jacket was white. You can finish the logic problem from there.

"Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God." -- I Cor. 10:32, KJV

Our apologies if we came across as insensitive to anyone at the table. That wasn't our goal. We simply wanted to look, well, poker-stylish. Not that it helped us win -- it didn't.