Poker: Image is Everything!

You must determine in which way your opponents perceive your game:
In spite of the abundance of articles and books about how to project your image on the table you are playing, I have chosen to dedicate this article to this topic for two reasons. Firstly, I believe that image is the most important element of your game, and secondly, because I believe that there are a great deal of people who do not fully appreciate the importance that image really has in a game of poker.

The image that you project around the table:
Image at the poker table is the means by which your opponents will judge your game. Every opponent that you face is going to forge an image of your game play in their minds in order to determine your skill level, but remember each opponent is going to have a slightly different opinion of your playing techniques. An experienced opponent is going to base their opinion on the manner in which you play different hands, not just the hands that you play against them, but the hands that you play against the rest of your opponents too. A less experienced player will base their opinions only on the hands that you have played against them. A complete amateur is likely to base their opinions on factors that are completely arbitrary, or fantastical, like the colour of your shoes! Whatever the factors they use to divine your poker personality, the perception that your opponents hold about you is going to affect the way in which they play against you.

Benefit from the errors of others:
It is often said of poker that players use the errors of their opponents to their benefit. When this concerns image, the more you play against the image that your opponents hold of you, the more chance you have of causing them to make errors. In other words, it is by doing the opposite to what is anticipated of you that you will win the most money. You must manage to play in the mirror image of what your opponents think of you; the right becomes the left. If they think you are a bluffer, then never pull a bluff. If they assume that you always play with only the best combination of cards, raise when you have nothing and steal the pot.

The perception of image by others:
To act efficiently you must first establish the view that your opponents hold about you. You can find this out by testing them through the way you bet and by making deliberate errors. When, during the course of a hand, you confront an opponent for the first time, try and take control of the betting and steal the pot through force. If you encounter a strong resistance, fold immediately and remember in future not to raise too highly against this opponent in future, unless you have a very strong hand, then try to get a well established pot building by raising as often as you possibly can. If on the other hand, your opponent lets you control the action and that he folds really quickly, profit from this occasion and bluff, ensuring that you get lots of small pots, rather than one big one. But remember not to allow the betting to get out of your control. Choose the occasions to test your opponents when there are only small amounts in the pot in order to work out how your opponents react to certain situations. Above all, you have to avoid risking large amounts against opponents that do not yet have a very strong image of your poker techniques. You need to play in this way for each of the opponent that you face, and from an individual point of view in order to determine how each of them perceives you. In fact, each player will have a different mental image relating to you. You must, therefore, know for each hand what this image is and understand that it may be completely different to the image held by your previous opponent.

This will then be a major factor in determining the way you will play in any given situation. As I have already said, you should opt for an inverse game play to that which is expected of you. This said, there are two situations that will not fail to appear and of which you must be aware:

1. The perception that your opponents have of you: if you notice that an opponent starts to play differently against you it is generally because they are modifying their perception of you based on their experiences of you. When this happens, you should adjust things a little, discover what their image of you is and modify your mirror image in consequence.
2. You find yourself vying for a pot with several opponents in which all the players seem to have a different opinion of you; if you find yourself in a situation where everyone holds a different image, it is in your best interest to play as directly as possible. Never try and bluff in this type of situation, it will just cause you pain. If you know how each of your opponents is perceiving you and that you manage to play the opposite of what they are expecting, you will win a lot of money.

So remember: test, exploit and adjust!!! Know how to put your opponents to the test in order to discover the manner in which they perceive you and do this for each opponent, and then adapt your game accordingly!!

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