In-game Poker Image
An aspect of poker that has nothing to do with rules or tactics is that of projecting an image at the table. It is all about the impression that players give while indulging in the game. Your image consists of all you know about your opponents and all they know about you. It includes more than perception and bluffing. There may be some decisions surrounding it that seem odd or even erroneous.
Whatever it is you do or don’t do at the table produces an image for your opponents to observe and analyze. There are players who attempt to project nothing. Everyone at the table must play the cards dealt him. An alternative playing style is to make a big show of activity to disorient and confuse opponents thereby obscuring your method of play.
If you want to increase your profits with a few bets and then back off, bluffing is the solution. But if you want to sacrifice the now for long term profitability, you will need to create and project an image. You might make a couple of lame moves in a particular circumstance. You will lose here, but in similar circumstances in the future, when your hand is strong and you are a good player, some expert opponents will have noted your previous play with the lame hands, and still others will just be confused you by your lack of predictability. This sort of strategy can get you long term results and substantially increase the worth of your strong hands.
Image-based tactics are common in chess. Often a player whose strength you don’t yet know and players whose strength is well known will make believable wrong moves or strange seemingly useless moves. They will sacrifice figures, neglect to fortify or take positions. Disorienting the player buy deliberate “bad” strategy, they then perform a sudden and subtle swoop into a long breach or attack a soft spot which hitherto did not appear to be the object of attention.
The strategies for both games are similar at their core. Current advantage is sacrificed for greater advantage down the road. Rather than playing every hand to its fullest potential, you foresee less tangible but greater future benefits. While your current move seems pretty dumb and puts you at a disadvantage, you will recover later in the game and do so with ferocity. This is image-based play at its best..
You need to learn to project a variety of images and use the image that best befits a given situation. You will also learn which “dumb” moves to use to fake out your opponents to best achieve whichever goal you have in mind. You may want to use your image to disorient only with regard to a particular skill set. There will be times when you want them to see you as a weak player, or at least wonder if you are or not, or to think you are just a big bluff artist.
It is probably better to generate the image at the outset of the game, when the bank is still small. Otherwise, a few consecutive “bad” moves with a big bank may cost more than the eventual win.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Rakeback at Ultimate Bet and Rakeback at Absolute Poker.
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