Poker which is based on establishing an image is an aspect of the game which lies on the other side of technique and tactics. It concerns the impression you and other players make while being at the table. It is the sum of everything you know about the other players and the sum of everything they know about you. It is not just perceptiveness or bluffing. It involves occasional decisions which seem strange or wrong.
Everything you do or not do at the table creates an image which your opponents then try to analyze. It is possible to either minimize or increase your image. Some players try to be as unobtrusive as possible. But each player still has to play his hands and the other alternative is to create a show of activity, of a vivid style of game which is disorienting because unpredictable or indecipherable.
If you want to increase your profits with a few bets and then back off, bluffing is the solution. But if you want to sacrifice the now for long term profitability, you will need to create and project an image. You might make a couple of lame moves in a particular circumstance. You will lose here, but in similar circumstances in the future, when your hand is strong and you are a good player, some expert opponents will have noted your previous play with the lame hands, and still others will just be confused you by your lack of predictability. This sort of strategy can get you long term results and substantially increase the worth of your strong hands.
Chess is known for its image-based strategies. The players whose strengths are either well known or unknown make credible bad moves or what appear to be oddly ridiculous moves. They will sacrifice pieces, fail to defend their positions or to take positions. This is disorientation by deliberately making bad moves. This player will then use his \"bad\" strategy to make a quick swoop or attack a weak point that was previously not in his line of focus.
The main idea is the same in both games: you sacrifice current advantage in order to seize greater advantage later in the game. Instead of playing every concrete hand the best way, you envision less palpable but likely future possibilities. The move seems for the present to have put you at a disadvantage, but the game allows you to recover later and when you are ready to recover with a vengeance, your image will be your primary means.
You need to learn to project a variety of images and use the image that best befits a given situation. You will also learn which \"dumb\" moves to use to fake out your opponents to best achieve whichever goal you have in mind. You may want to use your image to disorient only with regard to a particular skill set. There will be times when you want them to see you as a weak player, or at least wonder if you are or not, or to think you are just a big bluff artist.
Better to get your image going early in the game when the bank is small, else several \'bad\" moves in a row when the bank is large may result in more losses than any offsetting wins can overcome.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Players Only Rakeback as well as Poker Kings Rakeback.
![Governor of Poker [Game Download]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41yd1s48BJL._SL75_.jpg "Governor of Poker [Game Download]")
