Does table image matter at micro stakes

Since many ppls are multitabling, (the serious players with small BR's) and those who are not are by and large Noobs just learning the game,
does table image really matter at 2nl?

Thoughts.....

Not as much.

But most idiots will notice if you fold 30 hands in a row, then make a big opening bet under the gun.

In NLHE, probably not at all. There are so many people coming & going, and so many tables, you could probably not see the same people twice in a month unless you look for them. Omaha H/L, different story, and image matters a lot. In noth the low limits PLO8 and especially .05 & .10 limit, the play is often tight, and 'learned' if that word fits. They are not there to blow their freeroll winnings on 'poker'. They are there to play Omaha H/L specificall, they visit often, and many seem to take notes on you (I know I sure do).

Not really! You can't use advanced plays on players that can't understand the play. You will get called if they hit any part of the felt. On the other hand, poker is situational. If you find yourself at a table with the same players for hours you might want to consider your image.

It matters in two senses in the levels I play. I play 4NL and 10 NL and at I would say 4 NL is close enough for 2NL for the purposes of what I have to say.

I have observed that table image matters just after you have just stacked someone. If you play a tight game and suddenly take down a big pot with a set of some otherr fancy hand, your next few big C bets will tend to get a bit more respect. Even in fish land, something like that gets noticed. Essentially thats all table image is- getting noticed doing something.

The other sense in which it matters is when you are in pots agaisnt regulars- there are a good few of them and you can end up playing them fairly often. The are often the tightest guys who play an ABC game and who multitable. These guys are not going broke on one pair and many of them will have HUDS. Having HUDS combined with actually playing against each other a bit means that you form a strong image of these sort of players and you typically know that agaisnt some guys, you really need the nuts to get your stack in the middle. I know who the good players are and I know their range. This is a two way street because if you have coinsistenly built up a tight image and a regular knows this, you will be given credit for a hand when you hold nothing. I guess this kind of thing is more like a metagame than table image.

thanks for the input Dorkus, im always looking to improve my game.

i have been 24 tabling 2nl for a while now, playing really tight, waiting for a hand bigger than aj and occasionally limping in with small pocket pairs, when i get a hand i raise bigger than the standard 3bb or 4bb, so far, it does not seem that people picked up on this, they still call me down with 5j sooooted. (and sometimes they bust me, those are the moments i really wanna punch someone in the face).

but, pokerstars has more regulars at 2nl than most people think, i have notes on them, many of them played maybe 500k hands, sometimes you can even find 3-4 of these grinders at 1 table, i've seen 5, 6 if i count me.

If you're playing tight, you wont get noticed. If you're raising every hand, or playing lots of hands and cbetting every time, generally playing aggressively will get noticed but people will adjust poorly.

If you play very tight, you can take the same lines as much as you want, no one will remember what you did fifteen hands ago.


FWIW, people multitabling doesn't mean table image isn't important. The vast majority of regs are multitabling at any stakes and they're the people you need to be most concerned about table image with.
The reason table image doesn't count for much at the micro-micros is that no one knows what's going on. So you're a TAG but with a low 3bet %, no one knows what the hell a 3bet is or what a tight/loose 3bet range looks like, using the tight history with 3betting to then bluff is spewing chips, just keep value raising.
However the belief that people can only see their two cards is at best short sighted, these opponents are really bad and haven't got a clue what they're doing but if you happen to pick up aces three times in the first 10 hands and 3bet the same player every time he has now marked you as a maniac and will probably never change that opinion. - I'm not advocating trying to establish a table image against these guys, or against anyone for that matter, that's really bad. I'm just putting forward the opinion that even the worst opponents do think, just not much and not about the same stuff as the rest of us do.

"Micro" means different things to different people. If you're talking only up to 10NL, then I don't think image matters very much although you can still run into a number of 10NL regs. At 25NL you'll start to find more grinders. At 50NL, which some still consider micro, you find a LOT of regs who massively multi-table, run HUDs, etc. I 9-10 table 50NL pretty much every evening now, and I usually have multiple regs at virtually every table, some of which I have thousands of hands on. So yeah, image is definitely important to those folks, and to me.

And like kid123 said, even the bad players start to notice if you push/beat them out of every hand you get into with them. They don't typically adjust well, a lot of the time they'll just get out of your way (which you don't want them to do, so I'll start backing off them for awhile -- fortunately their memory tends to be shorter than ours). So you have to manage your aggression against those. I actually like it when a donkfish gets lucky and sucks out once in awhile, and sometimes if the pot isn't too big, I might even fold what I suspect is a marginally better hand, because it gives some of them a false confidence in their game. Then they're more likely to get it in with you when you really do have them crushed. I particularly enjoy sitting down with a 48/2 fish sitting on 3 BI's, those tend to be extremely cocky.

Table image matters no matter what, - unless you play rush poker I guess.

Yup, the ones who seem to know what they are doing, you should at least keep table image at the back of your mind.

nah not really. Most people are worried about thier own game then anybody else's unless your playing a style which it's obv to your opponents like raising everyhand pre-flop.

+1 everyone has read a poker book at sometime in there life. What they took from it is a different matter, but there are alot of good players at micros who just can't afford higher stakes or just don't wish to risk any more.

so good table image helps you take from the better and still take from the real fish who don't care.

It doesn't cost anything to keep a good table image or image in general pending your style.

In fact table image is your style, if you don't have one then get one or what are you doing playing poker you big fish

Image only matters if someone at your table knows enough to look for it, live or on-line. If you are looking for it, it will help you but it may not help if you present an image and no one cares.

Of course it matters. It matters a great deal when considering whether or not you're likely a dominant favorite, likely race, or a race at best. I'd rather target the bad players at the table not mess too much with the tighter players. Generally if they are showing any resistance after the flop they have something and it's worth waiting for a better moment to get your money into a pot.

I wasn't refering to the image ( i.e. my perception of the players im at the table with, as its obv that im going to use my perception of them in MY desciscions. I was asking if we really think that at 2NL players in the majority are truly paying attention to image as WE are... multitablers are limited in what they can pick up as image due to the volume of tables they are playing (thats one of my assumptions). and the field is full of new players to the game as well, so i just wanted eeryone take on that view point

It doesn't matter to most of the ppl and ppl play their hand from any position like they play from the button. Even the ppl that know some basics will play tight but from any position. But it matters to you U can see the easy fish to fry and u can see the tight players. Your image does not mean nothing untill u fry 2-3 persons . Than most of the ppl on the table will be scared or tilted. There is one of 10 decent player at microstakes and that one is the one that plays tight winning little by little being patient not making any big moves to be caught, just making his bankroll. Just stay away when he plays cose most of the times he will fold and get the other fish that plays 7 2 from early position.

Ever heard of holdem manager? There's your muti tabling answer to how a person is playing

On this point, I'd think the majority are not. I started online poker at 10NL and never played much 2NL, I primarily used it to experiment with table mods and AHK scripts and such. But while there I found it to be basically a freeroll mentality and not taken terribly seriously by most. I doubt that there are very many regular grinders at 2NL, unless they're a hyper BR nit that went busto, so most are probably recreational or beginner players who don't know what "image" means. That doesn't mean some won't notice if you raise/fold every hand and then play differently with you because of it. But once they're skilled enough to understand and process each player's style at the table, then they're probably moving on from 2NL as soon as they have the BR.

Now on this point, you're incorrect. Virtually all decent multi-tablers are using a HUD and tracking software, so yes they do have reads. As a MTer myself, from their stats I have a very good idea how people are playing at my tables, and play back accordingly. I'm always trying to both leverage my own image and exploit theirs. It's a myth that MTers only play premium hands and robo-poker -- they make decisions too, and those decisions come from stats and history with the people they're playing with.

And even with new players I've never seen before, within just 20-30 hands (often 10 is enough) I have enough basic information to broadly classify them in terms of fish, LAG, TAG, nit, etc., which I then try to use to my advantage. The longer they sit and play, the better of an idea I have, and my adjustment to them.

My thoughts are, take other people's table image into consideration, and ASSUME the other 2NL players won't. If you want action with KK, shoving will usually get you one caller.

Thank you for THIS, very clear , learned alot form your post. much appreciated

I personal do not think table image at micro stake tables is very important.What u should be warrying about is how solid your own play is.patience and NO bluffing.If u start to change your solid play just to create an image then u are asking for trouble.

If anything try and find a table that you are comfortable playing at.If you join a table and there is some maniac playing and u are getting frustrated, then leave and sit down at another table.

So before u warry about table image, first warry about what table you are comfortable playing at and play solid poker, The rest will follow.

Good luck to u mate.

Lazmansa

doesn't mean you should neglect everyone else's table image, as you said, if you notice a maniac, a nit, or solid player, use that knowledge to your advantage. What ever will give you the edge =]