One year ago today, a certain place opened its sliding steel doors for the first time.
In this place, a lot of firsts were made. Raked cash games. The Big table. A regular Multi-table tournament. Basic rules and etiquette in a poker room. The first 20-hour game! Heck, it was the first texas hold'em poker cardroom ever established.

It was a place which was eventually called a second home by most people who play the game.

In this sanctuary of poker, individuals who might have not even shared the same room together were playing poker at the same table. A retired Colonel, a canadian rapper, a shady, S.O.B. attorney, a student, a Pro basketball player, a Mayor, a model, a scion of one of the most powerful men in the country, etc., etc., the list just goes on and on. Rich, middle class, poor, there were no boundaries of class or education. The beauty of poker in it's purest level.

Hundreds if not thousands of hands of poker were played, dozens of players developed immense skills, hundreds of hours of conversation were exchanged, ideas were born, people bonded, and friendships were etched in stone.

To everyone who ever stepped into that smoky, cold air after opening that sliding steel door, who stepped into a part of history, thanks for being there. Some might say it was a flash in the pan, given how long it lasted. But for a lot of us, it was a bolt of lighting. Seen by a few, but the thunder heard by all. It came at the speed of light and left as fast. But it started a fire that is still burning to this day.

After all is said and done, we will never forget.

Let's toast one for The BBC, that state of mind. Cheers!