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It had been a rough day and it wasn't even 2 o'clock in the
afternoon. I had a few minutes of down time, so I dropped on
the couch, remote in hand, searching for some good 'ole brain
candy.
After a few clicks, I landed on Celebrity Poker
Showdown — a show where a Friends guy,
that Hobbit actor and a Gilmore Girl were playing poker
to win some money for their favorite charity. This could be
fun.
I'd never played poker before. Strictly a spades girl, myself.
But the hosts — including Phil Gordon, a professional
poker player — were more than happy to educate me on
"Texas Hold'em," an audience-friendly and fast-paced form of
poker.
I was surprisingly entertained and, by the end of the week,
was hooked. I knew the lingo, could guess the odds and would
even chuckle with the hosts over the celebs' mistakes.
I didn't think too much about it — it was just brain
candy.
Then, a few days later, I read in the paper about some local
"women only" Texas Hold'em tournaments.
"Holy cow!" my brain roared. "You could totally beat those
women!"
"I know!" I replied, "You know, if I just went down there once
..."
Even as the thought formed, I was surprised. Was I seriously
considering going to a casino?
I was, I had to admit — even if only for that split
second — and it seems that I'm not alone.
Poker used to be thought of as a game for old men in smoky back rooms.
Now it's repackaged itself as the all-American pastime. ESPN's
"World Series of Poker" gets higher ratings than "SportsCenter,"
and poker regularly beats out audience figures for televised
sports like professional basketball and golf.
Much of this popularity is being fueled by the very
demographic casinos have long coveted but, until now, never
conquered — college students and young adults. A recent study
reported that among college students, 91 percent of men and
84 percent of women had gambled in the last 12 months. Card
games with friends — like Texas Hold'em — were
among the most popular gambling activities.
But the card games aren't all staying on campus or in
basements. Online poker sites are doing a booming business
(over 1.8 million people play each month) and poker earnings at
Nevada casinos jumped 48.3 percent last year, the state's largest
annual increase ever.
So, it's wildly popular — and I can understand why.
But should we, as Christians, be participating?
Historically, the church has said no.
"I do not hesitate to say that, of all sins, there is none that
more surely damns men, and, worse than that, makes them the
devil's help to damn others, than gambling," Charles Spurgeon,
the famous 19th century Baptist preacher, wrote.
Whoa! Them's fightin' words! But I haven't heard a preacher
talk like that in my life time. Have you? Maybe the church is
dealing with other issues, or has bigger fish to fry — but,
either way, gambling seems to have definitely fallen off the radar
screen.
So I asked around. What did my Christian peers think about
poker? Did they — the first generation raised among legal
gambling — agree with the church's traditional stance?
Although the degrees of acceptance differed, the general
consensus seemed to be "no." Sorry, Mr. Spurgeon, but to most
of my friends, poker was benign, almost amoral.
This sentiment seemed to be reflected throughout much of the twentysomething crowd, Christian or not. "It's a fun game," one recent grad told the BYU NewsNet.
"It's better than Monopoly."
But is poker really the moral equivalent of Monopoly? Can
we dismiss the money lost on poker as just our "entertainment"
budget — money that would have gone to dinner and a
movie?
I think, when I'm honest with myself, the answer has to be
no. Fun and entertaining though it may be, there's a simple truth
hiding behind all the hoopla. Poker is not just a game. It's a
game with risk.
Kool-Aid has never destroyed anyone's life. Alcohol has.
Both are a drink, but one is inherently more dangerous than the
other. We get that.
From there, it's a short walk to "games." I don't know
anyone whose life was destroyed by the game of golf. I've never
heard of someone committing a crime in order to score a green
fee. But lives have been destroyed by poker.
Just a few months ago Greg Hogan, president of his class at
Lehigh University and son of a Baptist minister, was arrested for
robbing a bank to cover his $5,000 poker losses. I wonder when
he started playing to "blow off steam" if he ever thought he'd be
facing 20 years in prison.
Take a look around your five-person weekly game. The
National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that at least
one of you will develop a gambling addiction. However, while the
risk of addiction and a loathing to support an industry that
creates addicts are both laudable reasons for avoiding poker,
they aren't mine.
My brush with poker, small though it was, got me thinking
in another direction. Not about the risks, but about the very
essence of the game. Unlike other games, I can gain nothing in
poker until you lose something. I achieve success only when you
sacrifice something of value. Though some like to call poker a
"game of skill," what skills are we actually using?
Yes, there is an element of mathematics in the game. In
fact, experts report that it's the guy with good grades, a
competitive streak and an aptitude for math that is most likely
to become a gambling addict. But ultimate poker success
depends upon either deceiving your opponent and/or exposing
his deceit. As Phil Gordon has said, and Matt Damon's character
stated in the movie Rounders, you aren't playing the
cards, you're playing your opponent. Your object is to expose
your opponent and take his money.
This is exactly what John Wesley condemned in his sermon
"The Use of Money." After commanding
Christians to "gain all we can" through honest labor, Wesley
gives this warning:
"We are ... to gain all we can without
hurting our neighbor.... We cannot, if we love everyone as
ourselves, hurt anyone in his substance. We cannot devour the
increase of his lands, and perhaps the lands and houses
themselves, by gaming.... None can gain by swallowing up his
neighbor's substance, without gaining the damnation of
hell!"
In poker, we are doing harm to our neighbor. We are
perfecting a "skill" that is exactly opposite to what the Bible calls
us to do.
Of course, this brings up the question: What if I don't play
for money? "Pretend" poker seems to be almost as popular as its
gambling brother. Many of my friends commented that once you
take money out of the game, it's no longer gambling and,
therefore, no longer a moral issue.
Maybe. But I started to question that logic when I
researched the College Poker Championship — an online
Texas Hold'em tournament that started three years ago. At first
glance, the tournament seems like a pretend poker dream come
true. It costs absolutely nothing to play, and winners get cash
scholarships (this year they're giving away over $200,000). It's a
"a safe and fun environment," the organizers promise.
But what's the catch? Why would they give away hundreds of
thousands, reward me for referring friends and actually pay me
to promote the tournament at my school?
I can't answer that question for them, but I have a guess.
Buried in the "Terms and Conditions" portion of the rules, we
find that the tournament is organized by Royal Vegas Poker
— a, you guessed it, online casino.
My assumption is that they understand the most basic of
marketing principles — free samples lead to more
business. As a Christian, I need to understand that too —
that pretending to do something makes it easier for me to do it
down the road. I certainly never thought that a television show
would tempt me to a casino. But it did.
As poker's popularity continues to rise, believers are going
to have to answer some tough questions. Is this what God wants
us doing with our time and money? Can we justify the pain that
an industry causes simply because it brings entertainment to us?
Is an occasional game with the guys (or gals) worth the
risks?
And, maybe, didn't the church and Mr. Spurgeon have it
right all along?
Want to read more about a Christian perspective on
gambling? Visit Citizen Link. Think you may
have a problem with gambling? Find out by clicking on a link
below.
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