Fred Uhl

If the truth be known, if I wasn’t a pastor I think I would be a professional poker player. I love everything about the game–the strategy, the adrenaline and, lets be honest, the potential of a big pay-off. I must admit, I don’t like the industry. I know they make their money on “the whales,” but I think they prey on people who are looking for a quick payoff too much. Most of those people don’t belong within 100 feet of a casino (financially speaking).

Because of my love for the game, I pretty consistently watch all the different poker shows of ESPN. Most recently, I caught the finale to the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event. This is the biggest tournament in the world. The top 5 players take home over a million dollars each with the winner taking home $8.25 million. That is a pretty good payoff!!!

What struck me most was a couple of the players at the final table (including the winner of the $8.25 million, Jerry Yang) were constantly asking for God’s help. They even specifically asked Jesus to help them win a couple of times. I have to be honest, I don’t feel that comfortable with it.

To Yang’s defense, he did seem somewhat genuine. There is the possibility that there is some substance to his request for help. In fact, while watching the show, the viewers learned that Yang did some missionary work in the past and intends to give a portion of his winnings to various charities. Good for him!!!

However, with all the ways those actions and pleas for help from Jesus could be misinterpreted by so many different people, I simply wish Yang (and others) would have left Jesus out of the equation. Although you can never truly know how much editing had to with it, it really was over the top.

If you like to play poker, great! If you are Christian and love to play poker, splendid! Good luck! But to make Jesus (in some people’s mind–mainly non-believers) the reason for a big payout or a bust is just a little overboard for me.