Image is Everything

You may remember the old Andre Agassi commercials from the 1980s with the tag line, "Image is Everything." At the time, he was trying to sell Canon cameras, and I'm sure that he had no intention of talking about poker, but that tag line could be as easily about poker as it was a young hotshot tennis star with a mullet, back when neon was cool and it was OK for men to wear short shorts.



Knowing what your current image is, as well as how and when to exploit and manipulate it, is every bit as important (perhaps even more so) as knowing how to play A-Q offsuit from under the gun or J-10 suited from the cutoff. Image is what enables you to get away with steals and scoop a massive pot when you get dealt aces.



I'm going to assume that simply because you're reading this column, you understand enough about poker to understand that your table image is how other players at the table perceive you. They may or may not be correct in their perceptions of you, but it's much more important for you to know how they think you're playing than how you're actually playing.



I'll discuss the three major factors that influence image, and then address how to exploit them to your advantage.



First, there is reputation. Maybe you're a regular in your home game, a famous player from television, or a well-known online pro. We all have reputations that precede us when we're on our "home turf." I'll use myself as an example. Being a well-known online player if I'm playing online, I have an image that comes from my reputation as a player before I ever play a hand. However, if I'm playing live, I'm most often at a table where no one knows me and no one has any preconceived notions of how I play.



Second, there is your actual play at the table. Maybe you've shown down only aces and kings the entire time at the table, or perhaps you've made a steal from late position with a terrible hand, then hit and had to show it down. This is also comprised of the hands you don't show down. If you raise three hands in a row and don't show any of them, people will start to doubt you, even if you were just dealt three monster hands.



Last but not least is table talk and body language. You might even lump appearance into this. If you're playing online, this comes primarily from the chat box. This factor includes things like typing warnings to players who raise your blinds too often, how you sit in your chair in a live game, and even such things as how old you look or what color your skin is. Like it or not, people form opinions of you the moment they see you. If you look like you just turned 21, people are going to immediately assume that you're a "young gun" or a "cocky kid," even if you're the most well-mannered and respectful person at the table. If you have gray hair and a picture of your grandchildren as your card protector, people are going to assume that you're a tight player whom they can walk all over. Stereotypes are a part of poker, just as they are in the real world. People will change their opinions of you as they play with you more, but first impressions last a long time.



Before I discuss exploiting image, I'd like to take a moment to discuss my personal "ideal image." When I'm at the table, my goal is to try to create the perfect balance of belief and doubt. Doing so enables me to get enough respect to get away with steals and use plays, but it also leaves people guessing just enough that I can get paid off when I hit my big hands. I try to visualize it as an old balance scale from high-school science class. Belief is on one side and doubt is on the other.



If one side starts to outweigh the other, I start "adding weight" to the other side. If I think I'm getting too much respect, I'll start raising and reraising more liberally, but if I think I'm getting looked up too often, I'll back away and show down only the goods until I start getting more respect. In a perfect world, people will doubt all of my good hands and believe all of my bluffs.



If I'm in a live game, another way to adjust my image is with table talk. If the balance scale is tipping too far toward doubt, I can start talking about how well I'm running and that I haven't had a run of cards like this in ages. Conversely, if they're believing too much, I can convey frustration by stating that I might just start playing my junk hands, since I never get any real ones, and the board always seems to come with rags, anyway.



Let's discuss a few common examples of how we can exploit our image, although the possibilities really are limited only by the imagination. One of the most common examples is when you are dealt a very big hand either after you've already raised a few hands in a row or have shown down a big bluff. Your first instinct in this situation is often to do something tricky, but in reality, you should often play it the exact same way that you played either your bluff or your last few hands. The mere fact that your raises or the bluff are in people's minds creates a seed of doubt that can often lead to a big pot for you.



Conversely, if you've just shown down the nuts, it's often a good time to make a stab at the pot with a less than stellar holding. As discussed earlier about first impressions being important, people also have a tendency to weigh the most recent events at the table more heavily than ones in the more distant past. If people see you showing down good hands, they're very likely to believe you until you show down something bad.



There really is no limit to the things you can do with your image if you're constantly aware at the table and creative enough to take advantage of the situations that image can present. The biggest obstacle I see most players facing when it comes to image is that they have an image of themselves based on what kind of player they think they are. I hear a lot of bad-beat stories that contain phrases such as, "I'm a tight-aggressive player; how could he call there with third pair?" Or, I hear stories like, "I finally got aces and raised, and didn't get any action! If I could just get some action on my good hands, I could win one of these things."



If you find yourself using phrases like those, or not taking advantage of how others perceive you at the table, just remember this: "Image is everything." Mr. Agassi would be proud.



Eric "Rizen" Lynch is a professional poker player who is well-known for his impressive online results. Read Eric's analysis on his blog (rizenpoker.blogspot.com) and check out his instructional videos, available at PokerXFactor.com.