Several weeks ago, I reached out to the WI Six Shooters about where they play and such and even talked to gman on the phone a little. Through those posts, Berto reached out to see where I lived and such and we discovered that we like shooting at the same house and met up last Tuesday for a session. While there, someone walked up asking if we had the same mutual friend and discovered WE DID; some guy name Dominic. After shooting Tuesday, an OK day for shooting 14′ SL2 without practicing that position, we exchanged contact info. Scooter reached out this week and put together a very nice trip to NW Hoosierland to which I believe 8 of us showed up. Knowing there were 4-5 of us shooting, I started practicing from SL3 on my 12′ so I could shoot from SL2 on the expected 14′ tables that always open before their 12′.

Now to thank Rose and Doc. But first, kudos again to all of the GTC teachers from the Shreveport class for the fixed grip, setup, and throw. Ok, back to Rose…. during the open house in Shreveport, Rose and I were practicing at a station and discussing this and that. She said one thing at just the right moment where it stuck. I may have heard it before, but this was the one that stuck. It was to throw to the rail. She noticed that when my shot is best is when my hand extends to where it ends up right between my eyes and the rail. I’ve been using this in practice ever since.

OK, Doc’s turn. In one of the discussions here, Doc noted that both him and Rose have edged down their fingers a little on the grip to give them a little more control. I worked that into my practice as well, and I’m getting able to tell when I need that deeper finger, just a smidgen, and when less is needed. As I practiced from 12′ SL3, I really needed the fingers down as when I added the power for the extra spot (should have had this for CT, right Bob?), I lost a lot of control and gained a wobble. As soon as I lowered the fingers, they started looking much better. So 2 solid days of practice from another position left and I felt better.

Now to today, I arrived and the gang was in position on a freshly opened table, we had all but 3-4 positions on the right end; but had everything from SR2 to the left base dealer. Berto took up SL2 and I took SL3 and shot from SL2, with Artful Dodger at R2, Scooter at R1, Square Dice at L1, and 3 for blocking on the left end. We had some nice hands, lots of 4, 6, 8, 10s throughout the day. I did the best I’ve ever done as a package on my own hands (shooting, betting). I had 2 losing hands, and 2 winning hands, one of which matched my 35-roll hand best in live play (1 point, 22 paying hits) and gave me a solid profit for the day.

Today’s results once again proves the value of the GTC family, the things we all bring to the table, even the littlest things that we’ve tweaked or the big ones we’ve sledge-hammered, can be useful hints to correct the flaws, strengthen our grip, throw, betting, etc. It’s been a 2 year road for me so far with GTC, but it’s all adding up and helping. Thanks again to Alligator Rose, Dr. Crapology, Berto, and Scooter for today’s good day and great start to 2016!!!

Don

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