Importance Of Poker Position Articles | Poker

By: Richard Bleuze

Importance Of Poker Position

Poker position is a factor that is greatly underestimated by many beginners and expert poker players.  Just remember, your poker table position can be the difference between winning or losing a hand and can have a big influence on how much you win during your a poker sessions.

Before playing a hand in Texas Holdem you should always be aware of your table poker position relative to the button.
•The seats nearest to the left of the button are called early position.
•The seats nearest to the right of the button are called late position.
•The seats in between these will be called middle position.

Early position seats.

The 3 poker player seats that are nearest the blind are less favorable than any other seats at the table because on any given round in the current hand, those players are likely to be one of the first to act.  This means that in early position you should be more selective about the hands you play, because you will have less information on your opponents at each stage of the hand because you are first to act.

Middle position seats.

The poker players in thes seats have positional advantage over the poker players to the left of them, but not the poker players to the right of them.  These players can afford to play a few more hands as compared to the players left of them.  However, if all of the players in the seats left of them fold, then that will mean that you will be the first to act on each round.

Late position seats.

The seats that are furtherest from the blind will prove to be one of the best seats.  There is a high chance that the player will be last to, or one of the last to act on each round.  This is where you can take greater chance on your starting hands, but not so much as to hinder your game.

The button seat.

The player just to the right of the blind is the best seat.  This is because on every round except for before the flop, that poker player will be the last to act no matter what.  If possilbe, you should look to play as many hands as possible (within reason) from the button, since you have a bigger advantage in the hand when you are last to act.

If you have poker position over another poker player at the table, it means that you are acting after them on each round.  Thus, you can use the information they give you by the way they check or the amount they bet to make a better informed poker decision.  A few examples to consider would be:

1.  If you have position over your opponent and he checks, this could be a sign of weakness. So you could use this information to bet out and take the pot because they have shown weakness.

2.  Say there are a number of players in the pot, and you hold a mediocre hand like middle pair on the flop.  If there are a lot of betting and raising before the action gets to you, you can be sure that you hand is not as strong as you hoped and so you can fold it comfortably without losing any chips.

3.  If you were in early position you may have made a bet with a hand that you thought was good, only to find that there are much stronger hands out there that will re-raise you and force you to fold.  Thus, you will have lost chips due to this lack of information on your opponents from playing in early position.

Just remember, the later you act in a hand, the more information you will have available to you about your opponents.

The "cut-off:" seat is the poker position just before the button.  This seat is the second best place to be in a Texas Holdem game because if the button decides not to play, then you will be the last to act on each hand.  The button and cut-off are very useful poker positions for stealing the blinds as there are less players to act behind you, which makes it less likely that they are holding a good enough hand to call a raise with.

In general, you want to play more hands when you are in a better poker position than you do out of poker position.  However, this does not mean that you force yourself to play any  hand when you have good poker position, and fold great hands when you are in a bad poker position.  You should rather be more inclined to play slightly weaker hands than normal when in a better poker position. 

Thus, which hands starting hands should you play in which poker positions?  Trust me, you will pick it up as you go along.  Thus, play as many freeroll tournaments to gain experience.  It will take time, but the more experience you get under your belt the more you will start to understand which poker hands to play with in which poker position. 

Poker table position is one of the most underestimated factors in playing a hand by many poker players.  This rule applies to poker players online and land base poker players.  Poker position is so important that often hands can be won or lost based on your poker position alone, irrespective of the strength of the cards that you and your opponent hold.

Start making more money in poker by paying attention to your poker position. 

A useful article to read from here is starting hand selection, however, I would suggest that you get to also know your basic poker position and how important it can be to winning.

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