Thanks Andy, for your insightful (and maybe inciteful) article.

I've been pondering the question of table image for a long while.
Opinions differ widely on the subject, ranging from culturing
a loose-crazy image to desiring respect. In a recent Card Player
column, Roy Cooke wrote that although you'll make money as a
tight-aggressive player with a tight-aggressive image, you'll
make more money as a tight-aggressive player with a loose-crazy image.
That seemed hard to argue with.  However, as a tight-aggressive player
with a tight-aggressive image, I win a lot of pots due to
respect, often "too much" respect like when I'm semi-bluffing.
Winning a pot when you do not have the cards is worth a lot, and that
sort of play is difficult to pull off with a loose image.  That's why
I've argued in the past that a tight-aggressive player should appear
tight-aggressive.  

Now Andy's article gives me a new perspective on the issue, perhaps a
confirmation of what I've believed is the correct approach.  Andy
shows that when we have a best but vulnerable hand in a multiway pot,
we often don't want the players to make mistakes by calling... we
want them to fold correctly.  The pots where we want them to call
incorrectly tend to be quite small, smaller than in most of the games
I play in, I believe.  So given medium to big pots, do we want a
loose crazy image, where everybody calls when we bet or raise?  I
think not.  We want our bets and raises to command respect, to instigate
fear, to cause good laydowns (and some bad ones too!)

A while ago, one player criticized my tight-aggressive play, pointing
out that he gets out of my way when I bet or raise, doesn't give me any
action.  In multiway pots, that's usually good!  (And heads up, I
routinely check-raise-bluffed him out on the flop, but that's another
issue.)

Now much of the time, we'll be the one drawing.  In these cases,
we do want everybody and their mothers to call, to support our
draw.  So, is a tight-aggressive image bad then?  I don't think so.
It may not be the best image in those situations, but it doesn't
hurt us a signficant amount.  There is a big difference between a
tight-aggressive player betting/raising versus lamely calling along.
Some players are astute enough to be concerned if a good player so
much as calls, but for the most part a tight-aggressive player
calling along is no reason for the other players to fold.

I think I'll go practice fixing a permanent scowl on my face...

-Abdul

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