Table image

By Josh Zach

There comes a time in every poker playerπs life when he or she has to step back and say, ≥What am I really doing?≤ Once youπve gotten to a certain point in a poker career (and Iπm using the word ≥career≤ lightly), you have to establish what your game is all about. Your game, your style, your strategy, are all parts of youãyour table imageãand you must maintain that image in order to keep the other players guessing.

Table image is established by making characteristic moves. Not all of them are bold and daring, the ones that grab obvious attention. They are also the subtle gestures, the quiet check, the charming way you fold a hand. Do it all the same every time. Players at tables like to pride themselves on thinking they know another playerπs tells. If someone lets out a boisterous sigh and mucks their cards away, it seems pretty obvious that that player folded a fairly decent to borderline set of hole cards that didnπt make anything on the flop. Everyone already knows, now, that this player wanted to make something and didnπt. Already heπs marked as someone who wonπt draw to a hand. When this comes in to light, and this player makes it to fourth street or the river, heπs probably got something relatively decent. However, if you quietly and stoically fold your hand without a grimace or sigh, no one has any idea whether you folded a seven-two offsuit or an eight-nine suited.

Stakes is a relatively important area to cover. Iπve seen a lot different playing styles when the stakes are diverse. When the stakes are smaller, they tend to play looser. When the stakes are higher, they play tighter. Iπve never seen the logic in this style. Frankly, itπs not a style at all; itπs erratic and will more often than not hurt your rhythm in the long run. Playing the same every timeãwhether itπs a $10 buy-in tournament in your best friends basement or a $250 single hand table game in a casinoãis a solid building block to finding a tempo in your own game. Throwing your rhythm around will only confuse you mentally. Some may think that when the money is not big enough, they can play a bit looser, and Iπll admit that Iπve done that myself, and it may have paid off. But when you sit down in the bigger games, it will wind you up like a wet dish rag and you wonπt play anything but the nuts because youπre scared to lose. Play the same hands with the same consistent style and it will pay off, both financially and for your own game.

These are style points that Iπve taken mental notes on for the past few years. Iπve played in enough poker rooms with the same players to have a good idea whatπs going on around me. And while my close friends, with whom I will regularly play, can sometimes put me on a set of cards, there probably are not a whole lot of people out there who can say the same thing. You have to put yourself in that mysterious category; itπs another element of your table image.