I just returned home from the Atlantic City GTC class. It was my 2nd Refresher, and was my 3rd class this year. Why so many? Well, it’s like this: after my Primer class March 2017 in Shreveport, I was doubling my buy-in. After my Refresher class in Las Vegas July 2017, I was tripling my buy-in. Now, after my 2nd Refresher (3rd class), I am quadrupling my buy-in. And, of course, my sessions are becoming more consistent with less variance.

At this class, there were five (5) of us representing Texas: myself, Dr Crapology, Alligator Rose, and a new young couple, BonyJoe and BonyMomma. Doc and Rose were nice enough to share their ride with me from and to the Philly airport to Atlantic City. I met a new instructor (new to me, not new to GTC), the Glue Factory. His knowledge of casino operations answered some longstanding questions on whether competing casinos share personal information about players. He was helpful with my teammate who had long fingernails, since Glue Factory’s mother has the same issue. The class was full with Primers, Refreshers, and Advanced.

All and each of the instructors were personally helpful to me. The Friday open house is always interesting. Several who weren’t attending the full class stopped by to work with instructors. It’s a nice gesture on the part of the GTC instructors.

On Saturday, the first day of instruction and training, when I made it around to Alligator Rose’s Station, a half table, which I really like, I asked Rose about finger position with my particular wrist position (mostly straight down, so I was not tempted to flick my wrist at the end of the throw). It’s not the recommended method. Rose thoughtfully called Dom over to take a look (I’m convinced she knew what Dom would do).

I asked Dom the same question. He took one look at my wrist position (fingers pointing straight down). He politely asked why I was doing that (ok, perhaps it wasn’t “politely” – I am talking about the irascible New Yorker Dom). I complained that the recommended “L” position with my arm straight down and wrist bent 90 degrees with fingers pointing to my right – I’m a lefty – resulted with my swing ending with my wrist in an awkward position.

Dom was having none of it. “Preacher!”, Dom said, “We’ve had paraplegics say they couldn’t do the throw, and we were able to help them to do it correctly. So don’t tell me you can’t do it!” So I gripped the dice, which the instructors previous to Rose had improved, then put my wrist in the correct “L” position, and swung. With my first few throws, my dice didn’t even make it to the table, falling out of my fingers way too soon. I reached into my pocket for some finger moisturizer (my fingers were way too dry), assumed the correct wrist position, and threw again. This time the dice flew beautifully through the air, tightly grouped, spinning at the same rate, hit just in front of the wall, stuck the wall, and immediately died, not an inch apart. I had never done that before. It struck me that, soon, Preacher would be a holy terror at the casino. Thank you, Dom. I repeated the beautiful throws 3 times more.

Dom said, “Good shots.”, turned to go deal with the next problem student. I hollered out to him, “Dom, you can beat me about the head and shoulders any time you want.” Dom said, “I will.” Ha, I had just been schooled by the master, and the results are amazing. Rose and the excellent instructors (Nick at Night, Randman, Dr Crapology, Missouri Rick, Sandman, Glue Factory- and others whose handles I forget – don’t want to give real names) then assisted me in making the adjustments part of my muscle memory, which I work on daily at home.

In the lectures (questions were welcomed and many were asked), Dom walked everyone through the GTC betting strategies, the math and science behind it, and personal experiences.

Saturday and Sunday was intense and rewarding. Of course, we ended this class with the No 7’s competition. No smack talk this time. Each team had 2 representatives, of which I was one for my team. Each shooter would throw until 20 throws were made with no 7’s or stop when a 7 was made. If more than one person made it to 20 throws, then those shooters would go into Sudden Death, taking turns until one made a 7, and the other did not. When my turn came, I stepped up to the table, and I then held up the dice and said, “Thou shalt not Skinny.” Well, the dice obeyed, and I made 20 rolls with no Skinny. Two of us made it to the runoff. Myself and HowieDude. During my first 20 throws with no 7, HowieDude’s teammates did their best to distract me. Acacius, like the insect he’s named after, pulled a dirty trick. He took down the sign from throwing Station 7, and pranced around the table like a bikini clad beauty at a wrestling match, holding the 7 sign above his head, saying, “Round 7, Round 7, …” I saw the sign and heard the laughter, but I was focused enough to not realize what the insect was trying to do – make me think about throwing a 7. I remember having a passing thought, “Round 7? I think there were more than 15 before me.” Sorry, Acacius, you insect, ha, didn’t work. I made it to 20 throws, no 7 showing it’s cursed face.

During the runoff, I went first. This time, I forgot to instruct the dice. Consequently, my first throw was a 4-3. HowieDude then threw, successfully avoiding the Skinny, winning the No 7 competition. Of course I forgave him, ha, and congratulated him on his hard fought win. We agreed to meet at a casino that night.

At the end on Sunday, I returned to my room, had dinner, soaked my tired bones in the tub, and took a nap. I awoke fresh and ready to hit the tables for some fun. A number of GTC students were at the tables. Eventually, my SR 2 position opened up. I texted HowieDude to let him know we had table positions. It took a while, but I got the dice and had an ok roll. No one was counting, so I don’t know how many rolls any of us made. A good while later, I got the dice again. I noticed HowieDude had made it to the table, along with BonyJoe and BonyMomma on Stick Left. BonyJoe was laying down large dinero, as he is prone to do. I had a very good roll. As I said, I don’t know how many rolls, but when I was done, I had quadrupled my buy-in, a new normal. BonyJoe was up a record amount for that weekend, I believe. HowieDude came over and said that at another casino before joining me that night, he had lost all of his winnings from the No 7’s contest (it’s not nice to defeat Preacher), but he won it all back and more during my roll. It was a great night, great fun, and a great way to finish the class.

All in all, this was such a rewarding experience! I am confidant that, with continued practice, my skill set has been greatly enhanced. I would be proud and happy to join any of the Refreshers I met, at any casino, as good as I saw them all to be. And, I look forward to seeing more of the talent I saw among the Primers.

I will be at the first class for 2018 (Vegas?) and hope to see many or all of you there.

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