I started on my GTC adventure in October of 2011 in Las Vegas. I took the Primer class and was so excited about learning how to beat the Casinos. It was wonderful. I met Dominator, the other instructors and students. I soaked up as much as I could, made lots of notes and decided I wanted to learn how to beat the Casinos at Craps. I’ve taken 2 Refresher classes, and the Advanced class (which totally rocked my world about shooting the dice). So far, so good. The “BUT” here is, you cannot just learn about the shot, you need to practice. I bought a receiving station from GTC and started throwing. I could see I was very, very far away from being able beat the house at the Craps table.

I remembered a saying from one of my mentors in another area of my life. His name was Earl. Earl told me the following: “Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes PERMANENT. PERFECT practice makes perfect.” Earl taught me not to “play” at practice, but to be very serious at it and to put 100% of myself into my practice. In our GTC world, I needed to make every time I shot the dice at home PERFECT. Not just go through the motions and sort of “lob” the dice to the end of the table, but to practice all of the elements of Dice Control perfectly every time because, this would become the way I would throw the dice in the Casino. I bought a throwing station and things started looking a little bit better. I then bought the ½ table and I could see things start to take a turn for the better. I made sure I was not wearing my slippers when practicing at night, but the shoes I bought for playing craps. I was fortunate enough to take a coaching session from Bob “Mr. Finesse.” He told me he practices with dice he buys at the Casinos (which have not been drilled) and practices with them before a trip so he can get used to the feel and weight of the actual dice he will be playing with when he get to the tables. This also helped my practice become better, more perfect.

For those that know me, you know I have been “in between” jobs for a few months. My normal practice time was after my wife went to bed and I would “sort of” practice for an hour or so. I have had the opportunity to practice 3 – 4 hours a day for the past 3 months. Last weekend I was able to see the fruits of my labor. I did not end up with a winning trip, but many winning sessions. I had several hands in the 20’s, one at 32 and one at 40. I can see my shot looking much better both at home and at the Casino. I can feel that the muscle memory is starting to work for my shot, and for all aspects of my shot.

So, I want to say “thank you” to ALL of the GTC instructors for the help over the past several years. The length of this journey is in no way a reflection on the GTC program or the instructors, but on my finally deciding to “get serious” about having a great dice throw, and doing perfect practice to get there.

My old friend Earl is absolutely right: “Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes PERMANENT. PERFECT practice makes perfect.”

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