In today’s poker tip, we will discuss position. In poker, your position is where you are seated in relation to the “button”. I will be focusing on Texas Hold’em here, as some forms of poker are a bit different.
There are 3 basic terms to describe, in general, your position: early position (EP), middle position (MP), and late position (LP). Let’s look at a nine person table. EP is generally considered to be the small blind, the big blind and the next seat after them (called “UTG” or “under the gun”). It is true that the blinds are late position pre-flop (last to act), but once the flop is dealt, they become the first to act, making them EP for the flop, turn and river play. MP is the three players that are to the left of the UTG position. LP describes the final three players to act. They are the Button, the “cut-off” (just to the right of the button) and the player just to the right of the cut-off.
When playing the lower-limit hold’em tables online, you will find that few players pay as much attention to their position at the poker table as they should. This is a tremendous advantage for you, if you play good position poker. Now, some of you watch poker on TV and see Daniel Negreanu or Phil Ivey playing all kinds of hands in all kinds of positions. Trust me that Daniel and Phil have a strategy for every hand they play, and position plays a very big part in that strategy. It should for you, as well, if you want to be a winning poker player.
Being in late position is a huge advantage in Texas Hold’em, as it does in most forms of poker. It means that you get to see what everyone else does before you have to act. This allows you to have greater control over the hand, as well as the size of the pot. Let’s expand on this by showing an example. We will assume that I am playing an 18 person, 2 table sit-n-go. There are 9 players left on one table and everyone has roughly $3000 in chips (just to take stack size out of the equation). I am dealt J-T off-suit (J-To) and I am on the button. 1 player limps in from middle position and everyone else folds around to me. The blinds are yet to act. What do I do? Well, unless the limper has a history of limping in with big hands, I should assume he has a weak hand, but with some post flop potential – like 6-7o or maybe a K-7 suited or something like that. I only have 2 players to play after me, who will likely have garbage, so this is a great time to raise the pot and try to take it down right there. If one of the other players calls me, I will have the advantage of position on the other betting rounds. If I get re-raised, I can call with the intention of using my position and outplaying them on the flop, or I can fold without loosing too many chips. I could re-raise on a bluff (or re-bluff, as the case may be), but that can be a scary proposition if you are up against a strong hand.
Let’s say that I get a call from the middle position player. That is what we call in poker a “tell”. Since he limped in to begin with and just called my raise, he is almost certainly holding a weak hand. Let’s say that the flop comes a Kh-9s-6d. Now I get to see what he is going to do before I have to act. If he checks, I will bet about 2/3 the size of the pot and he will almost certainly fold. If he bets out ½ the size of the pot or less, I will raise and he will likely fold. If he bets big, I can decide whether to play the hand, or let it go. The important part is that he either needs to check (show further weakness), or risk his chips without knowing where he is in the hand. If you keep in mind that your opponent will miss the flop 2/3rds of the time (well known poker fact), playing just about any hand in early position can be very hazardous to his poker health (as it is for you). This is one reason why I rarely limp into a hand out of position. If I limp, there is a very good reason for it, and that reason is almost never because “I have an okay hand and want to see a flop”. That kind of thinking will get you in a hand, out of position with a hand that can get you into trouble. That is, unless you get lucky and flop a monster. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t happen enough to me for it to be profitable. I play poker very tight in EP, and open my game up in late position where I have much more control.
Hope you enjoyed this little poker tip on playing hold’em in position. See you for the next one. Oh, and tell Daniel and Phil I said Hi.
See you at the poker table! :)
There are 3 basic terms to describe, in general, your position: early position (EP), middle position (MP), and late position (LP). Let’s look at a nine person table. EP is generally considered to be the small blind, the big blind and the next seat after them (called “UTG” or “under the gun”). It is true that the blinds are late position pre-flop (last to act), but once the flop is dealt, they become the first to act, making them EP for the flop, turn and river play. MP is the three players that are to the left of the UTG position. LP describes the final three players to act. They are the Button, the “cut-off” (just to the right of the button) and the player just to the right of the cut-off.
When playing the lower-limit hold’em tables online, you will find that few players pay as much attention to their position at the poker table as they should. This is a tremendous advantage for you, if you play good position poker. Now, some of you watch poker on TV and see Daniel Negreanu or Phil Ivey playing all kinds of hands in all kinds of positions. Trust me that Daniel and Phil have a strategy for every hand they play, and position plays a very big part in that strategy. It should for you, as well, if you want to be a winning poker player.
Being in late position is a huge advantage in Texas Hold’em, as it does in most forms of poker. It means that you get to see what everyone else does before you have to act. This allows you to have greater control over the hand, as well as the size of the pot. Let’s expand on this by showing an example. We will assume that I am playing an 18 person, 2 table sit-n-go. There are 9 players left on one table and everyone has roughly $3000 in chips (just to take stack size out of the equation). I am dealt J-T off-suit (J-To) and I am on the button. 1 player limps in from middle position and everyone else folds around to me. The blinds are yet to act. What do I do? Well, unless the limper has a history of limping in with big hands, I should assume he has a weak hand, but with some post flop potential – like 6-7o or maybe a K-7 suited or something like that. I only have 2 players to play after me, who will likely have garbage, so this is a great time to raise the pot and try to take it down right there. If one of the other players calls me, I will have the advantage of position on the other betting rounds. If I get re-raised, I can call with the intention of using my position and outplaying them on the flop, or I can fold without loosing too many chips. I could re-raise on a bluff (or re-bluff, as the case may be), but that can be a scary proposition if you are up against a strong hand.
Let’s say that I get a call from the middle position player. That is what we call in poker a “tell”. Since he limped in to begin with and just called my raise, he is almost certainly holding a weak hand. Let’s say that the flop comes a Kh-9s-6d. Now I get to see what he is going to do before I have to act. If he checks, I will bet about 2/3 the size of the pot and he will almost certainly fold. If he bets out ½ the size of the pot or less, I will raise and he will likely fold. If he bets big, I can decide whether to play the hand, or let it go. The important part is that he either needs to check (show further weakness), or risk his chips without knowing where he is in the hand. If you keep in mind that your opponent will miss the flop 2/3rds of the time (well known poker fact), playing just about any hand in early position can be very hazardous to his poker health (as it is for you). This is one reason why I rarely limp into a hand out of position. If I limp, there is a very good reason for it, and that reason is almost never because “I have an okay hand and want to see a flop”. That kind of thinking will get you in a hand, out of position with a hand that can get you into trouble. That is, unless you get lucky and flop a monster. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t happen enough to me for it to be profitable. I play poker very tight in EP, and open my game up in late position where I have much more control.
Hope you enjoyed this little poker tip on playing hold’em in position. See you for the next one. Oh, and tell Daniel and Phil I said Hi.
See you at the poker table! :)
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