How many people notice their table image?

[GatorJH]

As I am playing in a tournament, one of the things that I am cognizant of is my table image. If I have been raising a lot lately (even if they are all good hands) I will tighten up my starting requirements because the likelyhood that someone will push back goes up with each raise.

With that said do you think the fold in hand 3 is a good or bad fold? Personally, I folded because of my position, and the fact that I had raised the previous two hands seems like it would make it more likely that I get called by a weaker hand and also would make it harder to C-Bet post flop.

Agree? Disagree?

Hand 1

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button (t690)
SB (t497)
BB (t1811)
UTG (t1807)
UTG+1 (t1945)
MP1 (t1895)
MP2 (t1925)
MP3 (t1425)
Hero (t1505)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, J.
5 folds, Hero raises to t90, 1 fold, SB calls t75, 1 fold.

Flop: (t210) 6, J, T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t180, SB folds.

Final Pot: t210

Results in white below:
No showdown. Hero wins t210.

Next hand


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

CO (t690)
Button (t407)
SB (t1781)
BB (t1807)
UTG (t1945)
UTG+1 (t1895)
MP1 (t1925)
MP2 (t1425)
Hero (t1625)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with , .
2 folds, MP1 calls t30, 1 fold, Hero raises to t120, 4 folds, MP1 folds.

Final Pot: t105

Results in white below:
No showdown. Hero wins t105.

Very next hand

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

MP3 (t690)
CO (t407)
Button (t1766)
SB (t1777)
BB (t1945)
UTG (t1895)
UTG+1 (t1895)
MP1 (t1425)
Hero (t1700)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with , .
6 folds, Button raises to t90, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t75

Results in white below:
No showdown. Button wins t75.

[taipan168]

At low buyins, personally I think worrying about your table image is a waste of time at best and potentially -EV at worst. The only time I worry about my table image (actually, it's probably better described as their reads on me) is against regulars who I have played very often and who would have HUD stats on me.

That said, if you've raised a number of hands in a row and you come across a situation that could go either way, I would lean towards folding rather than potentially risking somebody looking you up. If you're playing in the SNG experiment it's probably much more of a factor because EVERYBODY will be watching closely.

On your hands, I would not raise Hand 2, I'd just call and see if you can a) see a cheap flop and b) flop something nice.

I would open fold Hand 3 from MP2 in any case regardless of my image.

[bjsaust]

I'm aware of table image, but generally on a person by person basis. If I'm constantly stealing blinds off the same person, or have restolen of the same guy a couple of times, I try to bare that in mind in the future.

You two should review my last tourney post and give me feedback about just this issue!

[DetroitHusling101]

What buying do you play? I don't think table image matters to much at the low buyins like tai said , regulars will have an idea of how you play of course but generally non-regs=fish. With the hands i fold all 3 if im 9 tabling , if im playing playing less i would def limp 2 because of the limper , but not raise. If folded to i would raise. Hand 3 is standard open fold from MP2.

[FlyingSaucy]

I do not think at all that worrying about table image is a waste of time even at low stakes. Especially your last 10 hands have a significant impact on short handed late game play and whether opponents are willing to call or push against your raises.
Your ability to succeed between bubble and heads up in sngs is 10% playing your cards, 20% playing your image, 30% playing position, and 40% playing your stack. So yes image is a big factor.

[mattiesmat]

Your ability to succeed between bubble and heads up in sngs is 10% playing your cards, 20% playing your image, 30% playing position, and 40% playing your stack. So yes image is a big factor.

Maybe you look at it this way, but really 90% of players (low stakes) just look at their cards and decide what to do.
They mostly just surf/chat/watch tv and don't think in advanced levels and don't pay much attention to reads, patterns and meta game.
The only point where they will notice is during push fold poker, but you can't give up much ev for your image there.

Also if you just play tight early your image will be pretty tight for anyone who notices.

[GatorJH]

BTW, this was a $20+2 tourney

[FlyingSaucy]

Your ability to succeed between bubble and heads up in sngs is 10% playing your cards, 20% playing your image, 30% playing position, and 40% playing your stack. So yes image is a big factor.

I should not have said "playing your cards" but really just "luck of the draw." All 3 of the other factors involve playing your cards so that's not really what I meant.

Obv those numbers are just something I threw out there and not something anyone can quantify. But the essence of my point is that when you win, you can generally attribute your win to how well you play those factors, in that order of importance. In the low stakes games especially, luck of the draw is of less influence. So some percent of your win is always attributed to pure luck (could be as high as 50% in high stakes games), and lower in lower stakes games. In low stakes games, luck of the draw matters less because the skill gap is greater between you and the worst player on the table. Think about the donks out there in the low stakes games who you can watch for a single orbit and already figure out that they are 3 times more likely to bust in the bottom few positions than you are.

So luck is a factor but it is still true that when you win, it should mostly be attributed to the rest of those factors which involve how you play the game according to your stack, position, and how well you manage your image at varying stages of the game. I'm not saying cards don't matter, but how you play them in conjunction with those other factors is significantly more important than running good and shoving with them.

Also if small stakes players are not watching for image, then image management is still a factor because you will more easily be able to take advantage of their leaks because they probably assume you are not watching just like them. It's easy to peg a player who camps. So when I say image management I mean not just making sure you know what your image is doing or not doing to other players, but how you can abuse their lack of knowledge about your playing to keep the pressure on when you are big stack, and not being afraid to pounce when you are small even if you *should* have a loose table image.

[ApocalypseCow]

Now I know this isn't as important in online poker, but I find that chatting is a useful tool in image management. I have had tremendous results with "egotistical" comments like "You should fold," in order to encourage specific responses. Or in an instance that comes to mind, someone called me a fish, so I asked him for advice, and I'm still not sure he noticed I took a large chunk of his stack from him over several small hands.