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deadmoney314 · Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:16 pm Post subject: Mirror, Mirror, on the Table�

Wow, I finally clobbered that player to my left that raises so much with Aces full, he only had a pair of jacks with no kicker. It was a very nice pot too, I�m glad I�m learning about the importance of patience on the FullTiltPoker forums. Hmm, it�s folded to me on the button now, I just won a nice pot� I think it would be too greedy to try to steal with Q9o ah, I just can�t fold it, �raise�� muck muck. Wow, I can�t believe that worked, that never works for me, it must be my lucky day�

At some point early in my poker experience, I noticed something odd in poker. Some of my opponents were presented with similar situations but reacted differently. For instance, one player would always check top pair to me on the flop but against others, he would bet and raise like he was protecting one of his own. This seemed very odd indeed and then I heard Howard Lederer discuss �table image�.

Things snapped into place and I began whole-heartedly trying to discern what opponents thought of me before I acted. If I was dealt AA after losing a couple of big pots recently I could sense my opponents would call my raise with more liberal selections and go further that they normally would. On the other hand, if I had been on a heater some of my opponents� cards would go into the muck faster than you could say, �big slick�.

An example of table image at work was FTP�s own Allen Cunningham at the WSOP. In an interview, he mentioned that many players feared him and this was confirmed in interviews with some of his lesser-known opponents. This image allowed him to get away with more and quite possibly saved him a few times. The important part was he knew how most of his opponents saw him and how to adjust his decisions to his opponents� view of him.

The complexity of poker is nestled in the reactions to table image and often, image is decided in the first couple of orbits at the table. One must constantly be evaluating how one�s own image is changing based on short term and long term history with the current set of opponents. For instance, the players that are splashing around the pot every hand perk up and take notice when a player who has been folding mostly comes in for a raise, and the sharks often circle when someone takes a bad beat and immediately starts raising the very next hand.

After thousands of hands, many players develop a pattern on how they react to players they think are tight or otherwise. A wealth of useful information is available by paying attention to one�s opponents every hand and gauging their reactions to different types of table images. It is then important to have a good memory of opponents� tendencies and incorporate it into one�s decisions. Poker decisions are based upon imperfect information and the players that come out on top in the end are typically the players who win the information war by gathering more information than their opponents do consistently. Learning how players react to table image is an important facet to winning this war and often overlooked, sometimes even by experienced players.

How much do you incorporate table image into your decisions? Can you think of any examples you�d like to share? As always, comments and responses welcome.

KGBlovesOreos · Moderator Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 5318 Location: VA

Made this post on my weblog ("blog"), and I thought I'd use it here...

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Table image is to poker what free throws are to basketball; they can make the difference between winning and losing. The elite players of the world know not only how to figure out their opponents, but they also can manipulate their own image to "sell" a certain style to their opponents. Essentially, they lead players into thinking one way, and as soon as the opposition steps in the trap, their money vanishes before their eyes.

In the Full Tilt Poker Forum, one new user came on and stated that table image didn't matter online because of all the calling stations that played. He basically concluded that due to these stations, bluffing became nearly impossible, and the edge that the good players usually held had became nonexistant. When I first read this, I knew that he was partially correct. There were indeed many calling stations flocking to FTP from other sites, and bluffing really HAD become tougher to accomplish. However, this forumer failed to realize that other ways to manipulate these stations existed, even at the small stakes, so I gave him this example:

FullTiltPoker Game #1092966370: Table Desert (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:56:37 ET - 2006/10/12
Seat 1: crusher14 ($49.20)
Seat 2: KGBlovesOreos ($51.90)
Seat 3: rushin66 ($83.70)
Seat 4: AZDevil2004 ($50)
Seat 5: Player A ($83.60)
Seat 6: nickgolf328 ($19.50)
rushin66 posts the small blind of $0.25
AZDevil2004 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KGBlovesOreos [Ac Ah]
Player A raises to $1.75
nickgolf328 folds
crusher14 folds
KGBlovesOreos raises to $4.50
(This was not out of the ordinary for me because at that point I had been reraising everybody else's preflop raise since they were so tight... I even did this when I failed to bluff Player A earlier.)
rushin66 folds
AZDevil2004 folds
Player A calls $2.75
*** FLOP *** [6c 5h 3h]
Player A checks
KGBlovesOreos bets $9
(Once he checked to me, I wanted to make it seem like I was bluffing. So what did I do? The second he checked to me, I not only bet the pot, but I bet it quickly. Quick bets tend to make semi-observant players believe you're bluffing, and by not only betting quickly, but betting the whole pot, I was building a bluffer's image in this guy's head.)
Player A has 15 seconds left to act
Player A raises to $79.10, and is all in
KGBlovesOreos calls $38.40, and is all in
Player A shows [3s As]
(Just like I expected, he showed down a crappy hand. By playing the way I did on the flop, I extracted his super-weak hand for a whole lot of money that would not be in there in the first place had I not built that bluffer's image.)
KGBlovesOreos shows [Ac Ah]
Uncalled bet of $31.70 returned to Player A
*** TURN *** [6c 5h 3h] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [6c 5h 3h 9c] [Qd]
Player A shows a pair of Threes
KGBlovesOreos shows a pair of Aces
KGBlovesOreos wins the pot ($101.55) with a pair of Aces

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So as you see, no matter what stakes you're playing (even micro limits in this case), image does matter. The thing is, you just have to be able to build that image and get noticed. How do you do that? Make your "image" blatantly obvious to your opponents no matter what it takes, and once you do that, play off of that image accordingly. You will reap the benefits, I guarantee it.

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Now I know that the HH may have been NL, but the underlying concept remains the same. If you can manipulate your table image a certain way (for flhe, the favorable table image is the LAG image IMO), then take advantage of that image by playing the opposite style. You will find that, if you have a LAG image, you can pick up many extra bets throughout a the course of a strong hand when your holding is strong.

Now I don't have the HH for the example(s)about to give you now, for I am at work right now and don't have my PT here, but there was a situation last night where I was playing a FLHE cash game, and my LAG image allowed me to pick up many more bets than I deserved when I had decent holdings..

You see, before this one particular hand, I had showed down nothing BUT garbage. I had taken down one pot with 9-4 suited, another with 8-9 offsuit, and had been caught bluffing on two or three seperate occassions. Right after being caught, I realized the table was "on to me", tightened up immediately after being caught.

A few hands later, I picked up 10-10 in the big blind. It was folded around to the small blind, and he raised me. I 3-bet him preflop, and he just called. The flop came 10-7-9. He bet, I raised, and he only called. The turn came a blank, and my opponent bet out once again. I wasn't sure what he was trying to represent, but I knew that I certainly had him beat. I two-betted him, and he just called once again. Rinse and repeat on the river (which was a blank btw), and I realized that I was able to pick up all those bets due to the image I had built. I never chose to look at his hand, but I realized that my opponent likely had a lower pair + draw, or just executed these moves with a random garbage hand.

Paprika · Full House Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 194

Right for me, mostly in live play, setting a tight-begginer image works well. You guys should try it some time. In live play I purposely try and act like I have only played a few times and make sure I dont' handle my chops like I know what I am doing. Such as: No shuffling, toss your chips in the pot in a clumbsy way at times, re-checking your hole cards. Some Low Limit players wont catch on but some will and you can play various types of hands. This kind of an image works better the higher the limit I think, but try it out and see what happens. I did this in lHE & a stud8ob game a few weeks back live, asked what the bring in was etc. and everyone thought I was a fish for sure. They bet into me and I did well. Never gave me any credit for a hand when I had one. More astute players will catch on to this after a while but most just don't.

Oh, never give hand advice-That can be really bad for your image.

.02

bigwheell · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:23 am Post subject:

Deadmoney...

You should rework that first paragraph a little bit and submit it to the FTP Blog. A few forum posters have had their stuff posted on there, plus FT ships you 50 bucks for your effort if yours ends up in the blog.

deadmoney314 · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:18 am Post subject:

Fame... fortune... deadmoney craves not these things Wink

If I submit an entry it will be a little more detailed than this. Plus every month I like to try to make a valuable post to create interest in FLHE.

fire_eyes_2k · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:22 am Post subject:

OK, if you don't want to submit it, I'll reword it and claim the $50, hell I could use it.

Table image doesnt really come into play at the micros, unless I see someone check-call all the way with bottom pair or something. Athough I've always wondered if I showed up at a table and played a hand really stupidly to start with, (3 bet the river with 5 high or something) would I get more action?

griffinlord · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:52 am Post subject:

I think at the micros table image is hit-or-miss.

Because we naturally form impressions of people it is impossible for our opponents not to have some image of us. But depending on how observant the player and how long they sit at the table and what happens the first orbit or two they play with you you might end up with as many table images as you have opponents.

Makes it pretty tough to cultivate a single table image--you really have to think about your image one oppoent at a time.

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