Poker Image and the Art of Winning

Your poker table image is the perception by your opponent of your poker game play. The first impression is said to be the last impression. However when it comes to a poker game impressions rarely count. By observing the patterns of one's opponents, one can make educated guesses about their potential hands.

The more you play against an opponent the more you get to know of their game play. If a player who keeps folding, suddenly calls or raises, one may surmise that he/she has stronger than average set of cards in their hand. On the other hand, a player can also leverage his table image by fooling your opponent into thinking that you have a weak hand.

Even body movements and words said during the game play have a lot to say about your opponent and yourself. If you have been watching WSOP on TV then you will see what I mean here. Players will be wearing dark glasses and hoods just to mask their image/ poker face.

When does one win at poker? It does seem to be a very nice question to ask, but a very difficult one to crack. One way of explaining a win would be when you play a hand the way you would if you could see your opponent's cards. Conversely you would also gain if your opponent plays his cards differently from the way he would have played them if he could see your cards.

This simply means that if you are successful in inducing your opponents to play differently than they would if they could see your cards than most of the time you would end up winning. Bluffing and slow play are classic examples of this. Bluffing helps in masking your hand from that of the opponent and induces them to fold superior hands. However if a player observes that you never bluff then you have had it. They won't call their bets unless they have very good hands.

Slow playing is just the converse of bluffing where you bet low even if you have a great hand. However if your opponents observe that you never slow play then they will pounce on any sign of weakness.

All in all, do understand that to really win at poker you need to play as many hands as you can.

Lina Wang is VP of Business Development in Cybertech International, a Hong Kong based company that specializes in building gaming and poker software.