Strengthen Your Table Image
Your table image during a poker game can have a dramatic effect on how the other players at the table will act against you and just how effectively you can use certain strategies and techniques. Knowing how other players perceive is something you need to have a grasp of. If you think you’re playing well in a session but your table image is that of a timid/weak player, then your opponents will make treat you like a timid/weak player and try to zero in on you.
Now there are some very good players that like to come off as weak, as they can then use that camouflage to win chips off unsuspecting opponents. This will only work though in causes where you aren’t regularly playing against the same players over and over again though. For the most part it is better to have a strong table image, an image that tells the other players that you know what you’re doing and that they shouldn’t try and bluff you that often, which in turn means your own bluffs will work with a higher percentage.
In order to successfully build this image you need to focus on the little things that other good players will recognize, such as making correctly-sized bets and just a general strong understanding of what’s going on at the table. Also understand that there’s a big difference between knowing what you’re doing and acting like you know what you’re doing. Every since the poker boom, tables have become filled with players that have watched too much poker TV and seen “Rounders” a million times, and they try to use their knowledge of poker lingo and pop culture to make up for the huge holes in their playing style.
These players are easy to spot, they normally never shut up about something they’ve recently watched on poker TV, plus they’ll be spouting lame poker sayings every two seconds and constantly relaying exaggerated bad beat stories. Very few experienced, skillful poker players talk and act like this, and giving in to this type of behavior will just make you look silly to the others at the table.
Instead, the easiest way to strengthen your table image is just good, solid poker. Don’t get caught making a lot of good calls or plays, flip over good starting hands, and act respectfully and professionally. This will identify to the your opponents that you know what you’re doing, which means that you can now build your strategy based on around the knowledge that you have a good understanding of how you are perceived by the others at the table.
By: Chris Iaqunita
