Improving Your Image At The Poker Table

There is much that can be written about the image that one projects while playing poker. When you begin to play at casinos, you need to not only learn how to play well but you must also learn how to project a strong table image. Part of this image is linked to the way you are dressed, the cloths that you wear. It is true of most of us that when we meet someone for the first time, we make some form of psychological judgment that is based on the way that person appears. That is why in business we must learn to dress for success. The first impression that you make can have a long-lasting effect and be very important. As we take our seats at the poker table it is common to attempt to size up our competitors. Their physical appearance has a great deal of bearing on how we perceive them to be. It has been said that the best way to dress is in neutral or dark colors only. Some have written that wearing a hat and or sunglasses can be effective in shielding our eyes from others as we look at our cards and examine the responses of the other players. This can also give you the appearance of being a serious player and intimidate others, which is good for you. This can be good advice and one might seriously consider dressing this way. I did but about a year ago I had an experience that greatly changed my thinking about what is appropriate wear at the poker table.

A while back I was playing at a cardroom in Las Vegas, playing at the $3/6 game table. Things were going well when a man dressed in shorts and wearing a Hawaiian shirt took a seat at the table. He looked very much like a tourist and I categorized him as such. He was very relaxed, joking with other players and the dealer and telling stories. He did very little playing and didn’t appear to have any cares at all. Since I always try to carefully study each player at the table when I am playing, I watched this guy to see how he would play. Here was someone who although dressing and acting like a tourist, he was very careful and selective regarding the hands that he played. This was a very tight a aggressive player who was in fact consistently winning.

He left the table at the same time that I did and we seated in line together at the cashiers' cage where we discussed the game that we had just left. Having listened to his conversation at the table I had picked up that his name was Bob so I introduced myself. When I asked him where he was from he told me that he was from Las Vegas. When I mentioned to him that he looked like a tourist he said that to was intentional since he surely didn't want the other players to think that he was a local. When he tld me that I become self-conscious and aware of the way that I was dressed and the image that I must be projecting and what image I really wanted to convey. What I had been doing was dressing in the traditional black, wearing a hat and trying to give the impression that I was a serious player. Then it occurred to me that if a dressed and acted more casually I could cover up some of my skills and that this would mean greater profits when playing in low limit games. When I tried this out I found it to be the case. Now, when I sit in at a table with several tough looking players, they see me at first as just being another fish. If I am sitting with a group of causal players they now see me as just being one of the gang.

It seems that others that were playing at table all had the same opinion, were aware of the image of the other players and were trying to read them. It was at this time that I read an article concerning table image by a well-known world poker champion. He advised pro poker players to loosen up. He suggested that poker pros consider the impression that they were making with the casual players who were entering the cardroom. According to him, such causal players are more likely to stay playing at tables where they do not feel intimated by the other players and are enjoying themselves.

People that play in low limit games are usually just looking to have fun. They know that they are going to lose a bit and do not care as long as they are enjoying themselves. You need to keep them feeling that way, to encourage them. When you look like a serious player they may actually be motivated to play better and therefore more competitively. Feeling pressure from you they may not want to look bad so they tighten up their game or even worse, go to another table.

When I started playing poker I tried to develop a stern and serious appearance. But I have found that when playing in low limit games it is often better to appear more causal and that this may be more effectively deceptive. And in addition to this when I dress more casually and act more friendly at the table, I have more fun while I win. Now, when you see someone wearing a loud colored shirt at the table, do not take it for granted that they are a tourist.