Page 15 - March 2004 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Can You Change Your Luck? ...It’s All In How You Think!
by Gus Pappas
I play blackjack and think I’m pretty good at it. I don’t always win, but I have a decent track record. And blackjack takes some skill. But sometimes I know luck isn’t with me.
I recently saw the movie e Cooler. It’s about a guy whose bad luck is supposed to be contagious. He’s hired to work in a casino to kill the high rollers’ lucky streaks with his unlucky vibe. I had heard about this concept a while back and never gave it much weight. In other words, I don’t believe anyone can change your luck — but you.
cards, the dealer keeps winning, then I know my luck is running cold, and I stop playing. Sounds like common sense? You’d think so. But I know a lot of people who do the opposite. When they aren’t winning, they play more and chase their losses. ey talk about needing to wear their lucky clothes, they carry lucky charms, and go to the casino on days with certain numbers. I even see slot players rub the screens, blow on the screens, and even bang on the screens to try to get the machine to surrender a jackpot. Bingo players even use little dolls and photos of loved ones and such.
But, what can you do to increase your luck? Here’s what I think (and now try to do):
1. Relax — No use stressing about what’s past. It’s done, let it go.
2. Listen to your gut feeling and your hunches. (Don’t confuse them with what you want.)
3. Expect the positive. (Stop saying “I never win.” You will not win if you say you won’t.)
4. Have reasonable expectations.
5. See the positive side of any situation.
So back to the movie, e Cooler. e guy with the bad luck who is the “cooler” does his job messing up people’s luck until he falls in love with a cocktail waitress. He gets “lady luck,” which throws the situation into reverse. So he got lucky! Cathy says it’s because he got positive about himself when he fell in love.
Do you believe all this?
And it’s all in how you think about yourself — what’s going on for you — not only at the casino, but in life in general. If you look at life
positively, then you have it
made luck-wise. Because people who are positive can even see the positive side of a bad luck run. Here’s what I mean.
My friend Cathy plays
slots. She won a string of
jackpots last year. Good jackpots. A lot of money. She played some back over the course of three months, and was still ahead when she told me, she thought she was having terrible luck. So she stopped playing for two
months. When she went back to the casino, the rst night she was there, she won a huge jackpot. She told me,
”Sometimes you just have to realize you can’t push your good luck.”
When she said that, I realized something. She thought of herself as lucky, no matter what — even when she was losing. In the long run she knew
that her bad luck would work out for the best.
So what do I think of myself, luck-wise? Because I play a game that requires skill, I don’t think about luck that much. But it ‘s clear when no matter how well I play my
March 2004
Page 15
“If you look at life positively, then you have it made luck-wise. Because people who are positive can even see the positive side of a bad luck run.“
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE