Importance of Position In Poker
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Position is one of the most important yet far too often overlooked concepts in poker.
Regardless of which poker game you prefer the most advantages position you can have is the last position. It is the position where you literally have all the possible information regarding your opponents and how they have behaved up to this point. You get this info before you put a single cent into the pot.
Being in last position affords you the comfort of being able to call an earlier position's raise with a wider range of hands with no fear of a raise coming in behind you. Playing from middle position forces you to be more selective when it comes to hands as you are susceptible to a raise from behind. Playing questionable hands from middle position then having to fold them to a raise is one of the big leak points in many players' games.
Acting last also lets you take advantage of one of the most basic concepts in poker. The fact that an opponent with unpaired hole cards will miss the flop roughly 65% of the time. In most cases if it is checked to you after the flop, a decent bet is the way to go. If you get re-raised you just dump it. In most cases you will win the pot right away. This fact also affords you the last opportunity to bluff at the pot. If the table goes check, check, check then bring it in for a raise in last position. If everyone missed you pick up the pot and if someone is slow playing then you identify their tendency to do so for future reference.
The strength of a strong hand is magnified even more from late position. The best possible scenario is having an aggressive player in early position making a raise having two callers all while you are sitting on a monster. The chip plow effect. In this spot be sure you are raising enough to drive out the drawing hands by throwing their pot odds off.
Mediocre hands in position are also stronger based on prior actions by other players. Take for instance an early position raise and three callers. Even with a hand like 88 you are most likely getting pot odds to call this. If you happen to flop a set you are winning a large pot. The same hand in first position would usually be folded to any moderate bet.
The vast majority of your hands >75% should be played from position. If you are playing with very strong players it is advisable to avoid playing out of position altogether.
posted by JD52 @ 11:21 PM,
