This Fish Chums
Visionary
Silver Level
Most players will say building a table image is extremely important to your long-term success at a table. And I agree with that in general terms. However, I have found myself getting caught by people not respecting the table image I built up over the course of ten or so orbits. After thinking about it for quite some time, I think I know what’s going on.
The first aspect of my problem is playing at tables where players aren’t good enough to learn your table image. What I mean by that is a lot of players simply aren’t good enough to pick up on someone’s table image at all. If there are players at your table who aren’t good enough to track it or aren’t using a HUD to track it then building a table image is not going to help you in the long run. Secondly is the possibility that even good players who can track table image can’t track it for all 8 opponents at the table. It’s hard to do and even good players can’t pull it off, although they are more likely to use a HUD to track that sort of thing. So, think twice before trying to take advantage of a TAG table image, for example, by bluffing a missed flop because you have to ask yourself if the people at your table are good enough to know you’re playing TAG.
Another reason is you have to pay attention to new players joining the table. If you’ve spent quite a while building one table image, that new person who just sat down will have no idea that’s how you’re playing, even if they are experts at tracking table image. You can’t expect to be able to abuse table image against someone who just sat down at the table. Or against a new table in a tournament for that matter. I’ve fallen into a trap of building a strong table image in a tournament at one table only to be moved to a new table once I thought I could start taking advantage of it and being sat down with a bunch of players who have no idea I’ve built an image over the last 4 rounds.
That being said, table image is ultimately important when playing heads up or against 2 other opponents. When playing at a table that small even poor players can sometimes pick up on your table image let alone halfway decent players. Heads up is a situation where you can almost always build a table image and then abuse it later on.
The first aspect of my problem is playing at tables where players aren’t good enough to learn your table image. What I mean by that is a lot of players simply aren’t good enough to pick up on someone’s table image at all. If there are players at your table who aren’t good enough to track it or aren’t using a HUD to track it then building a table image is not going to help you in the long run. Secondly is the possibility that even good players who can track table image can’t track it for all 8 opponents at the table. It’s hard to do and even good players can’t pull it off, although they are more likely to use a HUD to track that sort of thing. So, think twice before trying to take advantage of a TAG table image, for example, by bluffing a missed flop because you have to ask yourself if the people at your table are good enough to know you’re playing TAG.
Another reason is you have to pay attention to new players joining the table. If you’ve spent quite a while building one table image, that new person who just sat down will have no idea that’s how you’re playing, even if they are experts at tracking table image. You can’t expect to be able to abuse table image against someone who just sat down at the table. Or against a new table in a tournament for that matter. I’ve fallen into a trap of building a strong table image in a tournament at one table only to be moved to a new table once I thought I could start taking advantage of it and being sat down with a bunch of players who have no idea I’ve built an image over the last 4 rounds.
That being said, table image is ultimately important when playing heads up or against 2 other opponents. When playing at a table that small even poor players can sometimes pick up on your table image let alone halfway decent players. Heads up is a situation where you can almost always build a table image and then abuse it later on.