Full Tilt and Pokerstars Withdrawal Options Update

Date: Thu, Aug 21, 2008 Internet

Here is an update on the current withdrawal methods available to poker players at Full Tilt and Pokerstars.

Full Tilt Withdrawal Options


The Ultra PrePaid Phone Card service is still available to the players at Full Tilt. There haven't been any problems reported yet with this service and all of their transactions seem to have gone pretty smoothly. The only issue with this company is their short track record.

The majority of the problems that players have encountered when trying to withdrawal their money from Full Tilt have occurred when trying to request a cash-out by check. If you want to read about some of the events leading up to this point, you can read these past blog entries; Full Tilt Withdrawal Problems, More Full Tilt Withdrawal Problems

In the past few weeks some players have been able to withdrawal their funds by check from Full Tilt while others have been getting denied.

Some people have exchanged several emails with the support staff before they are able to accomplish anything. In many cases, players have been able to get their check withdrawals approved, only to find out a few days later that there was a problem.

For those of you who don't know, Full Tilt's support staff is mostly run by a company called Pocket Kings Ltd which is based in the UK. They typically will not deal with Full Tilt's patrons over the phone, but if you play your cards right, you can get in touch with someone who may provide some useful information.

It appears as though the recent problems were been caused by a combination of many factors. Certain bank accounts held by Full Tilt were closed for various reasons, one of these reasons I still suspect was the recent seizure of Bodog's funds from the Nevada State Bank.

Right now all players are being allowed to cash out via check. I can't really say that this will continue to be true, but right now anyone can request a check.

Full Tilt has also removed the Moneygram cash out option. People that got to use this option said it was pretty convenient, but it appears as though this is a thing of the past.


Pokerstars Withdrawal Options


Pokerstars is still running relatively smoothly at this point. They removed their cash pick-up option around the same time that Full Tilt did this week, but their checks are still flowing freely. All players including Americans can request a cashout by check at anytime from the Pokerstars cashier.

I mentioned in my last blog that I had stopped playing on Full Tilt for the most part. I'm not a big fan of the prepaid phone card system. I guess I'm just not a fan of uncertainty in general when it comes to cashing out my money.

I've been spending most of my playing time at Pokerstars lately. Their site has about twice as many players at their tables, so their tournaments tend to have a lot more people.

I also opened up an account at Cake Poker because I haven't heard about any problems cashing out funds over there. Cake Poker has been around for a few years and I had always heard that the lower stakes cash games were pretty good there. Since I don't play in the big $200/$400 games at Full Tilt, this is just fine with me. If you are interested in playing at Pokerstars or Cake you can navigate there through these links; Pokerstars, Cake Poker.

If you are not American, you have quite a few more deposit and withdrawal options at Pokerstars. Rather than discuss them all here, I'm just gonna post this screen shot. If you would like to read more you can click on the image below to access the Pokerstars withdrawal option information.

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Atlantic City Revisited - Return to The Taj

Date: Wed, Aug 20, 2008 Internet

I went to AC on Tuesday. A real good friend of mine had planned this out so webooked a hotel room at the Taj Mahal. The good thing about the Taj is that it's right next to the Showboat so I could always play there if the Taj wasn't doing it for me.

I haven't been to Taj Mahal in awhile, the last time I was at the Taj was maybe over a year ago. What a difference a year makes though. There's new carpet, new paint, it's brighterand they've added a bad beat jackpot. The room looksgreat, better than before when the room was low lit and the carpet and paint were equivalent to a bad 80's haircut. But the best thing about the Taj that didn't change were the players...but more on that later.

We arrive at the Taj at about 2pm in the afternoon. We check in and chill for a bit in our room. We're watching Olympic Handball and we put a friendly wager on the game. I tookSpain and he took Poland.Spain was dominating the first half but Poland came back. The game was tiedlate but Poland got the go ahead goal with 8 seconds left in the game.Spain had a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime but they couldn't get a shot off in the last 8 seconds. Reminds meof the New York Knicks. I'll admit the game was exciting to watch. Hey any game that goes down to the last second has got to be fun even if we didn't understand the rules of the game completely. We watch a little table tennis action also, he took the US and I took Singapore. I won that wager so we're even.

After thewatching the Olympics for a few hours while we wound down from the driveup we decide to go to the Showboat for some real gambling. I register for the 7pm tourney and he heads straight for the BlackJack tables.

I've written about the Showboat tourneys before, it's a shove fest after the first hour because the blinds are so high. I've played in a couple of these so I know what my strategy is. Gamble early on and hope to collect enough chips to counter the coin flips I'm going to facing later in the tournament. I build my chip stack to 15k when the 300-600 levels starts (3rd level).

I lose 4k when my A/Q falls to K/10 shortie. The blinds are now 400-800 and I have about 9k now. I'm in the BB and I wake up with JJ. Everybody folds and the SB raises to 2k. I shove and he calls. He has me covered. He shows A/8 offsuit.

An ace on the flop ends my tournament. He said he thought I was bluffing. He admitted it was a loose call but he felt I was pushing with air. I actually wanted to think I was bluffing and the plan worked but if not for the fickle poker gods I would be still in the tournament. Oh, well there's always the cash games.

I buy-in for $250 and get seated in the first position. I personally like sitting next to the dealer. There's more leg room and I don't have to worry about the players next to me peeking at my cards. I'm playing pretty tight early on, folding mostly and trying to pick up any cues I can from the players. The lady in 6th position likes to play suited cards, the players in 4th and 5th position are weak passive, they've limped in with A/K, QQ those types of hands. The older guys are calling and gambling way too much. The player in seat 8 is super aggressive. The player in seat 10 is short stacked ($60) and pushing when he has a hand.

During the second orbit I'm in the BB with 4/6 clubs. There's a weak raise from EP to $6 and I get 5 callers. I come along for the ride and see what the flop brings. I get an OE straight draw but I check. EP person bets out $10, two players call. There's $80 in the pot. I'm getting 8-1 on a OE straight draw plus I can backdoor a flush also, I'm getting good odds so I call. The turn hits my straight. I check. EP bets out another $10, the short stack pushes his last $40 and is all in. I raise all-in to block anyone else from outdrawing me and everyone folds. A 5 hits the river to fill his boat. He shows 77.

Later on, I'm on the button with 9/7 clubs. It's a family pot and limp in. 8 players. I hit top two pair on the flop. Passive weak guy bets out $6. There's one caller and I raise to $25. Weak passive guy calls. The turn is blank and he checks. I bet out $40. He moans out loud about his luck. He asks me if I hit two pair. I know now he has a pocket pair because he's the guy who limps in with any pocket pair lower than QQ. He says he has a good hand and he calls. An Jack hits the river. This time he bets out $25.

Interesting. Seems like a value bet especially coming from him. The bet is screaming please call me. I'm guessing he hit a set and slowplayed me but for what's in the pot, I have to call the $25. He shows JJ. He hit his set on the river. Oh well, the cards are going against me but I pick up valuable information on this guy. He'll only bet when he has the goods and this helps me out in a hand later on against him.

I'm stuck $180 plus the $65 for the tournament. Not a good start but I know I can win back my money if I get a little help from the cold deck that I've been fighting. I reload $100 so I have chips to play with.

I win a decent pot when I hit the nut flush vs. a guy with Q high flush. I win another decent pot when my A/J hits top two pair and get paid off when a shortie misses his flush draw.

The shortie who cracked my straight earlier takes me down when he hits a straight on the river to counter my set. I win the side pot though so I broke even on that hand.

It's about 11pm and I've fought my way back to being down only $50 or so when I get into another hand with the weak passive dude who hit his set of Jacks on the river. I have A/5 suited on the button. An EP raises to $6, three callers so I come along for the ride. The flop is A,9,9. Everyone checks and I bet out $20. Only the weak passive player calls. If this guy is in the hand then I'm probably out kicked so I'm slowing this thing down. The turn is another 9. That's a good card for me. Now I have a full boat so we're tied at least and the only hand that beats me is quad 9s. There's no reason to bet here as I'm pretty sure we're at least tied but there is a chance that he has the case 9. Based on his play he could very well have A/9 suited, K/9 suited or 10/9 suited, plus he's done this before checking and waiting for the other player to bet for him. He checks and I check.

The river is a blank and instead of checking this time he bets out $50. This is the same thing he did to me when he hit his set of Jacks on the river earlier. I go into the tank, I look at him. Usually he's talking the hand through out loud or complaining about his lousy luck, this time he's quiet as a church mouse. After a minute he calls for time on me.Maybe it was the way hecalled for time (too confident, too assured), maybe it was the way it looked and acted but I mucked my Ace. I offer him a buck to show his cards, heproudly showed his case 9.This was a pure read. I'm not usually that good at reading people but this guy was an easy read, he always bet or re-raised when he had the goods on the river and would just call people down when he had a monster. Even a donkey like me has his moments.

11:30pm my buddy comes over and says to me he's hungry. I tell him I'll play one more orbit and then we'll get some grub. I'm still down about $50-$65 but that's managable. It sure beats being down $200 like I was a few hours ago. The shortie who cracked my straight with his full boat is still hanging around with about $90 or so. I'm2 from the buttonwhen the dealer deals me two cowboys. There's the usually dead money limp ins and the shortie raises to $10. I flat call for the trap. Everyone else folds.

The flop is all low cards. He bets out $20. I don't think he has a set because based on his earlier play he'dalwayscheck when he held a big hand hoping for the check raise. I re-pop him $50 he moves all-in and I call. He has QQ. The turn and river doesn't help him and I finally stack this guy. Just like that I'm positive on the session. I leave the table with a $49 profit.

It's midnight and all the restaurants inside the Showboat are closed. So we go to back to the Taj and order room service. We both order burgers and a couple of appetizers but the room service person tells us it's going to be a 45 minute wait before our food gets to us. We decide to rent a movie while we wait for our food. The movie we rented was called "Street Kings". Keanu Reeves was in the movie and most of the time any movie with Keanu Reeves in it would suck but I had read that this was a decent movie about crooked and dirty cops in L.A. Sort of like Training Day but with more violence.It wasn't half bad. Forest Whitaker was in it. The guy from the TV show "House" was in it also. It's not Oscar worthy but the plot, the action (alot of violence and shoot outs)and story made it worthwhile.

It's about2:30 am or soby the time we finish our food and the movie ends. My buddy is dead tired and falls asleep. I tried to sleep but I couldn'tso I decide to go down to the poker room at the Taj.

I buy-in for $200. The late night crowd at the Taj was interesting. I've played late night before and only the hardcore degenerates, the local "pros", poker dealers and drunk guys are still left. This could be good or bad depending on the situation.

I'm seated at a table with two guys I know from playing in AC before. I've written about this guy also in the past. One guy is named Brian. He's the "rounder" in AC. The dealers know him by name and I know from past conversations that he plays poker a lot. I've played with him at the Showboat before. I guess he's making his rounds. He's super aggressive and loose and he's a bit of a jerk also but hey he gives action so who am I to complain about his bad breath and general bad attitude.

This session I was smoking hot. The table is aggressive and a little loose. I'm on the button with J/8 clubs. Super aggressive guy bets out $15. Two callers. I call also hoping to catch a little luck. The flop gives me two pair. Super aggressive guy bets out $40, I decide to trap and flat call. I float in this spot hoping to take him down on the turn for an extra bet. The turn fills my boat. He checks and I check. The river is an Ace. Now I'm cooking. I'm hoping he hit his Ace on the river and will bet out. He does indeed bet out $50. I re-raise him $50 and he calls. He had A/Q. I take down a nice pot.

Later on I'm on the button with 7/8 hearts. 4 players limp in and I raise it up to $12. Two callers. The flop gives me an open ended straight draw but there's also two diamonds on the flop. It gets checked to me and I bet out $25. I get a caller. The turn fills my straight. It gets checked to me and I bet out $25 again. Villain flat calls again. The river is a blank. Villain this time bets out $50. I guess he hit two pair on the river or he's slow played a set but I have the nuts and I'm open for business. The thing is how much do I bet to get paid off without scaring him off the hand, also if he's putting me on a missed flush draw then I can get him to call a bet that looks like I'm bluffing and trying to buy the pot. He seems like a solid player so I opt for the big value bet that can look like a bluff. I settle on $125. I basically re-raised him just a bit more than the minimum. I think this is a good bet. If he's got two pair he might call just for showdown value, if he's got a set then he's going all-in anyway so I don't want to scare him away if he does indeed hold two pair by going all-in. He thinks for a bit and calls. I show him my straight. He mucks.

By this time theAC rounder"pro" Brian and his buddy has changed seats. They are now sitting directly to my left. Both of them. I tell them I liked it better when I had position against them. They chuckle. It's true. Position in poker is crucial, especially against loose aggressive cannons like Brian and his buddy. They said I've been getting good cards so they wanted to sit there. It's true I've been blessed by the poker gods this session. I've gotten a few monster hands that got me paid off. But the real reason I suspect is that they'll have position on me, which isn't a good thing.

5am and I'm on point. I'm up $300 and counting. The table is respecting my bets and raises a little too much while Brian and his buddy are trying to stack me. I go back to playing tight, only raising when I have a really good starting hand. A shortie with about $80 has been shoving a lot lately. He's probably on tilt after he lost a huge hand when his baby flush lost out to a Q high flush (this was a $400 plus hand). He's now pushing when there's a pot of $20 or more preflop. I'm middle position and an EP raises to $12. I peek down and I see two aces. I'm open for business again. I flat call hoping that the shortie guy will do his all-in move. He does. EPfolds and I call.

He flips over 66 and I take down the pot. The original raiser laments that he would've hit a set on the turn if he had stayed in but I tell him if he calls I'm pushing all-in anyway and there's no way he'd call with 77 in that spot. He agreed. I'll admit I got lucky that hand, everything had to fall neatly into place for me to take down that hand. First, I needed a raise in EP so I could limp. Then I needed the shortie who was pushing to have a decent enough hand to push with. Thankfully, it worked out for me.

6am. I'm still running hot and I get my stack up to the $700 range after I make a good read and river call against the super aggressive guy. I had 88 he had A/K ($150 pot).

Up until this point Brain, his poker lackey and I haven't been in too many pots against each other. We were involved in a few but not for any decent sized pots. That changed near the end of my session.

I get Q/10 clubs on the button. There's a few limpers and I raise to $8 because I'm feeling good and I've been running hot. Brian on the BB calls and I get another caller from EP. The flop comes out A, 8, 4 with two clubs. Brian bets out $15. EP calls and I call. The turn is another club. Wow, this is what it feels like to run super hot. Brain checks, EP checks and I bet out $40. Brain calls and EP folds. The river is a blank. Brian checks. I bet out $50 and he re-pops me $65.

I pay off his nut flush. I was really thinking of raising him in this spot but here's a guy who's trying to make a living playing cards and I kind of know his style, I might havefolded if the bet was bigger because then I would put him on a bluff or the nutsbut since it was only double my bet and he'd been playing pretty conservative against meanytime we were involved in hands together soI justfigured raising would put me in a bad spot, so I decided to just flat call.

7am. Now I'm getting tired. I also remember some advice from Ksnyde (nice shout out huh? lol). Hehad recently commented to me on a previous post on why during one session I didn't leave with a profit instead of giving it all back. This was the same situation. The table is aggressive and loose and I'm up a decent amount and I feel that I can win some more but this time I quit with a profit. I count my chips and I have $585. I cash out and before I head up to my room, I blow $35 on a hand of blackjack.

Hey, there's more to Atlantic City than just poker you know...

More Stories and Adventures from Atlantic City

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Polaris | The Artificial Intelligence Poker Bot

Date: Mon, Aug 18, 2008 Internet

The last few months I've been coming across a lot of interviews with Bryce Paradis. Bryce is mostly known for winning millions of dollars while playing poker on the internet. He is also an instructor at one of the internet's leading poker tutorial websites. More recently his name has been coming up because of the consulting that he's been doing with the Computer Poker Research Group at the University of Alberta.

The Group's goal was to create an artificial intelligence software program that was capable of beating the best poker players in the world. The latest version of this poker bot is known as Polaris. The group's AI work is pretty complicated, so I'm going to avoid talking about algorithms and things of that nature in this blog. If you are interested in reading about the technical aspects of Polaris, you can visit the CPRG's website through the link below. There are also links there to the academic papers that have been published about the project. University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group.

So why is Polaris becoming a hot topic all of the sudden? At a recent gaming expo there was a series of 6 separate 1 vs. 1 matches between Polaris and the world's best limit holdem players. Each of the matches lasted for 500 hands. During each game, the human player would effectively "switch seats" with the bot half-way through the match. They were then dealt the identical cards that the bot was dealt during the first portion of the game. The other relevant cards such as the community cards were also dealt identically for each hand as it was played the second time. This was done to try and eliminate any variance that may have resulted from a streak of bad cards.

Here's the results from the recent set of matches. Polaris-3 Humans-2 and 1 tie.

In order to qualify as a win, the player or the bot must finish the match with a minimum gain of at least 25 small bets. This was meant to prevent a small difference in chips from qualifying as a win or loss...mostly for the sake of the player's ego.

So what's the big deal about this? There is a lot of money being exchanged at the online poker tables. There has been some concern that Polaris might fall into the hands of someone who would want to use it to cheat. These concerns are not without warrant. The security teams at some of the online poker rooms have discovered bots in the past.

However, there are many reasons that it's unlikely that anyone will ever be using this software to beat the online poker games. The biggest reason is that Polaris is an extremely complex software program. It's taken a whole team of people several years to develop the software and learn how to apply it.

It's unlikely that there is anyone out there who would be interested in using Polaris to cheat, that also possesses the knowledge and resources they would need to implement the software.

If you would like to get an idea of how complex some of this stuff is, you can go to the CPRG's website and read Darse Billings' dissertation on Algorithms and Assessment in Computer Poker.

It's hard for me to give Polaris it's due diligence in this blog because of my lack of computer science knowledge. If you are interested in learning more about the Polaris poker bot or the recent series of heads up matches, you can hear a recent interview with Bryce Paradis through this link; http://pokercast.twoplustwo.com/pokercast.rss. Or visit the University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group.


I'll leave this blog with a Mike Matusow quote; "As bad as people play nowadays, if you have to cheat to win at online poker you might as well just quit".

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More Withdrawal Problems at Full Tilt

Date: Thu, Aug 14, 2008 Internet

A quick update for everyone; I've been reading several different complaints from around the poker community that Full Tilt's cash pick-up option has just been suspended. Although a few people have said that they were able to withdrawal their money without any problems, it looks like the majority of people who requested cash outs have had their funds returned to their full tilt accounts.

There is also more rumors about all of these troubles being related to Bodog and their issues. I hate to say it, but I sort of saw this coming. You can read more about how this all got started here; Full Tilt Check Withdrawal Problems.

Right now Full Tilt Poker is in the middle of doing something with the Russian version of their affiliate client, so it looks like they will have their hands full.

So what should you do if you have money on there? As I've said before, your money is always safe on Full Tilt. It's much safer on there than it would be with any of the payment processors. There is still a few ways to get your money off of Full Tilt. I think that your best option might be to try out the new Ultra Prepaid Phone Card withdrawal method.

I've yet to see any testimonials from Full Tilt players who have used the service...but also no complaints. I'll be sure to post some more updates here as things get sorted out. For now I suggest that players head elsewhere to play. I've been playing on Pokerstars lately because they don't seem to be experiencing many of these problems. You can check out their website and software through this link; Pokerstars

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Exotic Gambling Vacation Spots

Date: Wed, Aug 13, 2008 Internet

It's hard to imagine a place that can compare to Las Vegas. Although it would be hard to imagine that anyplace could be as unique and outrageous as Vegas, there are some gambling meccas that are just as worthy of a week's vacation.

Sun City, South Africa


Sun City is probably least known place that I'll mention. I haven't been there in a long time. The last time I was there, I was too young to even set foot in a casino. Most of my memories from that trip are of me trying to sleep in the back of a minivan. Be warned, it's more than a 2 hour drive from the Johannesburg airport to Sun City.

Once you arrive, you are in for a nice treat. Sun City is sort of a jewel in the middle of the desert, not unlike vegas. The man-made jungles and resorts seem to rise out of nowhere. Although there are many game preserves in the surrounding area, a typical vacation in Sun City bears no resemblance to any kind of Safari.

This is a place mostly developed for parasailing and lounging by the pool. Don't get me wrong, South Africa has lots of great stuff to do, but when most people think of South Africa, they think of Landrovers and Giraffes. I should mention that we did go on a safari for about a week. I'll sum it all up for you in 1 run-on sentence. We had a guide who had only seen a TV a few times in his life, we had a hippo named Esmeralda that bathed in our pool every night, and I got to see a crocodile that killed was said to have killed 17 people.

Now... back to poker. Sun City does have some tournaments with respectable buy-ins on occasion, and there are also plans to host a 1 million dollar tournament this fall. However, if you are just looking to grind it out at a poker table, I'm not sure that it would be worth the hassle of flying all the way to South Africa.

I'd suggest this more for the people who are interested in taking a nice vacation and using the poker table as an excuse to ditch the wife and kids for a little while.

Here is a couple of pictures of the Cascades Hotel, where we stayed in several years ago.



Below; Looking out of the glass elevator from the back of the Cascades hotel.




The Cascades hotel is right across the street from one of the casinos, but is actually one of the smaller hotels in the immediate area. Below are some more photos of the other Resorts in Sun City.



Above; The Palace of the Lost City
Below; The Sun City Hotel








Macau, China


Macau is quickly becoming a Mecca for Asian poker players. With almost 1 billion citizens, China is somewhat of an untapped market.

Recently the city has hosted several large poker tournaments. There has also been a number of other events there, including conferences for the poker affiliate industry. Although gambling is limited in China, Macau is bringing a lot of growth to the area and it looks like this is going to become a hot spot on the international poker scene. The amount of financial growth in Macau exceeds that of Las Vegas or any other gambling city.

The Sands Corporation has recently expanded it's operations to Macau, opening the Venetian Macao Resort-Hotel. Harrah's has also shown some interest in developing their brand here.

In September the Asia Pacific Poker Tour will be hosting an event in Macau. From what I hear, the games there tend to be pretty juicy because the majority of players have little or no experience. Right now there are satellite tournaments running on Pokerstars where players can win a $6,000 prize package for as little as $2.20 or 50 FPPs. You can qualify for the upcoming event in Macau through pokerstars by clicking on this link; Pokerstars.

Below is a photo of the Venetian in Macau followed by some photos of the skyline.

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Extreme Wingsuit Flying

Date: Sun, Aug 10, 2008 Internet

Something completely unrelated to poker, but absolutely necessary for the blog... some of you may have seen the wingsuit before...I first saw some of these guys in a Warren Miller film back in the 90's. You could say that they are getting pretty good at this...now this is just insane.

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I'm a great player (at the bar)

Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2008 Internet

About ten years ago, I had an epiphany about playing poker. I was sitting at the bar after work and a friend starts rambling about a hand that he had. He was playing limit holdem and raised before the flop with two red aces, and got four callers. Flop came down 5-6-7 two clubs. He bet out, two callers the button raised and everyone called. Turn comes the 2 of clubs. Our hero bets out again, one caller and the button raised, our hero three bet, and...I stopped him right there. Ok you three bet there, were you drunk? Of course not, he replied, then I asked him then what were you thinking, there is no way you have the best hand here! The only two hands you beat are A-7 or a pocket pair. If someone calls a raise before the flop, raises you on the flop and the turn, he's got aces beat. He's probably hoping you have aces and you can't get away from it. I could think of a ton of hands that he could have that you couldn't beat. He then agrees with me and we start talking about politics or someone at work that is bugging us. Here's the funny part, I made an almost identical mistake, only worse, about a week ago. The point here is I know exactly how to play that hand, I just didn't, and I'm going to examine why.

I'm sure you've all heard of tilt before, yes it creeps into your game, and in reality when I started I really only noticed it when it was really bad, but there are several different kinds, and this is one of them. We could start out by the fact that I was playing after work, which starts you off at a disadvantage right there. It was a bad day, so i was pretty irritable before I even got going. Second of all, I didn't have a hand I could even see a flop with in the first two hours. Third, I forgot my cd player (yes I was playing long before they had ipods) and the guy next to me was driving me nuts. What the hand was isn't important, but I called four bets on the flop with top pair-decent kicker. I was fed up of not playing and I finally had a real hand, and I was going to play it until the river. I called three bets on the turn and two on the river. Of course I was up against a set and top two, so I was a distant third. So, why could this be so clear at the bar, and so unclear at the table. Simple, too many emotions involved. When you are talking about someone else's hand and it's not your money, and you are in a good mood, the right play is completely obvious. When you lose money, it affects your emotions. When you sit for two hours waiting for cards, you lose patience. When you have to put up with people you don't like, it weakens your defense against tilt creeping in.

Now knowing what happens, where do you go from here. Once i figured this out, the goal was to get to the point where I was thinking like i was at the bar, whenever I played poker. First thing I had to do was to be completely honest with myself, and realize when I wasn't playing my best game. Also, I had to try to see how long I could play my best game. After deciding this I decided to try an experiment. I started playing poker, one hour a day, no more no less, and playing perfect poker, with a very rigid set of rules, and following them to a tee. Once I was sure I could do that, I went to two hours, looking for things that set off my aggravation level, and doing my best not to let it into my game. After two months I got up to five hours with no problem. When I started doing this, I would play the lowest level game in the house, when i got to five hours, I was playing so well that I was playing in the mid-limit game and doing pretty well. Granted the swings are much larger in those games, and they'd cause much harsher emotional reactions, but I got to the point where if I knew i couldn't play my best game, I just got up and left.

In reality, playing your best game is the most important part to being a winning poker player. You could be the worlds best poker player, but if you only play your A game 2/3rds of the time, time in the "tiltbox" being a donkey could drain away a lot of the money you worked so hard to get.

Until next time...keep improving.

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Some Keys to Micro Stakes Online Play

Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2008 Internet

Playing online poker at the micro stakes tables is a lesson in patience.

That patience is rewarded when your opponents pay you off when you catch a monster hand.

That's the thing with micro stakes online. You can get your opponents to pay you off if you're not afraid to bet big.

On the flip side there are a lot of loose players playing at the micro stakes and who can blame them? They're playing for peanuts and a few dollars lost here and there isn't going to put them on welfare. So if they're going to risk a few dollars on a gutshot and hit then that's the price we pay for that loosey goosey style.

That's where you can help your bankroll by taking advantage of this looseness. I have developed some strategies that I have found to be successful at the micro levels and I have grinded out consistent profits by utilizing this strategy:

Adjust to the table you're playing at. If the table is loose then tighten up and if the table is tight then loosen up. If you've read up on basic poker strategy then this isn't new to you. After 60 hands or so you should be able to figure out what type of players you're playing against and adjust accordingly.

Beware of the minimum bet. This usually means a decent hand. This is just a basic guideline. Passive micro players want to get paid off when they land a big hand so they think that betting the minimum should get more players involved and thus paying them off. Don't fall into this mindset. When I see a passive player bet out the minimum I'll usually fold (even if I'm the B. Why should I give them action when they don't give me action?

On the flip side, do bet when you have a good hand. Always raise the standard 3-4x the BB when opening the pot. Don't be afraid to just win the blinds. If you bet the minimum and you allow seasoned players in cheap then you might have another "bad beat" story to tell your friends about.

Don't bluff as much. Bluffing at the micro stakes is virtually worthless. Many players will call off a few dollars with marginal hands that could have you beat. Only bluff against players who you know can lay down a hand.

Don't assume the other player is bluffing. Most players at these levels aren't going to put in a big bluff as much as you think. Some will and you should be aware of these types of players but for the most part if a player is betting strong usually they have the goods.

Play the weaker players first. At any given table there will be some strong aggressive players even at the micro levels. Why take them on when you can take money from the weak players? Again this goes back to the fundamentals of playing good poker...know the players you're playing against.

Do bet your hands for value. This is important because you'll be surprised at how many players will pay you off with meager holdings. For example you hit a set and you want to get paid off with it, so you decide to bet the minimum or something like 1/4 of the pot. Sure you'll win money this way but if you put in a decent bet or raise you'll be surprised at how many times you get paid off. Besides a side benefit of this is that the opponent might think you're bluffing and they'll pay you off. Even if they fold and you win a small pot that's ok also. The idea is to maximize your big hands when they come up and the only way to do that is to put out a nice sized bet. Eventually the weaker players will pay you off.

Avoid the coin flips for big pots. I know this might seem like weak poker but at the micro levels it's not such a bad strategy. Why risk a large portion of your buy-in on a 50/50 proposition when you know that you'll get paid off eventually when you're really ahead. In other words get your money in when you have a real advantage and get paid off on those hands rather than risking it on a coin flip.

Play solid ABC poker. Don't try and make moves or fancy plays at these levels. Most players just won't understand it.

Don't check when you hit a monster draw. Most basic players will check when they hit a huge hand such as a straight, flush or a set. So I do the opposite. I usually bet out or raise big when I've hit a monster draw. This is like reverse psychology. It will confuse them because they'll assume you're thinking on their level, which your'e not. For example, you hit your nut flush draw and you're first to act. Instead of checking, which is the obvious line on this, you're better off betting because your opponent might think you're bluffing and pay you off.

This is a basic guidline for playing the micro levels and by micro levels I mean 10NL-25NL tables.

I stick to this basic strategy as a guideline when I play the micros and I've been successful at it.

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Full Tilt Money Withdrawal Problems

Date: Thu, Aug 7, 2008 Internet

I've seen this industry at it's highest and lowest points. I got to see the poker rooms scatter like cockroaches when the UIGEA was passed. I also had funds seized for more than 6 months by the NY Department of Justice during Neteller's downfall.

A few weeks ago I had a check from Full Tilt bounce. It was returned stating "Account Closed". I thought this was a little bit odd, but it was the first time that this had happened to me in about 5 years of playing there. Full Tilt returned the funds to my poker account, and also sent an extra $100 for the inconvenience. I considered this ample and decided to go on my way.

It's important to note that at the same time...the U.S. government seized approximately 24 million dollars in funds from various bank accounts that Bodog held. One of the accounts that money was seized from was held at the Nevada State Bank. This is the same bank from which Full Tilt had issued my check that subsequently was returned.

In the days that followed I put 2 and 2 together and realized that Full Tilt had likely gotten wind of the seizure and closed their bank account to protect the money that was being held there. I thought this was actually a pretty smart move. An American bank is probably one of the last places that I would want Full Tilt to keep my money. I'd prefer to go through the hassle of having a check bounce instead of dealing with another Neteller-like situation.

I requested another withdrawal by check which was approved several days ago. I was just informed through email that the second check which was reissued to me by FT is also going to bounce if I try to cash it. Again, the funds have been returned, this time with an extra $25.

So what do I make of all of this? I'd hate to speculate as to how many bank accounts FT has opened and closed in the past few weeks. I know that I had 3 checks arrive within the span of about a week and they were all drawn from different banks. Two of them actually went through. Is 2/3 a good success rate for clearing checks?

It looks like FT is getting chased around by the powers that be in the U.S. The bad news is that I would expect this to continue for a few more months until things get sorted out a little bit more in Washington.

The good news is that things are starting to look better as far as legislation is concerned. Many of the proponents of the UIGEA are acknowledging that there are inherent problems with the bill, and online poker's future is starting to look a little brighter.

The other good news is that Full Tilt is willing to go to great lengths to protect their integrity, their players, and the funds that they are responsible for. I've never worried about my money on Full Tilt and I never will. I just worry about getting the money from FT into my pocket.

I've only taken a few minutes to look at the latest withdrawal options. I'd rather go donk off my bankroll than take the time to mess around with yet another third party money carrier. For the sake of my readers I wanted to check things out.

Altogether it looks like FT has eliminated their regular check withdrawal option. One option they are now offering is a cash pickup. They claim to have more than 100k locations where you can pickup your cash, including banks and convenience stores...after about 5 minutes of research I still haven't been able to find out exactly where I can go in my area to pickup my money. Maybe it's because I just woke up and I'm not too happy about the situation, maybe I'm just lazy. I'm gonna go ahead and rip-off a quote from the movie Office Space... "I'm not lazy, I just don't care."

There is also another withdrawal option...this one I think is rather comical. Player's can now use prepaid phone cards to deposit and withdrawal money. I suppose this is a rather clever attempt to dodge the UIGEA. In the end, I think it's only gonna buy them an extra few months of flying time under the financial radar.

The company running the phone card front is called Ultra Prepaid Phone Cards which is owned by a company named Angsana Overseas. It looks like they are being run from Singapore and I'm also told by their support staff that they have been operational for "more than 12 months". A few minutes of research shows that their domain was only registered last september (11 months ago). I suppose it's close to 12 months, and I'd hate to degrade an entire company because of 1 person's decision to round upwards over the phone. However, I'm sure you can tell that I'm not impressed thus far.

I don't have much to say about them besides that. Feel free to enter some comments below if you've dealt with these folks.

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Time to Change My Style

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008 Internet

At the end of my last post, I mentioned I was going to go into detail about how I lost my money at $2-5 NL at Bellagio to end my most recent Vegas trip and what I took from it all.

Like I said, I had been playing pretty tight. I wasn't raising a lot, but when I did, I played my hand strong. Very tight aggressive.

The problem is, I was extremely transparent to the sophisticated players at the table. There were two players in particular that knew how and when to mix it up, andtheir timing was incredible. They took down big pots with timely buys, but also got paid off on their big hands. They were regulars.

There were about three other players that played very tight as well, but in retrospect, they seemed to mix it up better than I did.

Each one of the sophisticated players called my hand on separate occassions, both times AK. It was just too obvious because I wasn't mixing up my play. But I was set on playing a certain way and didn't adjust to the table.

However, I was stillclose to evenat this point. I bought in for $300 and after a few hours I was sitting on $279. I look down to see pocket rockets under the gun. I raised to $25. This may seem hefty from under the gun, but it was pretty standard at the table, and I like to raise a little more than the average amount to limit my opponents, regardless of my hand.

The player directly to my left, my main target at the table, called the bet. I liked that because he pushed hands too far, especially draws, and I was confident I could make him pay a steep price if he had a draw.

But both sophisticated players called (one in middle-late position, the other on the button). Then the blinds, both tight players, called with exceptional pot odds. Unfortunately, we see a flop six-handed.

The flop comes 7-9-10, rainbow. A pretty connected flop, but unless somebody limped with 9-10 or a medium pocket, I'm ahead. Still, there are 6 players on the flop.

It gets checked to me, and I bet $50 into the $150 pot. I figured it was enough to gage where I was at and possibly take it down if everyone missed, but not so much that I couldn't get away from it.

My target on the left then bumps it up to $100, pushing everyone else out. At this point I didn't know what to think. I know I only have an overpair, but this was a guy I had seen go all-in with a flush draw on the flop. Against anyone else, I fold. Against him, I decided to push for my last $154. He called and turned over pocket 8s.

Turn was a blank. River was the dreaded 6, and my trip was over. I went in with the best hand, but he had plenty of outs, 10 on the turn and river. However, like I said in the last post, I was destined to lose all of my money.

I raised it 5 times the big blind under the gun. I am a tight aggressive player that hasn't been mixing up my game. At that point, I can really only be holding four hands: Probably aces or kings, possibly queens or AK. Jacks or AQ are very suspect to my image under the gun, and especially for that big of a bet.

So even though there was a very good chance I was holding rockets, five players decided to go along for the ride. Why? Because if the flop comes something like 7-9-10 I would still put in my money.

After discussing the hand with my brother I realized something. By becoming so transparent, the sophisticated players were likely HOPING I had aces in that situation. If they played a suited connector and flopped two pair, they were getting all of my money. If they played a weak pocket pair and flopped a set, they were getting all of my money. Because they knew what I had - and how far I would likely take the hand -it was a smart play to enter the pot, especially after other callers developed and pot odds were great.

Suddenly I realized why I or anyone else that plays like mewas -EV in that game. While I was waiting for that one big hand to get my money in, so were the sophisticated players. The difference was, they were capable of doing it with a hand like 87s. I wasn't. I was waiting for a hand like aces, which is cracked fairly easily by the types of hands they were likely playing.

Basically, I was waiting to get cracked, and they knew it. That's what made them good, winning players.

Which got me thinking: How do I become that sophisticated player raking in big pots in tough, tight games?

Here is what I've come up with:

1. Pick the right game: I'm not even talking about the players here. I'm talking about the stakes and buy-ins. I'm looking to play looser, so I need to buy in for the maximum and be prepared to reload if need be. This means no playing $2-5 unless I'm prepared to drop $1,000 (which I'm not). I should also look for games with high minimum buy-ins, because I'm looking to win entire stacks. Mirage is a perfect example. They have a $1-2 NL game with a $100-200 buy-in, so no one can come in with a true short stack.

2. Improve my table image: In order to get paid off on big hands,I need to changemy table image. I want the image of a loose player, and most impressions are made right off the bat. If I'm caught chasing a gutshot draw or calling with middle pair early on, it might cost me a little bit of money at first, but it could make me a lot of money in the long run. Then try to maintain this image to an extent, without getting too wild.

3. Actually loosen up: Especially with position, I need to be raising with average hands. If three players limp and I'm on the button with 98s, this is a perfect time to bump it up to four times the blinds. You know most of those players will go along for the ride, and I've got a hand that plays great multiway. What happens when the flop comes A-9-8?? I make a lot of money off AQ and people see I'm capable of raising with anything.

4. Target those tight players: With hands that can improve drastically, such as suited connectors and pocket pairs, I'm hoping to play tight players when they have monster preflop hands. Because they've waited an hour to play a hand, they'll be more likely to put all their money in with a high pocket pair. I'm looking to take the entire stacks of these players.

It should be noted that this is my new strategy when at a tight, tough table. When the table is still an action game where it's easy to get paid off, I'm sticking with my tight strategy, waiting for that big hand.

As they say, play the opposite of the table. I've always played tight in loose games. Now I'm prepared to play loose in tight games. I'll let you know how it works.

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Win the Small Battles and You'll Win the War

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008 Internet

Bill Parcells once said "Your record is what your record says you are".

You may think you're better, you may think you deservebetter but in the end it doesn't matter. It's not about luck or variance, it's about how much you've won and lost at the poker tables.

Parcells also said that "Winning is a matter of doing the small things better than the other guy".

This works in poker as well as in football.

Winning the small battles will win you the war. In football they fight for every inch, every yard. Add up those inches and yards and you get the difference between winning and losing. Make one costly mistake and it can cost your team the ballgame.

Poker is similar in that regard, most of the pots you're going to win in your poker life is going to be small pots. Sure everybody wants to play for the huge pots but the reality of it is that most of the pots you're going to be involved are the small. You play those small pots better than the next guy and you'll have a good win rate in poker. Add up all those small pots and you get one big win. Sprinkle a few big pot wins and you'recrushing the game.

Those are the edges that many books talk about.

I have a friend who tries for the big pots all the time. He hates small pot poker. He's a gambler and likes the thrill of winning big. The problem is that he's not winning. Sure he has his days and on these days it re-confirms his belief of big pot poker but these winning sessions are far and few between. He's a losing player. Your record is what your record says you are. I don't feel sorry for the guy, he knows what he's doing. He likes to gamble and who am I to say that's he's doing the wrong thing. He gets his kicks in and that's fine by him.

It's like those spread offenses I see in football. Sure it's exciting and there's a lot of action and scoring but in the long run those teams do not usually win championships. The teams that can control the clock, grind it out in the last two minutes, play solid defense and run the ball consistently are the teams that usually do better in the long run.

The same applies to poker. You win the small pots. You grind it out until you find a good situation to go for big play. You win enough of them, then you can go for the homerun. It's like when you run the ball down a teams throat and then you throw a bomb.

Anybody can win big pots if they gamble a lot but it's the player that consistently wins those small pots that will separate the winners from the losers in the long run.

Remember that "Winning is a matter of doing the small things better than the other guy".


Never have words rang so true in poker.

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Vegas Trips and Table Selection

Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2008 Internet

Three weeks ago my parents were in Las Vegas, and tempted my brother and I to take the four and a half hour drive from San Diego to Sin City with a free room at Paris. Of course, we obliged.

What I didn't realize until we got there was that the main event at the WSOP was in its early stages, meaning everyone and their mother was in town. Literally.

This made the cash games extremely juicy. Everyone wanted action. Those that were still in the tournament used the opportunity to get hammered and relax from the 12+ hours of intense action at the Rio. Those that had busted out seemed to be on permanent tilt and couldn't stop talking about their bad beats.

After about 36 hours, I wasup almost 200 bucks. I don't have a huge bankroll, and primarily play $1-2 NL, so I can't say I was disappointed.

So when my brother suggested we head over to Bellagio, I figured, "Why not?" Sure, I had never played $2-5, their smallest NL game. But I figured I'd just buy in for the minimum $200 and if it runs out, I'm still about even on the trip.

I couldn't believe the action. Players seemed to be all-in every other hand. They were chasing gut-shot draws for all their chips; pushing with top pair; I even saw a player call a $150 river bet with ACE HIGH!

The games were perfect for me. I'm a tight player that likes to wait for my spots and get my money in with sets or better. And the tables were what I call "classic pay-off games." My bread and butter.

Two sessions later, I was up $903 at Bellagio. Even after dumping $165 in a Caesar's tournament, I ended the week up $921, my second best Vegas trip. The only trip that went better was after a final table chop netted me just over a grand in February.

With a few days off last week, and still riding that high, my brother and I made the excursion out to Vegas again. This time, the results weren't as peachy, but I learned a valuable lesson.

With only that two-session experience at not only Bellagio, but also in $2-5 NL, I assumed the action would be the same. I assumed I could just sit down, pick my spots, and get paid off.

But something had happened in the two weekssince Ileft. This time around, the tables weren't filled with madmen looking for action. With about half as many tables, locals seemed to be everywhere. Even tourists seemed to know what they were doing. The competition was legit.

I dumped about $300 inmy first fewsessions back at Bellagio. After losing some at Mirage as well, I headed over to MGM, which I remembered was a pretty easy game. Sure enough the competition was a cakewalk. I won back all the money I lost and then some on the final day of the trip. But with just a few hours to go, I figured we should head back over to Bellagio for some more $2-5.

Again, the table wasn't that good for me. I held my own, but it was also difficult to pry money away from everyone. But for some reason, like an idiot,I felt it was still a decent game for me. I ignored the local rounders andI didn't care that there were multiple sophisticated players. I still had delusions of grandeur in my mind, only thinking about the 900 bucks I pulled a couple weeks before.

Of course, you know what happened. I didn't recognize a table was bad for me, and it bit me in the end. Oddly enough, I put my money in with the best hand, but the way everything played out, I was destined to lose. But I'll save that last hand for my next post; I have plenty to say about it.

So even though I came back from Vegas down $178 bucks, I learned a valuable lesson. Past results don't mean ANYTHING. You can win $500 a night for a week straight at the same table, and if on the eighth night the table isn't right for you, you have to know to walk away. It's true that table selection is one of the most important decisions you can make at a table. I know it cost me a lot of money in the past week, far more than calling with a draw or taking top pair too far.

I also learned why some cash game pros travel around the world following the biggest tournaments simply to get in thelive games. I know where I'll be during the WSOP next year.

And just for your amusement, here was an exchange I heard at the table last week...

Angry Guy (who is actually reading "Taking Control of Your Anger" at the table and can't stop talking about his therapist): "What's your name?"
Cocktail Waitress: "Anna."
AG: "Really? Both of the girls I impregnated were named Anna!"
CW: **runs away terrified**
AG: "No! Come back! Don't worry, you won't get pregnant! Just stay three feet away!"

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Target on My Back

Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2008 Internet

I have a target on my back. They're after me. Perhaps I'm paranoid but then I don't trust anybody especially at the poker table.

I played in a league tournament this weekend. I played 3 in fact. I cashed in one and was knocked out of the other two pretty early.

The thing I noticed was that there was some personal stuff going on at this tournament. Players were rooting for me to lose pots. This was interesting to say the least.

Poker isn't personal, it's just poker. But there's this one player who has it out for me for some reason. I'm not sure why.

I'm in a pot and this guy is rooting for the other player openly. I thought this was weird. He's making it personal. I think it shows a lack of class but then that's just my opinion. I can understand if we're on the bubble and if I bust he makes the money. It's still classless but I can understand. This is early in the tournament and me and another player are both all-in. He's rooting for the inside straight draw for this guy.

He did it again in another hand I was in against another player. Weird.

I'm playing well in my league and now I have a "rep". I'm loose aggressive. I'm a donk who gets lucky...etc...

I don't think this is the case at all. I think I'm outplaying these guys on the flop, turn and river. I'm making good folds and I'm making good value bets that they're calling me off on.

That's the beauty of this game. They think I'm playing loose but I'm really not. Ok. I did bust a player with 8/5 off suit when I hit my two pair on the turn but I blame the other player for not re-raising me preflop when he had JJ.

He let me get there to beat him. It wasn't that I got lucky, it's more of he played his JJ too passively.

Well in any event, my raises aren't getting much respect anymore. This is good and bad. It's good because I know that's what they're doing and I'm tightening up. The bad thing is that when I do have a great hand, they don't believe me and can get lucky off of me.

Case in point. I have KK in the SB. The blinds are 100-200 and I raise it up 600. The BB calls.

The flop is J,4,10.

I bet out 1,200. He calls.

The turn is a blank. I bet out 1,200 he calls again.

The river is a 3. I bet out 3k and he calls. He shows J/3 suited. He has two pair to take down the pot.

Somebody said that he got lucky that hand and the villain replied that he thought I had junk and was just raising for the sake of raising.

Now I understand the difference between my game and the other players in my league.

They're gambling, I'm playing poker.

I finally noticed the difference when another league player whom I respect said that to me. I was complaining how my raises have been getting called by inferior hands. It's not like they're raising with these bad hands, they're just calling with them. I can respect aggressive poker when you have air but to flat call a big raise with garbage is just bad poker. Even if they think I'm making a play with bad cards, you should re-raise me then. Never call.

So my raises are getting no respect. I adjust and play a smaller range of starting hands and playing them aggressively. I welcome getting called with J/3 when I have KK. It's just a matter of time before I get the better of them.

My poker buddy is telling me that I have gotten a "rep" that I play garbage hands. It's kind of true. I play my fair share of spec hands but I play them aggressively and that's the difference. The reason is that a few showdowns I've shown hands like 6/7, 4/5 suited and busted guys who couldn't lay down top pair top kicker or who couldn't laydown their big pocker pairs. I've also utilized stealing pots by shoving when I see 3 limpers. I do this once in awhile also. I guess they are tired of my aggressiveness and decided to play back at me.

This sucks for me. I want my game to be passive and I want them to play passively.

So now I have a player who's openly rooting against me in pots, I have other players who are playing back at me with weak hands because they think I'm bluffing them and I have players who hate my game because I'm too aggressive and I don't allow other players to play their hands.

I guess I'm doing something right. I've been successful against these players no doubt. I've won far more than I've lost to them and I guess it's coming to a boil.

Some players are just bad and others are just their for socializing. I'm there to improve my game and make some side money. Poker isn't personally, it's just poker but for some they're making it personal and it's directed towards me.

I'm not sure why this is. I guess I've been playing well and they're sick of me taking their money. Whatever it is, I know the next time I play certain players, I'll know I have a target on my back and that will make me play better.

I welcome the challenge. Then I remember that I'm playing in this league not because I want to make friends (I have enough already) but to improve my game and build my bankroll. If I get along with some people in the league that's fine but if some people just don't like me for whatever reason, then so be it.

It's nothing personal it's just poker I remind myself and that will make be a better person and a better poker player in the long run.

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The Utter Failure Known as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission

Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2008 Internet

Somewhere in Canada there is a small ice fishing shack that serves as the home of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. The KGC is responsible for regulating many of the internet's largest poker rooms. A lot of people may have noticed the KGC logo on the homepage of their favorite poker rooms, but few people knew much about the KGC for a long time. This was the case until last year when they were forced to rise to the surface and deal with the cheating scandal at Absolute Poker.

In 2007, it came to light that there was some cheating going on at Absolute Poker. It was also evident that members of the upper level management team at Absolute were involved in the cheating. Since this blog entry is not meant to discuss the details of the Absolute Poker scandal, you can read about it through the following link if you are not familiar with what happened; http://www.absolutepokerscandal.com/

Here is a brief synopsis of the KGC investigation through my eyes; The KGC conducted a mediocre investigation that was headed by Joe Norton. Joe Norton is also a former Kahnawake chief who is known to have financial ties to Absolute Poker... this is sort of shady if you ask me.

Jump to present time...Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are now under the same ownership and there is evidence of more cheating that was conducted by the owners of the poker network. This time the cheating is more widespread, and it appears as though the owners of UB/AP were more deeply involved than in the previous incidents.

The gaming commission seems to be acknowledging their own lack of real expertise. The KGJ has just announced that it is going to bring in an independent investigator to deal with the new scandal. If you are from the Atlantic City area, you may already know who Frank Catania is. Frank is the former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. He has been brought in to lead the investigation into the most recent UB/AP scandal.

As a player who has already voiced my distrust for the KGC, I think that hiring Mr. Catania is a wise decision. At the same time, I think it's a little bit pathetic for a gaming commission to have to bring in an outside consultant. This only adds to the second-rate image that the KGJ has recently developed.

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