I learned how to play poker
in seminary. We played at least once a month, using all the loose change
we had lying around the house. I knew how to play, in theory, before
then, but regular play taught me a lot about the different ways people play the
game. I was more interested in the friendship and the food, so the
education was a bonus.
The way a minister
approaches poker is not necessarily consistent with the way they approach
religion, but it might say something about how they approach life. There
are those who only play when they feel they are guaranteed to win and so they
fold nearly every hand. There are others who can't help but stay in the game
even when the odds are not in their favor and so they call at every turn.
There are better and worse bluffers, and there are those who seem to
always raise the stakes just to keep it interesting. There are the rule
enforcers, the boisterous winners, and the sore losers, even among the clergy.
For the past five years,
some of my non-clergy friends and I have gathered at one another's homes
every other month to play Texas Hold'em. It costs $20 to play, and the top
three place. Since our daughter was born, I haven't played as often.
Friday was the first time I had been since January when I began the
collar experiment. I honestly hadn't thought about the impact of the
collar on this informal poker scene until I showed up and the jokes
began."So does the collar mean you will always call?"
"I guess you won't be bluffing tonight?" Some of the
usual faces were there, and I was introduced to four new people. I
am sure that meeting me for the first time in a collar at a poker game
made for interesting follow-up fodder.
I was one of two women. And even though she knew the game way better than I
do, she caught a bad beat and was the first one out. I was a bit rusty,
so I started off pretty terrible. As the evening went on, I caught some
good cards in good positions and won a few decent pots.
By the time we consolidated
tables, I was in fourth place out of five. Then I hit several really
great hands in a row and played them pretty aggressively, knocking
out one player and taking a pretty significant chunk from the chip
leader.
As the night wore on, my
usual 8:30 bedtime long passed, I was getting tired and the hip folks
had other places to be. I asked if we could just count the chips and
call it. After the chip leader took a look at his stack, clearly thinking he
had won, he agreed. After the count, I had won by a fairly minimal amount,
much to the dismay of the most-of-the-night chip leader. The other two
winners who placed 2nd and 3rd were Tom and Harry, which left me with an
unfortunate new poker name.
I must admit, I was
surprised I had won... but the chips don't lie. I do not believe wearing
my collar had anything to do with my win. I do not believe that God
was on my side or that my collar necessarily threw anyone off their game.
As in life, on any given day, sometimes we are dealt a strong hand and
sometimes we're not. On some days, it may appear our win is inevitable and then
a single card can take it away. Poker is a harsh mistress and a good
teacher. The more we learn to work with what we have, enjoy the people we
are with, and keep showing up -- as long as we're all in --the better the game
will be.
Sounds like you had good teachers.... ;-)
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