Jun 03
the prayoffs
It is widely documented and laughed at how many sports players and coaches thank god after winning big games or championships. I’ll spare comment on that since it is a subject of nearly universal ridicule. 2007 WSOP champion Jerry Yang is a very pious man who prayed each and every time he was all in throughout the tournament. His prayer was well documented by ESPN.
The absurdity of someone praying over the outcome of a poker hand I doubt I need to explain, but I’ll outline a couple of points here. Firstly, for someone to win a poker hand, someone else has to lose. Does god like the winner more than the loser? I guess Jerry Yang would say yes. Further, Yang is praying to the same god in whose name poker has endured all of it’s recent legal problems stemming from legislators pandering to their lunatic bible-belt constituency. The people that care to outlaw poker have made it quite clear that their god does not like it.
There is an utterly hilarious scene from the 2007 WSOP (and props to ESPN for showing it properly) in which Yang and his opponent Lee Watkinson are in a big hand against each other. Yang falls into his usual prayer routine, but little does he know, he has to pray extra hard because Lee’s girlfriend is also a true believer!! She is praying with all her might for Lee to win the hand. As the cards slowly fall, this man and this woman both pray with an ardent fervor to the same god for an opposite result. If either of them can watch the episode without feeling like total fools then I’m truly amazed at the level of self delusion that is humanly possible.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Ah, I was right about the villain but wrong about it being his wife, it was Lee’s Girlfriend, I’ll make the edit. Additionally, as far as this post goes, what they are doing is ridiculous whether or not you believe in god.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Sorry, I accidentally deleted the comment that spawned my response above, please repost it
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Obviously you’re about as antireligion as one can be which i suppose is your right. Good luck in the after life. Having said that isn’t interesting that these two ridiculous men both finished in the top 10 out of 1,000’s of other players and took home millions? Yea their God must really suck! Let me know when you make the final table Steve. I also find it humorous that some as liberal as yourself would criticize someone else for their beliefs. isn’t that the very foundation of liberal thinking that others should not be criticized and allowed to do as they please (gay marriage, gay adoption, abortion, legalized marijuana, etc. etc.)?
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
in response to Charlie, I am NOT criticizing them for their beliefs in this post, I am criticizing the lunacy of two people praying so hard for the opposite result. I didn’t think I needed to spell it out, but given this comment I suppose I will. For the sake of argument I’ll grand that there is an all powerful god who wants to be worshiped (though a wise humble god shouldn’t need to be worshiped, but I’ll let that slide). Why on god’s green earth (no pun intended) would he care which of the two sinners playing a game of sin win the hand!!!!
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Another response to Charlie: liberalism is about letting people think what they want, not approving of the way they think. I can think you’re an idiot for believing in bigfoot, but believe you have the right to worship bigfoot if you so choose. Secondly, your point about religious people making the final table actually supports the opposite argument. More than 95% of Americans believe in god, but a much smaller percentage of successful businessmen, poker players, and scientists believe in god. It’s easy to confuse cause and effect, but certainly there is a negative correlation between success and religion.
Finally, prayers at poker tables or at sports games can have a legit role when the athletes and players pray for the strength and courage to play their best, show the proper respect to the opposition, and (in the case of sports) that everyone walk off the field injury free.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
god is for pussies
June 8th, 2008 at 8:24 am
The ultimate classic during the Reconstruction period:
Black slaves praying for freedom and the right to vote
White plantation owners praying that the federal government will allow the traditional “whipping ways” to continue
Praying? All to the same god.
In this case, who does god hate (love) more?
June 8th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The fact that both sides of a conflict are praying for victory doesn’t mean they’re both wrong or silly for doing so. That’d be like saying that anytime there’s a fistfight, both sides are at fault. It’s possible that one side is praying for a righteous cause (e.g. freeing of slaves), and the other side is praying to maintain their wealth (e.g. slaveholders).
I’d agree that anyone over the age of 12 who prays for specific things isn’t very observant though. The victims of every major oppression in history (slavery, holocaust etc) prayed and were unanswered. If god wouldn’t intervene to save righteous people from years of torture, why would he intervene to give you an ace on the river or a heisman trophy?
June 8th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
steve, I just read your blog post about you complaining about penn state having a girl who couldn’t read properly reading the names aloud. u mention that it’s sad her types are getting jobs in our world.
how do you feel about being worthless to society? you are a degen poker player and contribute ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to this earth.
at least she’s attempting to make this world a better place.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Listen Troy, i will reply to the content of your comment when you realize that Penn does not equal Penn State
June 10th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
if that’s the best comeback u can come up with, then I think I owned you pretty hard.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I agree that Penn does not equal Penn State. Cause at my PSU graduation the person coule acutally read! Plus people that major in communications are not exactly high caliber in the first place.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:27 am
that opposing footage of Yang praying vs. Lee’s girlfriend praying was hilarious. it was actually a little difficult to stomache. especially Lee’s girlfriend who prayed, and i quote: “Make me a believer!” implying that “god” somehow has to prove his existence to her by letting her boyfriend win a hand of poker. i guess there was more riding on that flop turn and river than we realized, lol.
sidenote: Yang claimed he was going to donate a lot of his winnings to helping others (in the name of his religion) yet completely stiffed the dealers who busted their asses helping to make his victory possible. what a creep.