Off to a bad start - the importance of table image

We all know how important it is to be viewed as stealthy, dangerous, solid, and all that. But have you ever have had one of those games where you just end up being the whipping boy for everybody else? This has happened to me a few times in SNGs when I'm not getting very good cards. I might make a couple of questionable plays as I watch the blinds creep up and start to get frustrated. Say I get caught trying to steal with j9. Then maybe I raise big with QQ, only to have an Ace AND a King flop, and I end up weakly/meekly folding to UTGs all in. Then I get my blind stolen by a 1X raise because I've got 92o and the guys shows 72o. All of a sudden, I look around and the sucker is me! (Don't tell me this has NEVER happened to you!)

At that point, everything gets really REALLY difficult. Forget stealing pots, people are fighting between themselves to call your raises. Forget calling to the end with a mediocre hand, everybody thinks they can push you off your hand and they bet like it. Forget limping with a connected suiter, you're not gonna see the turn card. Forget playing AK, you can't isolate anyone, etc. etc. etc.

On the other hand, when you've got the right table image, everything just flows so smoothly. Your raises get the respect they deserve, even when they don't deserve it. You don't get challenged very often, and when you do you can be pretty sure its real.

So, here's the question(s).

What kinds of things do you do to try to establish that table image in a SNG? The unique thing about SNGs is that you're stuck with what you've got in the way of opponents and table image. So do you try to affect that, and how?

If you get off to a bad start, are you aware of it and what do you do to try to recover? Play tighter? Play more aggressive? Laugh it off through chat? Give up?

I think the table image I give is similar to yours. What you like to classify as sneaky, I try to classify as passive. I fold, fold, fold. Then I hit hard. If I play a hand when there are still 10 people at the table, I limp in. KQs, AJo, QJs, I will limp with any of these and only play the hands post-flop. I have one goal and that is to conserve chips. I usually won't raise pre-flop without a Group 0 hand. (Fnord, please don't hurt me for saying this. I've had success wih this strategy) I think this helps my table image as well as my results. The goal is to play big hands and make about double the chips I started with.

I guess the image I want to convey is "I'm not here to gamble, I'll just play the monsters." But then halfway through (when there is about 6-4 people left) I switch it up. I steal blinds (which is easier once I have made my image) I get crazier, I play more hands. I raise pre-flop. I get very aggressive and give the people at the table a new person to play against. This is most often where I get hurt like you describe. I run into many hands where I try to bluff at the wrong time, or get out-drawn and shrink in my seat. But at this point, I can hopefully hold on and transfer enough chips from one player to another that I can make it to the final 3.

I've been burned many times. I would be more surprised to find someone here who hasn't placed 8th, 9th or 10th in a SnG. I've sat down at many a card table and I couldn't spot the sucker. But I've found that the passive image is one that I can easily keep, regardless of the cards. I also can use it to my advantage.

Something else that I mentioned earlier. When I buy into a SnG, my one goal is to make it to the money. I guess you could call it a short-term goal. If I can make it to the final 3 I will consider myself happy. Once I get there, I then shoot for #1. My goal becomes different and I go after big stack with no fear of dying. I've already made it to the money and I'm just looking to tear down my biggest opposition. If I die in the process, so be it. It is this reasoning that gets me more 3rd place finishes than anyone I know. I'm thinking I'm gonna stop playing this way and find a new tactic to play in the final 3.

Raise or fold, there is no call Wink

Personally, I like to have the image of being unpredictable. Not a maniac, completely different from that, because then you'll have people gunning for you and you'll get too many calls from chasers and such. But, I'll play tight, and not play many hands, but then if I miss a flop after a preflop raise, I'll try to buy the pot. If everyone is checking, and I think I can get them to fold, I'll try to by the pot. If I'm the big stack, I'll put small stacks all in preflop (particularly in the blinds, when the blinds are bigger), and maybe show my big bluffs with rags or my big hands (AA), both of which I'm betting the same way. Even as an average stack, against an equal sized big blind, I'll usually make a pretty big raise to try and buy their blind, if I have a better than average hand (even something like A5 or K8 at times).

As a big stack at least, I more go for people fearing to play against me, since they don't know what I have. I don't want them to think I'm always bluffing, but I want them to think of it as a possibility, so I'm more likely to get calls when I have a monster hand.

If I sense that I have developed a passive image, I'll start betting more often and try to steal pots while I still have that image to work with. Once they figure that I must be bluffing some of these times (or call a bluff and see I had nothing), I'll tighten it up more. I try to mix it up, so they can't really pinpoint me as a specific type of player.

*Last edited by Humphrind on Sun, 04 Jul 2004, 7:31am; edited 1 time in total*

Yeah, I also do a lot of limping in with good to very good, but not great hands, especially if I'm in middle position and have a lot of limpers behind me, since I know I'm not going to scare most of them out with a raise, and I don't know what the later position hands are going to do.

I really prefer to raise if there's no limpers behind me (but a modest amount), to hopefully make a guy after me think twice about playing that Q3s, or whatever junk they were going to call. Seems to tighten up the table a bit, even if you're only raising to 45 when the blinds are still 15. The main reason I prefer to not raise with limpers behind me isn't because I'm afraid their trapping me, but I find that typically when the blinds are low, if players have put any money in the pot, they're likely to call any raise that isn't huge. If I raise before they call, they're more likely to just fold. Or there could be a maniac behind you with A3s, that now decides there's enough chips in the pot to shove all in and try to bully everyone out.

Late position with a hand like that (particularly KQs), I usually raise a decent amount, but still an amount I'm very comfortable losing (probably about 3x the big blind). I'm really just looking to keep the blinds out (if they have rags), and maybe get a limper or two to drop their hands.

But overall, I more play the flop and the rest of the board, and play pretty conservatively until I can double up. Once I get a chip advantage, and a couple people are knocked out, is when I start getting more aggressive.

Early on in a tournament, when you can easily afford to lose a bet the size of the blinds, and you're going to be cautious about possibly being out kicked or whatever, I really don't see a problem with limping in with a good hand. Limping in with a high pocket pair, on the other hand, is just asking to get beat.

The way the payouts are, you are much better off gambling for 1st then settleing on second, of course 3rd is always better than 4th Smile

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Off to a bad start - the importance of table image

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Off to a bad start - the importance of table image