What is a young person's table image?

I'm still a college student, but I've been studying poker pretty intently for about 2 years now. Of course, I can't play anywhere public except Indian reservations because I'm not yet 21, so I mostly play in local games around campus; one in particular has pretty good players who also study the game. I'm actually barred from one game because someone apparently gave me too much credit (I never even know the game existed before I found out I was barred) /images/wink.gif Anyway, my friends and I are making a trip to a casino sometime in August, and I am wondering what my initial table image will be like...I am sure I will be the youngest one there by far, and if I were another player I certainly wouldn't think a young person would drive out to a casino for poker unless they were fairly serious about the game. Has anyone ever played with a younger person and had thoughts like this? If so, how can I use it to my advantage, or conversely, what things should I be careful of? Thanks for any thoughts.


~Magic Man

I am sure I will be the youngest one there by far, and if I were another player I certainly wouldn't think a young person would drive out to a casino for poker unless they were fairly serious about the game.


Quite the opposite. I play with lots and lots of older people who have played their entire lives who I wouldn't say are "serious" about the game. Why would I presume that about some kid? Poker is an 18-and-up activity where I live, and some of these kids look younger. I don't think I have yet come across a teenager who has studied the game to any meaningful degree. Twenty-one-year-olds, yes, but not 18-year-olds. Most people who play poker don't take the game that seriously. Most of them have never read a poker book. Most of the ones that have read a book haven't studied it. They read HP4AP once and they still lose, so they decide that that's not the answer. I've read HP4AP over twenty times, and I still find things in it. I identified a leak in my stud/8 game a week or two ago on what must have been at least my 25th reading of Ray Zee's book (I'm a slow learner). If I see a kid sit in my game, I'm going to assume that he doesn't play especially well until he proves otherwise. Of course, I make this assumption against all unfamiliar opponents, except during tournament time, in which case I tend to reserve judgment. If a kid acts like he knows what he's doing, it's more likely because he's seen "Rounders" than because he knows anything about poker.


Young people don't tend to get a lot of respect at the poker table. Use this to your advantage.


For what it's worth, I'm 34, and I'm the youngest player in my game more often than not, often by a wide margin.

A youg person's image would tend to be wild and aggressive. But I suspect you will be playing in very small limit games where most of your opponents will be totally unaware as to how you play or what your image might be.

Im 21 and Ive read/studied TOP and HPFAP, and just about every other respectable poker book 5 to 6 times. I've never even met anyone elst my age (friends included) who have even read a poker book. Some of the kids I use to play with watched Rounders a couple of times and thought they new everything about poker after that. I even tried to loan them some of my books and none of them would "waste there time"


Ryan

At what limit would you say players start to become aware?

You probably will get less respect than you deserve because you are young. Than again, you may get the exact amount of respect you reserve, it really depends on how you play.


I tend not to pass any type of judgement on people based on age. I will pass judgement on people I have never seen before. I play mostly in AC, and at any given time I may have played with three or four other people who are sitting at the table. I usually give these people a bit more respect than usual.


When I see someone sit down at a table who looks like they are in town for a bachelor party and their friends come up to the table every hour and ask how much they have one or lost, I start to lose respect for them quickly.


-J

If you force me to make a guess I would say at $6-$12 a few players begin to become aware. As you move up in limit the percentage of aware players in general goes up. But any game can be an exception to the rule.

I noticed you said you have read HP4AP over twenty times. Over would span of time and how often. Do you read the whole thing, flip around, certain sections...? Just curious as to your way of doing it. I usually read the book once through. Then asses what value the books has to my game. If it has good value I will study the chapters one by one until I get a good understanding of most concepts. Then I will refer to it maybe a month later with a fresh perspective again highlighting the key issues and new things I learned. Do you do something similar?

mason,

while i agree that at lower limit games people don't really pay much attention to the image of others, and how they play, it can't be said that there is a vacuum of attention there. people still make judgements no matter how subconscious they are. so i think that knowing what even the clueless morons at the table think of you is still helpful, even in low-limit. you will probably get more calls just because. at least at first. earn some respect at the table, then see what you can really get away with.

I read 3 chapters at a time. (ie ch. 1,2,3) But I do it like this. Read ch. 1 twice, then ch. 2 twice, then ch 3 twice. Then go back and read 1,2,3 straight through. Then move on to the next three. And I dont just read them, I stop to think about the concepts. It usually takes 10 to 15 minutes per chapter, depending on length.


So I guess technically I've done this 5 or 6 times for probably a total of around 15 readings.


Ryan

I first read HP4AP five or six years ago, but most of those readings are within the last 2.5 years. I skip some of the introductory material and the Questions and Answers section, but apart from that I read it straight through, and I've done that at least twenty times. Additionally, I may just pick it up and read a few pages here and there before I go to sleep. I've done this with TOP, 7CS4AP, and HLSP4AP as well. I've now read TP4AP four times, and will probably have read it about ten times before my local room hosts a "major" tournament in October.