The Rabbi Speaks
Mark Green’s Poker Lessons
(as told to Ashley Adams): Purim!

BY: Mark Green

BY: Ashley Adams Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com) Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

Here's a poker story. I know it may not seem like one at first, but stay with me. Believe me - it is.

Thousands of years ago, in a land far away, there was a wicked, wicked man named Haman, cursed be his name, who advised the King. With sweet and evil words Haman convinced the King that he must kill all of the Jews who lived in his kingdom. He got the King's permission to do so. But as Haman was plotting to exterminate all of the Jews, the King's new Queen, Esther, learned of the plot. Though the King didn't know it, she was Jewish. She spoke to her father, the wise Mordechai. They trembled as they considered what to do. Mordechai told her that she must go to the King, terrifying though that was, and tell him that she herself was a Jew and would perish if Haman got his way. For her sake and for the sake of all of the Jews she must convince the King to stop Haman from carrying out his plan to murder all of the Jews.

This she did. Nervous though she was at approaching the King her husband, she went to him. She told him the story - how she was a Jew and how she and her people were to be destroyed by Haman. The King listened. The King loved her very much. He was convinced by Esther that killing all of the Jews was a terrible thing. So he ordered Haman to cease his plot. So angry was the King at the thought of losing his precious Queen that he had Haman hanged. The Jews were saved.

To this day, Jews celebrate this moment in their history with a special holiday. It is called Purim. Purim! The word itself lifts the spirits of Jews everywhere. It is a holiday celebrated with great revelry - where Jews blot out the memory of the evil Haman by making noise, celebrating, dancing, eating and drinking. It is Carnival, Halloween and Mardi Gras all in one. Men and women dress up in disguises, and it is considered to be a good deed to get drunk!

What, you may ask, does this have to do with poker? Here me out. Though last week I did get drunk on this special holiday, I stopped drinking when Purim ended over a week ago. So my words are sober.

I'm a straightforward poker player. I raise when I have a good hand. I fold when I have a rotten hand. True, I have a rotten hand too often. Fold, fold, fold, fold RAISE! Fold, fold, fold, fold. That's the way things go. Nothing I can do about it.

Players know me - well, at least many of them do. When I raise they know I have the goods. The good ones fold right away. The bad ones fold eventually or lose, usually, in a showdown. Eventually, even the bad players learn to respect my raises too - though it may cost them.

Every once in a while, though, without letting anyone know, I raise when I don't have a good hand. Call it a lie - call it dishonest if you want. I call it a bluff. Perfectly ethical at the table. I raise with bupkes - nothing - or maybe only a little something - so I still have some kind of a chance even if they don't fold. But I do this sometimes, though rarely. I never show anyone. I keep my bluffing quiet. Let them think I never bluff. It's my secret. And it's a valuable secret because everyone believes me when I raise - and they fold to my bad hands.

How is this like Purim you ask? Simple. You see, on Purim we get drunk. Men dress like women; women dress like men. We forget all of our troubles. It's a carnival. It's a rare treat.

But what would it mean, how much would it be worth if every day were Purim? Purim wouldn't be special. It wouldn't pay tribute to our salvation all those years ago. We would just become drunks; we'd lose our jobs; our houses and everything that was valuable to us. Purim would just be another day of being drunk and stupid. And, in the long run - or even in the not so long run - we'd be miserable.

So we keep Purim to once a year - a once-a-year day of frivolity, drinking, dancing, and masquerading. As such it retains its specialness and value to us as a great day. If every day were Purim then no day would be Purim.

So too with bluffing. Keep it seldom and it works fine. But what happens if you just start to raise every hand or so? Sure, it feels great the first time or two when you take down the pot with nothing. It's more fun to raise than to fold. That's true too. But sooner or later (and it's usually sooner) the bluff stops working. Your opponents just figure you're wild and they call you down all the time. They don't respect your raises because you make them too frequently. The raise becomes meaningless. You just lose your money and go broke. It's only because you're solid and straightforward the rest of the time that the bluff works. It takes a solid player to bluff effectively. Otherwise, your opponents learn not to respect your bets - so they don't believe you when you bet. How can you bluff then? The bet loses its meaning. Like having Purim everyday.

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