In April 2017 something unusual happened at a professional poker tournament. Famous poker pro Gus Hansen began the game by going all in – he shoved all his chips into the middle of the table. What is amazing is that he did this blind – he was betting $300,000 and he hadn’t even looked at his cards. He had horrible cards, but he won the hand.
With each hand after that, he continued going all in. In one of his early hands, he pushed the chips in, peeked at his cards, and saw two 2s. His opponent had an Ace and a Jack of the same suit. $600,000 was in the pot. The dealer dealt out another 2, and Hansen’s winning streak continued. It wasn’t until 16 minutes had gone by that he finally lost a hand. [1]
Gus Hansen’s strategy was very thrilling, but also very stupid. It would be only a matter of time before he lost everything.
Christian faith has parallels with aggressive poker. Jesus says you have to go all-in if you want to follow him. He says you have to love him more than anything else. He says you have to be prepared to give up your life itself. The only difference is that Christians can’t lose.
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1. “Insane (or brilliant?) poker player goes all-in on every hand and completely dominates,” by Charles Curtis, April 11, 2017; < http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/04/crazy-poker-all-in-every-hand-gus-hansen-superstars-tbt-video >.