Copyright 2007 Full
Tilt Poker
November 1st 2007
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Poker Lessons)
Poker Lesson: Establishing a Tight
Table Image
Author: Allen Cunningham
In poker, image matters.
Throughout a tournament, your table image will help
determine how much action you'll get and, ultimately, how you
can manipulate your opponents into making big calls or big laydowns
at the wrong times.
While establishing a loose, aggressive image early
on can help build your initial chip stack, I believe it's important
to develop a tight table image in the later stages of a tournament
because it gives you the ability to maneuver at the times when
the chips matter most.
When the action is folded around, some players will
always raise from the cutoff and the button. The problem with
this play is that's its predictable and can be easily exploited.
If you always raise from the button, the players in the blinds
catch on sooner or later and will put in a big re-raise with any
two cards. You will also find players just calling you with a
much wider range of hands from the blinds before putting in a
big check-raise on the flop.
Why do they do this? Because you have been presenting
a loose table image by raising any time the action is passed to
you. During late-stage play, this image hampers your ability to
maneuver because any time you try to make a move, it's likely
that someone will play back at you.
It doesn't take long before your loose table image
will make you a target for the experienced players at the table
(or even the inexperienced players who get tired of being pushed
around). The amount of chips you risk by being loose in these
situations is usually not worth the reward of just picking up
the blinds. Be careful, though, because when you play too tight
you end up missing many opportunities to slowly accumulate chips
or even just stay afloat. Ideally, you want to project a very
tight image while actually being somewhere in between the standard
perceptions of "loose" and "tight."
I have one very simple piece of advice to help you
with this part of your game. It may sound so simple you would
wonder why I bother mentioning it but, in fact, this is one of
my most important rules: Always fold junk.
By always folding junk hands, you accomplish a number
of goals:
- You resist the temptation to attempt a blind-steal
just because action was passed to you. With the level of aggressiveness
that characterizes today's play, it's better to pass on bad hands
even in position.
- You avoid pot-committing yourself with a hand
that will usually be dominated in a race with a short-stack. For
example, if you raise from the cutoff for 3x the big blind with
J-3 attempting to steal the blinds and a stack with 8x the big
blind moves in behind you, you are in a bad spot. It's better
to just avoid these situations altogether.
- Most importantly, you further cement your image
as a tight player. Now when you raise with a hand like A-8, you
can feel confident that your tight image will allow you to steal
the blinds although you're actually playing a bit looser.
Another temptation players face is to pick on someone's
blind just because they view that player as "weak."
I rarely pick on someone's blinds without a decent opening hand.
Opening from the cut-off with a hand like K-9 suited is about
as low as I'm willing to go in attempt to just pick up the blinds.
Using my tight table image enabled me to maneuver
through a very tough field in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold 'em event
at the 2007 WSOP*. After I doubled up early in Day 2, I used my
table image in the late stages to steal blinds and to pick up
a number of pots in key situations. I was able to carry this momentum
to the final table, where I was fortunate enough to win the bracelet.
Remember, it takes more than good cards to be a
winning player. By creating a solid table image in the late stages
of a tournament, you may actually be able to play a wider variety
of hands than your opponents expect and take down key pots at
critical times.
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