Can making mistakes help your table image ?

This came up at a recent MTT tourney I was playing in. I had raised a few pots in a row and got dealt A-T in the cutoff. I hadn't had to show down any of my previous hands that I raised with either.

I raise 3x BB and the BB re-raised me. Ordinarily I would have folded but I decided to call. For some reason we check it down and I lose to BB's AK.

Then something strange happened a few hands later. I'm on the button and have 7-7 and raise it 3x BB and the BB calls. Flop comes K-T-7 and it all goes in on the flop and my hand holds up. The BB says, "now he wakes up with a hand". BB showed A-T, btw.

So here he is thinking I am a complete noob 'cause I called a re-raise with A-T and couldn't give me credit for a real hand. I ask again, can making and showing mistakes help you table image later ?

Yes, so long as you're playing against thinking, observant opponents.

I will often make questionable moves against shorter stack (in cash, not tourneys) in order to be labled as a fish by the bigger stacks, which in turn can often lead them to stacking off light.

But, this is all very dependent on the specific opponents you are facing.

If you win with a bluff, show your hand. You will see how many caller you will get. That the best way to trap the other players. I'm not saying do it all the time, but give them a fish image.

JMcCabe said:

Yes, so long as you're playing against thinking, observant opponents.

I will often make questionable moves against shorter stack (in cash, not tourneys) in order to be labled as a fish by the bigger stacks, which in turn can often lead them to stacking off light.

But, this is all very dependent on the specific opponents you are facing.

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This works sooo much more effectively live than online. Online people are extremly un observant whereas live everyone comments on hands and has to sit there and watch them anyway.

This is called balancing, where you take a less +EV line, or even a -EV line, to create more +EV situations for yourself later in the game. However, especially against bad, unobservant opposition, balancing is a huge waste of time. Just worry about making the best possible decision, and take the best line available to you.

playing good < Meta game crap

making mistakes can definetely help your table image

ckickenking said:

If you win with a bluff, show your hand. You will see how many caller you will get. That the best way to trap the other players. I'm not saying do it all the time, but give them a fish image.

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Don't show your bluffs - this strategy relies on you getting a very good hand at some point. You want to keep your options open so you can bluff successfully if you are card dead.

playing good < Meta game crap

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I don't think that symbol in the middle means what he thinks it means.

This smacks of FPS to me. Unless you are playing with the same opponents a lot there shouldn't be any need to consider making bad plays to set up an opponent for later.

Yes, mistakes CAN be beneficial. But typically you have to be very self-aware about what leaks you're demonstrating so you don't take them too far.

Pretty sure Sklansky talks about this idea in NLHE Theory and Practice. Basically saying a computer that could play perfect, unexploitable NLHE would still be less profitable than a very talented human player. The human player will find and take advantage of slightly -ev or marginal +ev spots to generate much bigger +ev spots down the road.

Harrington talks about this as well. Saying sometimes you want to make a play that might not be correct in order that your opponents can't read you. As others have said, though, people have to be paying attention for this to matter. At the level I play at, I think it's not worth it.

meta game is a waste of your time in games where you never come up against the same players very often.

MrEpic94 said:

This works sooo much more effectively live than online. Online people are extremly un observant whereas live everyone comments on hands and has to sit there and watch them anyway.

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Gotta agree with you there. On FTP you can look up which games a player is currently involved in. A lot of times, people are playing on a dozen tables at once. Obviously, they can't be very observant. With them you have zero table image no matter how you play. They are only watching their own cards.

MrEpic94 said:

This works sooo much more effectively live than online. Online people are extremly un observant whereas live everyone comments on hands and has to sit there and watch them anyway.

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Yeah I agree with this. It also tilts the player you're bluffing against a lot more, especially because everyone sees it happen.

Online, I don't really see the point in showing bluffs. No one really notices, and it has less of a tilting factor. Just keep picking the right spots to bluff.

He's a tard for getting it in with second pair anyway. It's not like in the first hand you were even bluffing, it was just checked down to the river.

I think that it could help,,,because you don't want to be a easy read. I found these the hardest playing to read, if they have a hand or not....Good luck at the tables

Usually players aren't playing the player as much as live. Playing multiple tables leads to them playing ABC poker, and not realizing other players specifically.

Find a post by Egon Towst & read the quote at the bottom.

Pascal LeFiscal said:

Don't show your bluffs - this strategy relies on you getting a very good hand at some point. You want to keep your options open so you can bluff successfully if you are card dead.

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Agreed. Especially at turbo sit & go's like I play. The 'good' players are multi tabling anyways, so they aren't going to make a huge note about you making a slightly -EV play anyways, unless it is a big fish move (in which case you shouldn't make it anyways). Just play your game. I've found that trying to get too artsy will cost you. Save the creativity for live games and big tournaments.