Sticking With The Winners
By David Sapolis AKA BlackJack

The title says it all. We are all products of our surroundings. We are purely bred on the influences that we have been exposed to. If we are surrounded by winners, we tend to win. When we surround ourselves with losers, well, we tend to lose.

A few years ago at a tournament in Dallas, I noticed something that I had never noticed before. I had my seven year old son with me, and he wanted to go to Denny's for breakfast. We went to the one closest to the tournament site as I had a match to play later in the morning. We sat down in abooth, and unexpectedly, I was overcome by the conversation of the two gentlemen who were talking in the booth directly behind me. They were players competing in the same tournament.

"The tables are playing horrible." One grumbled. "You'd think that for a big tournament they would have the tables in better condition."

"Oh, and the carpet!" The other chimed in, "I almost tripped and fell on my face because the carpet was so slick!"

"Every tournament I go to is the same." The first guy whined. "Lousy equipment, loud music, long waits between matches. It's no wonder I can't win a match."

I tried my best to ignore the conversation at first, but as time went by, the crowd grew from two guys, to four. They sat and grumbled about the tournament director, the high entry fee, the crappy hotel accomodations, the lousy weather, and their bitchy wives whom they had left back at home. My son and I did our best to enjoy our meal, left a tip and got up to leave. One of the guys at the other table recognizes me and asks me for a ride back to the tournament. Trying to be helpful, I agree to give him a ride.

"Oh, and can my friend come with us too? It's kind of a long walk." he said sharply.

I agreed, wondering if they wanted me to pay for their meal as well. When we returned to the tournament, I played and won a few more matches, finally getting tossed out by Bob Newkirk. I spent the rest of the day playing video games with my son, then we went to lunch with Bob Newkirk and a few other people.

During lunch, I paid attention to the conversation. There was no grumbling, bitching, whining or moaning. We weren't crying in our coffee at Denny's either. It was a nice restaurant. The guys talked about their families and their jobs positively. The guys I was with were some of the best players in the area. I started to see something clearly. Winners stick with winners, losers stick with losers.

I am not trying to put anybody down, but the people we surround ourselves with are generally our support system. The guys who whined at Denny's that morning had all been two match and out losers the day before. They had nothing positive to say about anything or anybody, and it showed in their attitudes and their games. They stuck around only to leach off of the other players in the tournament. The whiners comfort each other by agreeing with each other. They buy into each other's BS. To them, life is one bucket of crap after another. You can see this at any tournament that you go to. These are the guys who show up with no money, no transportation, and usually end up borrowing or stealing to get themselves home.

Winners, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. The people I surround myself with are happy to be at the tournament. Win or lose, they are pleasant to be around. We can play each other at 10:00 and eat lunch together at 1:00. It's no big deal. During that weekend, I finished barely in the money, and after I lost, I spent the extra time I had (the time was blessed upon me) with my son.

The attitudes that winners have is contagious. A few years ago I had the opportunity to spend time around Buddy Hall. His attitude towards the game rubbed off on me. The next few tournaments I was almost unbeatable! When you surround yourself with positive people, you generally develop a positive attitude. The next time you are at a tournament, pay attention to the conversation you hear. You can generally separate the winners from the losers by their attitudes. I stay away from Denny's while I am at tournaments. Nothing against the restaurant chain, but it seems that most of the losers love to converge on Denny's restaurants. I haven't made the connection yet. I guess that their coffee is cheaper (or better to cry in) than the coffee at other restaurants.

Blackjack
David Sapolis
El Paso, Tx

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