[jcaesar]

Hi guys, I'm posting this because I was unsatisfied with the results of other posts on this subject in the forum. Feel free to skip the story and scroll down to the question.

My Story
I've been playing poker for about five years or so. I discovered the game in early college, and subsequently studied books, my results, theory, and strategy until I became a competent player. After I graduated, I decided to turn pro, moved back home to save on expenses, and did well for myself for about eight months, playing in casinos, cardrooms, home games, and online.

Also post-graduation, I became more involved in church and rediscovered my faith in God. Previously, I could be categorized as a lukewarm Christian at best. While I could definitively say that I had experienced the presence of God in my life, in my younger years I chose to turn a blind eye to His existence. Basically, I enjoyed my life more not following Christian teachings, rather than vice versa. However, maturity and involvement played a role in bringing me back to the church, and as a result I began to learn more and more about what it is that Jesus asks us to do as his followers.

Recently, my poker ability has been in decline, and my results have suffered as well. For one thing, I no longer had a "killer instinct" at the tables. I went away from reading players and targetting those that exhibited characteristics of weak play to just playing my cards.

As I encountered increasing disapprovement from my family (not because of the results, but because of the perceived "evil" from a conservative Christian family in gambling), I began to seriously think about Christianity and poker, and decided not to play another hand until I could reconcile my faith with my career. I know this can be done, because there are plenty of wildly successful poker players that profess to be Christian (Negreanu, Brunson, etc.)

My Question
Is targetting weak players against Christian principles?

The main moral problem I have with poker that I can't reconcile with the Christian faith is the game's intrinsic aspect of targetting weak players to maximize your winnings. A great situation for a poker player is when he is sitting with the biggest fish, the worst player, the least schooled sucker in the world and he knows it's just a matter of time before he completely cleanes the sucker out. Mike Caro (and common sense) consistently recommends the approach of playing the games you can win, rather than the games with the toughest competition.

In Col 3:4, Paul says "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Somehow I can't reconcile the killer attitude that I have when sitting down next to a loose, passive player who I know is itching to give away his money with that ideal. "In the name of Jesus, I take this pot from you because you play too loose." I don't see this attitude being something that Christ would approve of.

I'm open to all ideas and thoughts. Thanks for taking the time to read my post.