Winning and Losing

I know people often scratch their heads and wonder what the heck I mean when I say that the key to this game is learning to love to lose as much as you love to win.

The last time I mentioned this to a student, he replied; “I’ll never learn to love losing.  I hate losing.”  Could this be you? If your answer is “yes”, then it would be interesting to watch you at the craps table because I can already predict the type of player you are. One engaged in the emotional swings of the game.

The next time you are at the craps tables observe the behaviors of the players when they are winning and losing.  Notice the two extremes.  The whooping and hollering that goes on when the table is hot, and the tantrums when the table gets cold and depletes the losers bankroll.  Notice the two emotional extremes. 

Now see if you can find those few that remain calm regardless of the swings that are happening during the game.  I’ll bet this rare player did not engage in the emotional swings the majority of players allow themselves to experience. Cashing out, regardless of the outcome, he/she understood the real energy of the game.  With a smile on their face, these are the individuals that have the power to create their own outcomes.

When we approach a craps table, or any gaming table for that matter, there is a looming emotional portal we can choose to enter at any given time.  Real winning power happens when we choose to stay just outside this doorway, remaining on top of the emotional “see- saw” the game perpetuates.  This is the key to the game and where your winning capacity lies.

Entangled in our game is a competitive energy that likes to gently push us back into the world of emotional opposites where creativity hardly exists. Your ego is what provides you the ticket for passage on the emotional roller coaster ride of the game.

Once I realized how this game built its approach to appealing to our ego, I set out to learn how I could hover just above this polarity. Parking my ego before the game was the key. Doing this allows me to play with heart, or what some people call playing for the love of the game.

I’ve heard some people say they believe there is an art to winning this game. Ego does not supply you with the artistic tools to apply your art, heart does. Learning to love and accept the game for the polarity that exists within it, will provide you the real power to create your winning outcome.

See you at Crapsfest!

Soft Touch