Understanding Your Image

Image is everything.

OK, not really. But when you play live no-limit hold’em, your image strongly affects how your opponents make decisions against you. I’ve noticed when I talk to other live players that most of them have little understanding of their image and how it affects others.

Last issue I wrote about dressing to play poker. Of course how you dress is just a small component of your image. A much larger component of image comes from the results of recent hands.

Players often relate hands to me. “OK, Ed,” they say, “a guy limped and I raised Q-J in the cutoff.” I stop them and ask about their image. “I dunno,” they usually say. “I guess I looked TAG.”

TAG, an acronym for tight-aggressive player, is not an image. If you think your image at a live no-limit hold’em is tight or loose, or aggressive or passive, you’re wrong. You’re wrong for two reasons. First, most people don’t really think like that. Sure, they may notice that you haven’t played a hand in a while. But you can be sure that when you do finally open a pot for a raise, four players will call anyway. Tight, loose, passive, aggressive — no one cares.

Second, image is a subconscious thing. Presidents and CEOs are almost all taller than the average person. No one says, “gee, that guy is so tall, he’d probably make a great president.” It’s not a conscious bias. But it’s obvious that height plays a subconscious role in how people vote, who gets promoted, and so forth.

Image is also subconscious at the poker table. Strong and vulnerable are the two most relevant images. You are strong if you have been winning pots recently. You are vulnerable if you have been losing. Have a huge fortress of chips in front of you? Strong. Have half a stack of chips and a couple of crumpled bills? Vulnerable.

When your image is strong, players are less likely to play pots with you. When they do play pots, they are less likely to continue or call you down with marginal hands. And they are less likely to run bluffs or make plays at you. In other words, when you have a strong image, your opponents will play a little tighter and a lot more straightforwardly against you.

When you have a vulnerable image, it’s the opposite. People play pots with you and take more shots.

When you’ve been winning recently, subconsciously people expect you to keep winning, and they stay out of your way. When you’ve been losing, people expect you to keep losing, and they take more risks against you.

Either a strong or a vulnerable image can work in your favor, but I think a strong image is more desirable in most game conditions. You make money at poker because your opponents make consistent, systematic mistakes. In live poker, most players play too straightforwardly, they play too many pots, and they call off too lightly on the river.
A strong image makes people play more straightforwardly against you, which causes them to make mistakes even more often. It also causes people to tighten up slightly, which helps them to play a little better, but they remain loose enough that overall they are making more mistakes against you.

With a vulnerable image, people will play less straightforwardly. This is really bad for you. They will also play looser and call you down a little more often. This image makes your value hands more profitable, since you will be getting played with and paid off more. But it’s much harder to run bluffs with this image, and your opponents will also put you in more tough spots when you have middling hands, and these tradeoffs usually aren’t worth getting paid off a little more often.

The trouble is, you don’t really get to pick your image. If you could just wave your magic wand and win ten stacks of chips to look strong, you probably wouldn’t be wasting your time reading what I have to say. Like many things in poker, you don’t control what happens, you can only control how you react to it.

When I have a strong image, I’ll almost never leave the table. I’ll open pots a little more loosely (for example, I might open a hand like 9-8 suited from middle position),
I’ll make isolation raises preflop a lot more loosely (for example, on the button I might raise two limpers in a $2-$5 game to $50 with a hand like K-7 suited), and I’ll also make more preflop reraises in position. With this image, players are far more likely to fold preflop rather than call my raise. And when they do call, they will be looking to hit the flop hard or fold to my continuation bet. Also, I can bet my value hands planning to fold if raised, since I’m expecting to only rarely get bluff-raised with this image.

When I have a vulnerable image, I have to tighten way up. If I open 9-8 suited from middle position, I’ll get three or four calls. If I try to make it $50 on the button after two limpers, they will both call and maybe try to make plays on the flop. Or, one of the limpers might limp-reraise.

With a vulnerable image, I’m relying on the fact that I’ll get paid off more loosely to make a profit. But I have to be careful, because I also might get bluff-raised in situations I wouldn’t normally expect a bluff. So I have to be more willing to call it off in marginal scenarios.

It’s a fine line to walk, however, since tilt can play a major role in this dynamic. If you have a vulnerable image, it’s because you’ve been losing. Losing can cause tilt. And when you’re tilted, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a situation where your image has induced a bluff and one where you’re obviously beaten and only frustration is making you consider calling it off.

Here’s my recommendation: If you win a few pots in a row, recognize that you’ll have a strong image. Use that image by loosening up (slightly) and firing more barrels on the flop and turn. You’ll find that players may start folding to you on the turn with hands like K-9 or even K-J on a K-T-3-7 board. And do not make thin call-downs with your strong image. If you get raised, your opponent means business. Just flip your cards into the muck with a “can’t win ‘em all” attitude.

Resist the urge to color up your chips. Huge stacks of small chips contribute to your strong image. A large stack of bills is the worst, since it’s barely visible to your opponents. I would suggest asking the chip runner to bring you chips for the bills.
With a vulnerable image, switch tables. While it’s possible to exploit a vulnerable image, it’s tricky, and if you have any tendency to tilt, I’d recommend that you not even try. Just find a new table where you can start fresh. ♠

Ed’s brand new book, Reading Hands At No-Limit Hold’em, is available immediately for purchase at notedpokerauthority.com. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.