The Private Plan

Steps continue to unfold in our area's crackdown on gambling - which seems primarily to be a crackdown on poker rooms and tournaments.

We've now learned a big tournament was held earlier this month, outside the Wichita city limits - put on in the suburbs as a fundraiser for the football team. The school district and football team websites didn't seem to have anything about it when we checked today (including the fine print about whether there was a required buy-in). But one poker group's Twitter feed indicates it's gone on for several years.

Then there's the move by our primary Wichita poker room. Arrowhead Poker has cleansed its Facebook feed of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of posts about cash games in progress and upcoming tournaments. Now it says this:

Arrowhead Poker Cardroom is a private social club. We offer free texas holdem tournaments daily. Like this page to keep up with current events we are running. We are seeking Spades players as well for future tournament play details to come. 

The poker room's website still advertises daily tournaments - but the "Sunday Showdown" which once had a $75 buy-in now has no price showing.

"Private clubs" have a long history in our state. They go back to a time when "liquor by the drink" was not openly allowed, people would cross state lines to stock up on wine, and a minister with a lost voice box led an anti-alcohol "Life at Its Best" movement warning about "drug suffering."  That all changed in Kansas in the mid-1980s. But we wonder if what Arrowhead Poker is promoting is a first step toward bringing it back.

If you choose to play poker in private to get around local and state laws, keep one thing in mind. You might be able to hide your cash game from police - but you can't hide it from God:

..All who sin under the law will be judged by the law.... This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. - Romans 2:12, 16

To borrow from a song co-written by the late Glenn Frey, "You can't hide your lyin' eyes." Not from God, you can't. He watches over "the wicked and the good" (Proverbs 15:3).  But that doesn't mean secret acts are bad.  In fact, the Bible also says....

..And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. - Matthew 6:18b

The King James Version says God will "reward you openly."  He wants others to know about the deeds you do for Him - but on the other hand, He doesn't want you to promote them:

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.... do not let your left hand know what you right hand is doing. - Matthew 6:2-3

We've heard ministers preach for decades about attempts by big government to encroach on your "right to privacy." But ultimately, that "right" does not exist. The idea is a farce, because God watches it all and will judge based on all. How are you spending your private time - and will it pass the final judgment test?

Watching Closely

It's probably a rare day when the World Series of Poker cancels a big tournament.  After all, there's no shortage of players in this day and age.  But the WSOP did exactly that in Ohio - for a surprising reason.



Courtesy WXIX-TV

An upcoming 12-day event was canceled because Horseshoe Casino didn't have proper security cameras in place.  The tournament would have been played in a big banquet hall, in stead of the regular poker room.

You may never think about them when you're playing, but many poker rooms have cameras watching and recording the action.  In Ohio, a state commission uses them to prevent cheating.

We recall hearing church pastors years ago warning against such things.  They said surveillance cameras inside businesses and along streets would take away U.S. residents' "right to privacy" - along the lines of "Big Brother watching you" in the classic George Orwell novel 1984.

But that argument struck us as strange, especially from ministers, because of what the Bible says about "government surveillance". That phrase isn't in any translation we've seen. but consider this....

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

His eyes are on the steps of men; he sees their every step. - Job 34:21

Does the thought of God watching you scare you?  If it does.... well, good. If it persuades you to do things in a godly way, even better.

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done - Matthew 16:27

How can God and Jesus Christ hand out rewards if They aren't keeping score of what you do in some way?

We concluded the ministers were missing a bigger issue with security cameras - that from God's point of view, the "right to privacy" ultimately does not exist.  He's monitoring the games we play in our lives (whether at the poker table or away from it), and will make sure the final outcome is fair.

...Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. - Psalm 98:9

Long before anyone dreamed of a Santa Claus, God was seeing people as they were sleeping. He knows when they're awake.  He knows if they've been bad or good.  So be good in the poker room.... ultimately for God's sake