Table Image

All,

How important do you think table image is playing on-line, as opposed to live play.

Harrington makes a very valid point in Vol 2, that image is not so important on-line, as a lot of players multi-table, watch TV etc etc so take very little (if any) notice of the TAG player.

Instead of realising that the TAG player has a very strong hand when he makes a move, the others (who have not paid attention) think he is on the steal, and go with him, when really they should probably lay down

I happen to think table Image is very important online. I dont agree with Harrington about this because I do not think that he has as much experience online than most online players.

I think it depends on the quality of players on your table, both live and online.

The only thing I'd add though is that it seems like most decent online players have invested in PAHUD or other software that gives an objective measure that can be used to assess "image". In that sense then statistical image is pretty important.

in my live games, people know that i'm TAG, but online i switch it up so much that i think it's hard to get a read on me. i used to be TAG in MTT's so i stopped playing them and started playing small buy in SnG's to try to loosen up my game. i'm back playing MTT's and have loosened up my game quite a bit and it seems to be helping me a great deal.

Table image is more important the shorter the table gets. When you play shorthanded(3-5, what i usually play) image gets very important. I often try to establish a very agressive image at first and then lay a bit back to get paid off with big hands( People wont fold their 10 10/jj to a big reraise if they think your very agro and when the flop comes 385 you may just stack em)

Guess it depends on the stakes, I know that when I multi-table. I am still struggling to take every possible note I can on players who are involved in hands that go to showdown.

Players who aren't paying attention to play at the table should become easy meat eventually

That said, I confess that most of my posting/reading here at CC is during online play.

THATS FUNNY............

I watch tv and play sng's all the time

i have played so many hours of online poker that it seems im on auto pilot

i pay more attention when it gets close to the $$

By the way, what is "TAG"?

TAG means Tight Agressive and to be on topic table image on my view matters if you play pretty big stakes, at micro limits for exemple(where i play) table image doesn`t matter almost at all .

Table image is important online only when you are to the point where you are in the position to cash out.

Prior to that games are usually spent trying to establish an "anti-image". This anti-image allows you to use deception as a tool in the later stages of the game. For example if you hesitate always when you bluff in the early stages of a game, practically speaking you should not hesitate when you bluff later, using your table image against the table.

I once in a while will not much a good bluff, where I might muck my pocket AA. This gives the idea that I do bluff and am more likely to be called when I do have a monster hand. Without establishing a table image, this does not work.