Copyright © 2009 PokerTraining.org
Your table image
Be aware of your image at the table
The meaning of “image”.
When looking at my dictionary, the meaning of the word “image” is being described as the way someone appears to other people. The key word in this sentence is “to appear”! Poker is not like chess where you have complete information about all the previous and potential future moves your opponent made or is about to make. In chess there is no uncertainty, the only questions is how much information your brain is able to take in. In Poker, we find a different situation as we have to deal with a lot of uncertainty. When playing, you have to make assumptions about your opponents and vice versa since nobody is able to see the other hands on the table. Of course, making assumptions is not an exact science and in order to fill the void of uncertainty, the concept of assessing someone´s image comes into play.
Influencing your image.
When your opponents get an image of you, they basically look back in order to predict your future behavior. The intention is that your previous actions disclose certain patterns thereby telling a lot about what makes you bet, call or fold. This might sound a little complicated but in fact, it isn´t! Just think about your image on a certain table as if it were a bank account. On the one hand you have the “debit”-part containing all the moves that might give yourself the image of a bluffer. On the other hand, you have the “credit”-part containing all the moves that might give yourself the image of a “rock”, a tight player who only makes a move when his hand is strong.
As you can see from this collection of examples, certain moves will lead to a certain image. Another important aspect is that it doesn´t matter whether or not you made a certain move because you were trying to bluff or because you felt that you had the best hand, the only thing that matters regarding your image is how you appear to your opponents.
When you want to find out what kind of image you have on a certain table, you mustn´t only rely on your previous actions but in addition to that, you have to think about the importance, the timing and the frequency of your moves.
1) Importance:
Some moves you made in the past are going to be remembered more easily than others. If you were caught bluffing, trying to squeeze someone out of a huge pot, your opponents will remember, especially when they were directly involved in that situation. However, you managing to steal a pot nobody was really interested in, is definitely harder to memorize.
2) Timing:
Poker players, especially the weaker ones playing on micro- and medium-limits, typically have a short memory and a tendency to forget about your previous behavior the longer it is located in the past. Meaning if someone caught you bluffing 30 minutes ago and you steadily built up a tighter image, there´s a huge chance that your opponents forgot about your move half an hour ago.
3) Frequency:
Frequency is important to notice a certain pattern. Let me give you one simple example: Assume that you´re playing against one opponent and you believe that this guy tries to steal the pot on the turn in case you checked on the flop. If that happens once or maybe twice, moves like that aren´t really special as there´s still the possibility that your rival has a hand. However, when I´m playing, I start to get suspicious once I´ve seen the same move three times.
I´d like to give you another example: Imagine a player making a continuation-bet on the flop every time he raised pre-flop. If I´ve seen that scenario three times or even more often, I start to disrespect that move because I consider the other guy a bluffer. Whenever you realize that one of your opponents doesn´t play his cards but basically follows a specific pattern (e.g. always raising in position, continuation-betting, trying to steal the pot on the river), you should be ready to be more aggressive yourself.
Using your image.
This article is not about whether or not you should try to accomplish a certain image, it is meant to raise your awareness regarding this aspect of Poker in order for you to be one step ahead of your competition. Whether the other players on the table consider you a bluffer, a rock or something in between, there are always opportunities to use your image in order to trick your opponents.
Do you remember when I wrote that the meaning of the word “image” is being described as the way someone appears to other people? So if you want to use your image, the impression other players have about your game and strategy in your favor, you have to find some “spots” where you go against the grain. In case you assume that your image is rather “tight”, you have to loosen up a little, pick your spots and bluff your opponents when you sense weakness. If you know for certain that your opponents respect your raises, you will be able to steal a pot or two. But please remember; be confident when bluffing and don´t overdo it, as every move slowly but surely will turn your image-account towards the “bluffer”-zone.
In case everybody assumes that you´re a bluffer, you basically just keep going. If you have a really strong hand, you don´t have to worry about slow-playing or trapping your opposition. While having a “loose” image, other players simply won´t respect your moves, leading them to pay you off when you have a hand. With such an image, slow-playing might even raise awareness amongst your opponents, so all you have to do is to keep going.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, your image plays an important role when playing Poker, but I would like to give you two final pieces of advice. At first, it takes some experience and a nice amount of self-reflection in order to properly assess how other people think of you, whether we´re talking or real-life situations. Our coaching program will help you gain valuable experience and raise your awareness for that topic when playing on the tables, however especially when you´re a rookie in Poker take everyone of your assessments with a grain of salt because “using your image” is far from being an exact science. Second, be aware that other players use their image to trick you, too! Now that makes the whole topic a lot more complicated, but let me tell you this: You won´t find many opponents capable of doing when playing on micro- and medium-levels.
Back to top
Does the following situation sound familiar to you? You´re playing on a certain table regardless whether it´s a ring-game or a tournament and after not receiving a single playable hand for the last 30 minutes, the hand that is being dealt to you shows something like AK, KK or QQ. The draught is over, finally you can get involved in a pot again, so you decide to raise. But instead of being the recipient of some action, all you see now is your opponents folding their hands quicker than you can say: “You must be kidding me.” So, what happened? Were your opponents able to read your hand? Well, sort of. By not playing for such a long time you basically built up an ultra-tight image, leading your rivals to believe that you must hold a strong hand. As this small example shows, the image you have on a table tremendously influences how other players assess your situation. The goal of this article is to explain the meaning of image, your opportunities of influencing and using it in your favor.
| Debit (Bluffer) | Your Image Account | Credit (Rock) |
| Caught bluffing | Never caught bluffing | |
| Attacking the blinds often | Hardly attacking the blinds | |
| Many raises pre-flop | Raises in selected situations | |
| Continuation-bets on the flop | Betting in selected situations | |
| Stealing the pot on the river | Checking on the river |