Sunday Poker
Your Poker Table Image and How to Use It
You can diminish the ability of your opponents to glean reliable information from your actions, by playing deceptively. You are playing deceptively anytime you deviate from an established pattern. When you bet a weak hand or check a strong hand, you are deviating from basic strategy in order to fool opponents into folding or betting respectively. In other situations, you may have an established pattern as a poor player and make money when your opponents misread your holdings based on that assumption.
The collection of perceptions that your opponents have of your play is called your table image. Beyond simply describing your play as good or bad, most poker players identify a player's disposition along two axes: loose/tight and passive/aggressive.
1. Loose/tight describes the willingness of a player to gamble. The term usually applies to what starting hands a player calls with. Loose players don't like to fold when they have a chance, any chance, of winning. They tend to play more starting hands than they should and are willing to play draws against longer odds than they should. Tight players are more selective about the hands they start with and are more willing to fold when they believe they are at a mathematical disadvantage.
2. Passive/aggressive describes the willingness of a player to risk chips to drive the game to their advantage. Passive players tend to call most of the time, even with very strong hands, because hey are satisfied to win any pot and don't feel a need to try to put additional money at risk to build a larger one. Aggressive players tend to bet or raise whenever they sense that doing so will shape the hand to their advantage. They liberally use their chips as weapons to force out opponents and build pots.
It is absolutely essential to realize that your table image is not based entirely on how you play, but more precisely, on how your opponents see you playing. The human mind works by grouping things into categories, and your opponents have a cognitive need to place you in one. They can't help forming an image about you, and this image is necessarily based only on what they see, not on what they don't see.
For example, I've sat down at Hold'em tables, gotten thirty folding hands in a row, and folded them all without blinking. Streaks of cold cards happen, and the correct play is to drop every one of them. However, in that situation, my opponents will invariably perceive my play as way to tight. Accordingly, they will play against that perceived weakness by trying to raise me out before the flop or by running bluffs against me. When I respond by folding my rags, they think that they are exploiting a weakness, when in actuality I am just playing correctly. Here's the thing: despite that fact that I have played my cards correctly, I know that they think I'm too tight. Another example of this would be when I miss a series of good draws, which tends to make my opponents think I am too loose. In either case, it has cost me nothing to mislead my opponents about my play; all I have to do is recognize that an erroneous perception exists. At the right time, I can use it against them to make money.
Most of the time, you should concentrate on playing your cards correctly and using whatever table image you happen to acquire. However, under certain circumstances, you can take advantage of opportunities to intentionally cultivate a deceptive image, even if it involves throwing away a bet or two. For example, if you think your opponents are mistaking your aggressiveness for recklessness, it might be smart to reinforce that mistake by intentionally getting caught bluffing or raising on the first bet with rags or something like that. You don't have to plot in advance to do these things, but rather take advantage of circumtances to "make a mistake" that tarnishes your image without costing you too much money. This type of investment has a lower rate of return at a home game, where it is more difficult to throw off opponents who play with you every week, but it can still be worthwhile.