Poker News

Tom Leonard

As we continue to ferret out obstacles to improved performance, let’s discuss table image in this installment. Conscientious players work hard to evaluate their opponent’s play. Observational skills and focus to the game are critical to begin to establish patterns of play in the several opponents you face in a full game. Who’s loose, who’s tight,who’s weak, strong, a beginner, a seasoned pro or the resident maniac? This analysis is crucial in order for you to make informed decisions against your opponents. There is no question that understanding your opposition and how they are likely to act in certain situations is critical to winning play.

In addition to clocking your opponents, do you take note as to how the rest of the table perceives you? This is just as critical, because it will affect how your opponents react to you. Knowing how an opponent will react to you can help make your decision on how to proceed. You need to get into their heads and understand how they perceive you. Do they think they can make you lay down a hand?

Are they more afraid of your checks than your raises because you check raise too frequently? Do they think you’re clueless or are capable of picking up some misdirection that they might send your way? Just as you’re evaluating what makes your opponents tick, rest assured your better opponents are making evaluations about you! The key is to be aware of what they have concluded about you.

There has been much written in the poker literature regarding they value of image and what type of images might be most profitable. I think if you try and adopt a specificimage for its alleged profitability and you’re not comfortable with it, you’re making a mistake. I don’t enter a game with the intention of projecting a specific image. I let the cards dictate how my table image evolves If I’m getting “Hit with the deck”, well, then many would perceive me as loose and a real action player.

Conversely, if I wind up sitting there mucking hand after hand of inferior starting cards, well, then they can perceive me as the Rock of Gibraltar.

The important aspect of your table image is for you to be acutely aware of it so that you can use the current perception of yourself to your full advantage.

Perceived rocks can pull off successful bluffs better than perceived maniacs as one example. A play that can be profitable if you’re regarded as a conservative, tight player occurs when you’ve just lost a nice pot only to be blessed to receive a superior hand on the very next deal. When you bring it in for a raise or reraise, it does not appear as daunting because many players will consider it a steam raise. Just make sure you’re not really steaming!

Our goal today is to constantly monitor how we believe we are perceived by the rest of the table. Your imagecan and will change during a session, just as the make up of the rest of the table constantly shifts as new players join the game to fill the seats of departing players whose chips you have already acquired. How’s that for the power of positive thinking? This analysis needs to be directed to those opponents who are paying attention and are aware of your play. Those are the players who will attempt to use the knowledge they are acquiring to their best advantage.

Take advantage of them since you’re a step or two ahead of them once you’re inside their heads!

Filed under: Poker News