Image As A Deterrent To Profit In Hold’Em

A friend of mine, whom we’ll call, “Johnny Knoxville,” used to try to intimidate players at his local no fold’em table by arriving in border-line costume. He’d wear a gaudy trench coat and snazzy fedora hat to the local 5-10 game, where your average player is usually adorned in little more than a decent looking polo and a baseball cap. Even though the goal of this image is to intimidate and threaten the average 5-10 player, you’re actually costing yourself money by adopting such an intimidating image.

You don’t really want to narrow the field in a game where raises on their own don’t do the trick. Johnny is trying to get marginal hands to fold, but the idea of a marginal hand, in this location, was ace high or bottom pair.

The hands he is supposed to be playing on a no fold’em table such as this are pocket pairs, big aces and suited connected. Since big aces are a smaller percentage of total hands than either of the other categories we will ignore the advantage being scary might add to these hands and look at the pairs and suited connected instead. The suited connected prefer a multi way pot, because when draws that suited connected are associated with hit, they tend to win large pots, but the value of these large pots stems from multi-way action. The 89 of hearts looks great five way to the flop, but heads up, the value of the drawing possibilities shrinks in comparison due to the lack of high card value or pair value. Post flop, building a 6 way pot with gut-shot flush draw combo has a great return, but if your raise scares everyone out, it actually yields a lower return than narrowing the field.

Worse yet, since you are not going to be bluffing in this game, once you make your hand a scary image is the worst possible thing you can have with a made straight or flush when marginal players would call with just one pair. Small pairs work the same way; the value they have lies in the large pots to be won by flopping a set. The more players that are seeing a flop, the more likely someone is going to flop some sort of hand that will pay your small set off nicely. The more players involved in the pot, the easier your suited connectors and small pocket pairs play on the flop. You especially don’t mind a marginal player drawing with bottom pair when you have a set.

Big pairs don’t mind a multi way pot particularly if you are making it incorrect for them to play by raising and re-raising before the flop. By making the price to see the flop particularly large, the equity you gain by creating a large multi-way pot will pay dividends over time. You may only win a four way pot between three random top 20 hands and your kings roughly 35% of the time, but that 10% edge in equity will net you a good profit in the long run, especially if your postflop play is technically sound.

Another image to avoid is the Phil “The Brat” Hellmuth image, particularly at no-limit and pot-limit tournament tables. Even the most mediocre player can devise a strategy to cost you chips if that is their only concern on the table. The ability to make a bet that can induce a better hand to fold is nearly impossible to utilize when your image makes people seem to come after you. Some players will play more hands against you, others will play less, this is a difficult combination of opponents, particularly if you haven’t yet identified which players are which. While it sound like you would prefer the Knoxville image of scary here, in my professional experience, the friendly pro image works the best. I think this may work simply because it’s just the truth. In other words, don’t pretend to be a pro if you are not a pro. The image of a tough, brash professional does little to attract the favor of weak, recreational players.

Avoiding the “brat image” holds true even more in a cash game. You’re telling the casual gambler with your choice of apparel, “Hey, you’re not going to have any fun here. I’m here to take your money, and if you don’t like that, you can leave.” The problem is, a fair percentage of those players will do just that, and leave, looking for a more relaxed table than one with your intimidating self. You’re causing the players that will contribute nicely to your bankroll to flee and seek the comfort of the nice professional image, the “Negraneu” image, where, even though they’re going to lose the same amount of money to each player, at least they’re going to enjoy themselves doing it, so they don’t mind as much.

Your poker image is just as valuable a tool as the resources you utilize to be a profitable poker player. No matter how much skill you have as a poker player, your profitability is dependent on the caliber of players that you attract to play you. By alienating the weaker, less competent players from your tables, you attract the stronger professionals that can see through your guise and devastate your bankroll. Nice guys in poker never finish last; they just attract the cash.