I am in my early 20s and when I go to play poker I always wear a hoodie and a flat brimmed baseball hat. I feel like this makes me look like the classic young and aggressive player, while I play TAG.

How much do ppl think what you wear matters in forming your initial image? What would you wear to make yourself look as bluffy as possible and what would you wear to make yourself look like a tight player?

I think too often we level ourselves with the above thinking.

Yes, appearance does matter. However, it only really matters to Level 2 and Level 3 players and even then only for a little while.

The majority of our villains are Level 1 or super weak rec-fish level 2 and just aren't going to adjust no matter what.

I once raised 18 times in a row at a 1/2nl table as an experiment and no one adjusted to me by 3-betting me light. They just adjusted by check/raising me with QQ+ preflop and then after I folded they would show their QQ+ and give me a grin like, "I got you". But then very next hand I went right back to raising. Then I stopped for one orbit and then raised another 7 times in a row....

My point? Yes appearance can impact our image and how "some" villains will "initially" play against us. But it only goes so far and for the most part, our villains at LLSNL just are not going to adjust. They play the way they play because that is how they play....

First of all, welcome to twoplustwo.

When it comes to what you should wear at a tournament or cash game, i really have two criteria to try to fill:

1- Its comfortable.

2- It covers as much of me as possible.

I think thats all anyone should require. You cant play good poker if your not comfortable or feel constricted by your clothes/hoodie.

Just my thoughts

I generally agree with what dgi says here, but to take it a step further, some players (especially older ones) will lock onto an image of you (that you usually don't hold of yourself) and continue to play off that image regardless of what evidence smacks them in the face otherwise. I'm 33, obviously don't look as young as some players (i.e., early 20s), and I never wear hoodies, caps, headphones, sunglasses, or anything else stereotypical of young aggro players. But I'm still a young player relative to players in their 50s-70s. And in my experience, especially because they don't tend to be all that aggressive, they think that I'm being super LAG even though I'm usually very TAG and don't play anywhere near as much as they perceive. And they'll lock onto that image and never vary from it the rest of the session, or the next time I play with them, or whatever. So, I guess my point is that, yes, like dgi said, some players either won't pay attention to image or will but will then forget it quickly, whereas others will continue to use (a probably incorrect) image of you that you need to be aware of.

All of that said though, I generally like to wear plain button down shirts with no words or images on them so that the other player can project on me whatever he or she wants.

When playing low stakes; I could care less if someone is dressed or naked, have no regard if they're skin color is Red, Purple, or Blue, listening to music -or not makes no difference, or age.

OP, I'd put more thought, effort and engery into becoming better at the actual game of poker versus giving much thought to what you wear and you're apperance.
Just because a player is "young" doesn't mean they're good or not, it doesn't mean they're expericned or not-expericned...the internet changed that.

You can make some *general* assumptions, such as; old tight guy, young aggresive, asian gambler, and so on...

However my experience has been:

1) most low stakes pots are won w/ the best hand

2) there isn't enough $ at stake to often "run big bluffs" or make lots
of "moves"

3) There are a few *very good* low stakes players that truly understand the game well, understand the math, know people, and play position poker well...these are the very few long-term winners at low stakes.

I play against several regs that do the above against me. I bluffed them in a big pot a year or two ago and they ALWAYS think I'm bluffing despite the fact that I 100% NEVER bluff them because they always think I'm bluffing.

Its to the point where a few months ago the following hand took place at 2/5nl, eff stacks $600 I cover.

I was on the BTN with AQss, V raised $20 from MP, one callers, I 3-bet to $70, V calls, other folds heads up.

Flop(140) Q 4 2
V leads out $100, Hero????? (hmmm what should I do against an opponent who always thinks I'm bluffing????) I shove putting him all in for $600, he snap calls me.

Turn and river bricks
V shows red AKo and says, "yeah, I thought you were on a flush draw".

So, I 3-bet pre and then shove over the top of his flop donk bet and he snap calls putting me on a flush draw?

I've been overshoving him with the near nuts for the past year and a half and he always snap calls me. But what is even funnier is that against everyone else, he is a level headed TAG, but against me he is the biggest station I've ever seen.

So there is nothing I can do to change that image he has of me, all I can do is just accept it and make the proper adjustment...

My point?

Most times we have almost no control over how our villains see us and energy spent trying to generate an image we "want" is often wasted

The real skill is figuring out how to recognize how our villains see us and then adjusting to that and not so much in trying to generate a certain image.

Yep. This is exactly what I was talking about. OP, this is what you need to do: adjust to however your opponents perceive you regardless of what you wear or what you think they should perceive you as.

people who wear hoodies usually suck at poker

hoodies are the new sunglasses

I don't think that opponents pay enough attention to our appearance to really make *that* big of a difference in their play. The rare opponents that are observant enough to take note and adjust to us are also smart enough to overlook our appearance and focus on our behavior.

So it's more important to be *comfortable* at the table so that you can easily focus on the game. For me this means a hoodie (hood down) or a light jacket so that I'm not righting drafts (especially in the summer when the AC is cranked), and a hat to shade my eyes. (But then again I wear a hat all day every day anyway.)



A much bigger impact is how we *interact* with the table. If you're sitting there with your hood up, shades on, headphones cranked, you look serious and are not engaged in the social aspect of the game ... well then even the rec-fishiest of rec-fish is going to notice and will probably not want to "give you action". You may also hold up the game if you can't hear the action well, but that's another rant for a different thread. If you're engaged and talking to people (about anything other than poker) then you'll have a bit of the opposite happen. They'll "like" you a little bit and that may influence their decisions.

So I think your demeanor and conversation is more important. But as others have said, most opponents will just lock onto an image based on a small sample and hold it until we bleed them dry.

So you're saying because I'm single I'm at a disadvantage? I gotta get engaged.





This is the right point. Physical appearance does affect my decisions early, but that's just because I have experience with those generalizations. It takes me about 1-2 hands to change those perceptions though.


Angrist is right about interacting. It's far more important. I'm a pretty outgoing person so once I feel like I've got a good feel for what's goign on at the table, I try to chat it up and get people talking. If nothing else it gets them paying less attention to what I'm doing (pwning).

If you are playing vs older people they auto assume if you are young then you are aggro. You can use this to your advantage by playing TAG and showing up with good hands in big pots. Don't try to get away with bluffs bc they will want to call you way more than they should.

In LLSNL, most players are playing their cards. Don't worry about what you look like. There are some that will take an image and never change. Just play to that. Finally, there are a few that actually will take an initial image of you and adjust to how you play. Nothing you're going to do is going to stop that. The good news is that unless you're playing a regular here, most likely you'll never be up against that player in LLSNL.

1/2 moment I'll never forget: I once had 27o in the BB, checked my option, flop checked around, turn A, and I led for $2 just hoping to be able to show this unusually tight-passive table my cards. Folded around, and I tabled, grinning ear to ear.

After two+ orbits of a 0 VPIP from me, I 3-street-bet-call-stacked OMC with a set of jacks on an arid board. He had an unpaired AKo, which he verbally announced (proudly, I might add) before he snapped my river shove.

I try to dress well for anything.

As for my image, I doubt it matters after people sit and watch me play.

I don't care how I look. Sometimes I go I. A t shirt and jeans and other times I go in pajama pants and a hoody. How people look to me doesn't matter, it's how they present themselves at the table. If someone knows what's going on, ie what the bet is, when to act, doesn't posture, I respect their game more. I've seen people that dress we'll play like giant donks and people that dress poorly play very well. Just observe the table for a few rotations and you will know what's going on.

ummm...pajama pants? are you 13?

get yourself a 30bb stack, black coffee and race book betting sheets and grow up a bit already!

Don't judge sir. Not all of us like coffee.

One of the most successful players I know had a strict dress code of pajama pants at 2/5+.

It gets cold here in the winter.