Using Player Image In Poker

By Author: Sally Crown
Total Articles: 25
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Player image is one of the most important aspects of poker be it online or in a live arena. You should be basing the vast majority of the decisions you make in a hand at the table on what you think your image is and what you think the image of your opponent is. A great way to manipulate other players at the table and force them to make mistakes is to create a certain image for yourself and then being to play differently causing them to have a false perception of you.

If you sit down at any game of poker and start raising every hand and making re raises before the flop and on the flop then people will start to view you as a maniac. With this comes the fact that they will also perceive you as a substandard player who plays far too many hands and is just there to gamble like he would on any other casino game. Well if you can create that image and then start playing tight poker you will suddenly find that you are getting paid off much much more when you make a big hand.

On the other side of the coin you can start of playing really tight and only premium hands for say the first hour of play. Then you can decide to change ...
... gears and start playing loose. All the other players at the table will then start to give you much more respect than you deserve as they will just think you are a tight player who is catching a lot of hands. This allows you to bluff people out of pots on a much higher frequency and just get away with more plays in general.

Make sure when you are playing hands against other people that you are aware of what their current image is. Try to keep watching the game when you are out of hands just to pick up on how other people are playing and what patterns emerge in their style. If they are a loose player then your top pair hands start to go up in value a lot more than if you are facing action from a tight player with top pair. Alternatively if you have a semi decent holding and someone who you think is really tight starts raising you its often best to just get out of the way and wait for a better spot to attack them.

So just make sure when your at the table that you watch the game and develop a good perception of what other players are doing. If you can do this then you will start to make better decisions when you play against them in hands and you can even start to manipulate them into making mistakes because you know how they perceive you.

Sally Crown writes for Bonus Poker Code about gambling issues and news. She also reviews bonuses such as PKR and Betfred