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Surely, you have heard stories from poker players more than once that during the hand, the hero openly fold ed a very strong hand, since the image of the opponent and his behavior at the table indicated that the opponent had an even stronger combination on his hands. The best passes in television poker are very fond of showing, and I personally consider a good fold to be one of the most skillful abilities of a professional poker player.
Today, I, Alexey Exan13, a tournament poker coach, am discussing how to create the right image at the poker table and what benefits can be derived from it.
1. How to understand what your оpponents think about you in poker
Before you start forming your new image at the table, try to imagine what your rivals think of you as a poker player. оpponents It is important to do this with an open mind. For example, out of the last 10 hands, you got 7 premium starters that you played aggressively through the raise and 3-bet. Opponents who have just joined the table will have an aggressive impression of your style. If none of the giveaways made it to the showdown, it will look like you're in a putty hand. But at the same time, it is not worth demonstrating your aces, kings and AK in the open. Why give rivals free information?! In offline poker, you can try to create a loose image with active communication and commenting on hands.
But in online poker, where we learn how to make money, your image will consist of only three criteria:
- Your game statistics (HUD);
- Personal pranks with a specific player;
- Mining on you, instead of HUD, if you suspect that this villain is using it.
At the game table, it is important for us to understand the image our оpponents see. Because our image will influence their choice of strategy against us. Therefore, if we want to rise one level of thinking higher, we need to understand what adjustments the opponent will make specifically against us villain.
List of basic adjustments for opponents
You are nit You
have small values of preflop stats. Opponents who notice this will be much more careful to play against you. It's not enough to 3 bet in a bluff as a bluff. Less willing to call on post-flop your bet and bluff against you.
You have agro 3-bet
Opponents will be more willing to push the middle hands in you 4-bet. Good reg players will have a range of 4-beta bluff against you. On a post-flop in a 3-bet pot, you will be more willing to be opened call.
You have a pocket aggressive blind protection
Opponents will be less styled against you stealing.
You have a secret passive blind protection
Opponents will open wide against you from a steal position.
You have a high fold against 3bet
Opponents will slightly increase the range of their 3-bet bluff.
You have a high post-flop aggression score
Opponents will be more willing to open you up to bluff catchers and trust your raises less.
You have passive aggression on post-flop
Opponents will trust your raises and bets more. Consequently, the value will be paid worse, and the bluffs will be trusted more.
Due to the fact that so much additional information can be obtained by analyzing your stats through the eyes of our opponent, I do not understand why so many reg players disable statistics on themselves or display it in a greatly simplified format. Above is only a small part of the add-ons to the strategy that opponents can make against us based on our image.
2. How to use and create an image at the poker table
The image is able to increase the winrate of your basic game strategy when you understand how to use it. You can use any image you have, even if you did not intentionally try to create it this way. You can read more about the 5 types of players in tournament poker here.
Nit image
If you notice that it so happened in the last 50-100 hands that you have nit statistics - use this!
- If you have a nit raise, start styling with mp2 + more than your standard range of hands;
- If you have a nit 3-bet, then put a pair of bluff 3-bets with an extended range from later positions;
- If you have a nit 3-bet, you can bet more actively on post-flop, opponents will be more afraid to open you up.
Well, other similar adjustments associated with an increase in pocketing due to thread stats.
This will help you double:
- First, you will be able to get an additional winrate at the the long run;
- Secondly, you will correct your image in the direction of silliness, which is a prerequisite for an optimal image, otherwise you will be poorly paid by your premium hands.
LAG Image
If the variance has developed so that you have formed a loose-agressive image at the table - this can and should also be used. Now you avoid aggressive actions at the bottom of your range, especially if other reg players at the table start trying to resist your aggression. But you try to maintain the level of the image in certain pocket values and wait for good hands, because the winrate on the strong part of your range increases decently due to such an image. People are starting to be more willing to pay you for strong hands on both preflop and postflop. This is the best version of the image in poker and it is necessary to be able to use it to the maximum and sometimes try to create it artificially.
3. Image is not important for everyone
It is normal when some оpponents will not pay any attention to your image. They will build the game according to their own feelings of cards or other principles known only to them. On the Internet, most amateurs and professionals use auxiliary software, playing many tables at the same time, so your last actions will be invisible if the tracker has accumulated several thousand hands on you. It is important to look at how many hands you have for your opponent, since these values are the same, and he has the same number of hands for you (do not consider options using mining). Trying to create an offline image when the opponent watches a movie or sports broadcast on a tablet is also a dubious pleasure. He will not appreciate these actions.
4. Optimal image in poker
As I said earlier in this article, the optimal image is LAG. Because the main earnings of winrate are carried out on the premium part of the range of starting hands, and the more loose your image, the more willing your opponents are to pay for nuts on middle and mediocre hands, thus increasing your earnings on them. Therefore, one of the main educational sections in poker strategy is always the study of preflop game ranges in order to bring the game from each position through raise and 3-bet and 4-bet to peak possible values (play the maximum range that can be brought to a plus at a distance from each position and in each action).
This increases your winrate in two ways:
- you play as many hands as possible with a plus winrate;
- and simultaneously increase the winrate of premium hands due to the puddle image of the game.
Of all the possible boosts in the game, the fast is to get qualitatively developed game range from each position in each preflop action in order to raise the pocketing of actions to the maximum and simultaneously reduce the pocketing where it leads to a minus. With the help of our site, you can get the basic range for the correct preflop game by accessing the free video course “Basics of preflop and postflop games”. But the most productive option is to get the maximum exploit range for each individual limit by buying the “Optimal preflop range Level 3” course. Write to me if you are interested in it.
