Crafting Your Poker Image

I strongly advocate paying great attention to every minute detail while playing. Any advantage you have over the competition, no matter how small, over time, can benefit you a great deal. Anything can help, aside from your play itself.

Your poker reputation, along with some assumptions players make about you, can make a big difference. For example, I played in the main event of the World Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Some people knew me from live play, and it was also common to have some people ask what your PokerStars screen name is since there were many online qualifiers. Some who knew me from live play, like Greg Raymer, Evelyn Ng and JC Tran, knew me as a solid, conservative player from previous encounters. I decided that in recent main events, I had been playing too tight. One hand in particular, I am sure now in retrospect that I laid down the best hand because I was being too cautious. I made a decision to be more loose and aggressive in the Bahamas. Using this as a tool helped me make it to the final two tables (until a runner runner flush sent me packing), as Raymer, Ng and others were laying down hands to my re-raises. Raymer, loves to play odd ball hands, play back at people, and seems to call when re-raised a bit too much with those odd ball hands. He even commented once that he knew me too well and showed me his tens before he mucked them against my all-in reraise with eights, which I did not show. He simply 'knew' I wasn't the type to make that play with less than tens, so he mucked.

There was one similar kind of thing I noticed recently in tournaments in Reno, in terms of using people's assumptions to your advantage, and I thought I'd share it.

I have a lot of 'goodies' from the online sites I play, notably giveaway shirts, jackets and hats from PartyPoker and PokerStars from when I've won seats through the sites. Some of them I like, and I sometimes wear that merchandise while playing, particularly the jackets. I hadn't really thought about it. But now that I'm writing for PokerTrails, I try to reflect and analyze more.

An overt comment brought to the front of my brain what had been in the back previously. The tournaments had mostly locals, I was an outsider. Over and over, one guy was taking way too long to play and was agonizing over every hand, on a Negreanu-esque level. After looking around and not seeing Shana Hiatt or any TV cameras, I was eventually the bad guy and called for time. A woman at the table said, 'This isn't the internet where you only get 30 seconds, this is real poker.' This woman, seeing my jacket, obviously decided I was 'only' an online player. I had been thinking I was getting good action, and some very profitable call downs. Then it hit me. Some of the table had to be thinking I was one of those 'crazy' online players who play all kinds of oddball hands, as that is the reputation many online players carry, deserved or not. It seems they were calling me down more because they thought I was a crazy online player who would be playing odd hands and being overly aggressive.

I adjusted my game accordingly. I benefited from their assumptions about my play, and did well. Who would think what you wear can make a difference, but it clearly did.

For those of you who are mostly online players, I have one piece of image advice for you also. Your screen name choice can make a difference. Some names indicate someone who knows poker, like Negreanu's 'doublesuited,' or one like dblgutshot or ChaseDaNuts. This could be good or bad, depending on how you play. Wouldn't you rather have people thinking you are just one more chump they can just run over'

Conversely, a name like Redsoxfan23 or joe_n_amy88 doesn't give the opponent any information about the experience level you possess. A name like OmahaBob might make you under respected in Hold 'Em if they think you are mostly an Omaha player. If you see someone with a name making a somewhat vulgar reference to bodily functions or female body parts, don't you kind of suspect you're dealing with an immature young male' And wouldn't you tend not to respect them as much as a player'

Think about it before you pick a name to use, or if you're ready for a change. On most sites, any notes people have on you will follow you to your new name, so that shouldn't be your only motivation. I believe I have benefited by people playing timidly against me online, especially after big wins, so I choose not to change names.

If you do make a change, choose thoughtfully, and you might just give yourself a small advantage over the competition.

Jeff Henry

note by gank: Take Jeff Henry's advice, pay attention to the game and make adjustments as needed.