I have been meaning to write this for a while now but I just kept getting sidetracked.
Golden touch Craps recently celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary. I have been lucky enough to have been bouncing around her for most of that time.
So much has changed since I first signed on here. Having been a member of many of the open boards in the pre-GTC days, I was used to a lot of spam posts and Get rich quick schemes. This board had no spam, no one trying to sell a system. This board was dedicated to providing information.
Since the beginning of my time here, I have seen that a core group of posters keep the board humming. Most people just lurk. Many people have come and gone never to be heard from again. Even some of the most active posters are gone. Some just disappeared, some left after leaving one last vitriolic post. That is their choice to leave but I think that often the problem was they took things very personally. This is a pastime not a way of life.
Over the years the board had changed, a new web host and look. I preferred the old one, I guess I was used to it. The classes have gone from a an EXPERIMENT to an EXPERIENCE. Frank and Dom have said that after their first class, which was held in AC, with the Goddess and Sand-trap in attendance they considered refunding the tuition. Now the classes are professionally run, in locations around the country. They are several days long events with specialized instruction for all levels. Classes in other games have been added such as Pai Gow Poker.
The GTC model has developed former students to rise to become instructors. This is an amazing accomplishment.
Personally, I have learned so much from from being here. GTC members have demonstrated vast knoweledge on many topics. I have also had some great opportunities here. I’ve gone from a poster to now having written a bunch of articles as a "Gaming Guru". I have even had an article published in a gaming travel print magazine.
I also made a bunch of cyber space Internet friends. Shared my knowledge (limited as it may be) on a bunch of topics, here and through emails , with GTCers from around the country. I never would have know them without this board.
We are all 10 years older. My hair is grayer and thinning and I am fatter then ten years ago, but I am pretty content with my life. In my time here I retired from one job and started a new one. I moved from NY to NJ. I play LESS these days even though I live only an hour from AC. I guess there are a few different reasons for that, I have less vacation time in this job. My regular day off in my previous job were often weekdays so I could hit AC at quieter times, now I am off weekends and I just do not care for the rowdy club crowd there on the weekends. Also my NY friends were more knock around guys. Here in NJ my neighbors are not big on gambling.
One of my GTC memories involves my daughter now a senior in college. Around Fifteen years of age she became very ill. For months and we bounced from doctor to doctor. Specialists of ever sort. Finally out of frustration I put a post up about it. Frank sent me a private email with a suggestion. We had previously visited a specialist in the field he suggested, that doctor was unable to identify the problem. With nothing to lose we tried another doctor in that field. Guess what? Frank was on the right track!
My daughter then began receiving proper treatment. There is more to this that I am not getting into here but I will never forget the kindness the beautiful AP extended to my daughter and my wife who was at her wits end with worry.
Reading this over, I see this post is taking a turn I was not intending. So back to the anniversary. Ten years for any business is an amazing accomplishment. In this care GTC entered a field that was really uncharted and developed a BRAND. One that others try to emulate. A bunch of dice influencing website popped up during the last decade, few remain.
I want to thank Frank and Dom for their hard work. I want to also thank the many wonderful people I have interacted with over the years. Here is to many more years of "this thing of ours".
Replies:
Posted by: TP1 on December 1, 2012, 2:03 pm
You made some great points. Although I took my first class in 2008, I was learning the method through books and the dvd since 2006. I agree that there has been growth in the organization and an increased amount of GTC members even during the last few years of the struggling economy. Frank and Dom have done an excellent job growing the classes and instruction level.
Your point of Frank’s assistance reminds us of how many of the GTC instructors and players have all become great friends and supported each other through many issues in addition to craps.
Posted by: Dr Crapology on December 1, 2012, 2:34 pm
Alligator Rise and I were BJ card countesr and "wanta be dice controllers who really did not know what we were doing with dice control. We were trying dice control using the information I had gathered from some of Frank’s books when I took the course in Tunica about 6 years ago. Rose took the course 6 months later in Vegas. Who knew I would eventually become a teachesr of dice control along with my wife, the beautiful Alligator Rose. I will always thank Frank for letting me use the phrase "the beautiful" that he uses so successfully for AP.
More than anything else, are the friendships we have developed over the years with people from all over the country who I would never have met had it not been for GTC. GTC is like a second family for us.
Frank and Dom make a great duo—Frank the entertainer and Dom the business man who keeps everything on balance. They really compliment each other. We love them both.
Doc and Alligator Rose
Posted by: Finisher on December 4, 2012, 9:35 pm
Good Rolling. 😀 😀
