Position Play

On the surface, Texas hold'em is a relatively simple game to learn and play. Log onto any Online poker site, such as PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker, and it doesn't take very long to learn the Poker rules and start playing right away. However, while it isn't that hard to learn how the betting works, how to use your two hole cards along with the five community cards to make a five-card poker hand, and general ideas about the strength of starting hands, one aspect of play that new players often fail to appreciate the importance of is position.

The fact is, in hold'em your position relative to the button is crucially important, and really should affect every decision you make at the table.

Before the flop, the player sitting to the left of the big blind has to act first. That is why that seat is sometimes called "under the gun" -- because the player sitting there has to act before seeing what anyone else is going to do in the hand. After that player bets or folds, action then proceeds around the table to the button, then to the small blind, and finally to the big blind.

After the flop, action begins with the closest player to the left of the button still in the hand, then proceeds counterclockwise around to the button. Players sitting in the blinds, under the gun, or in the two seats to the left of the UTG players are often referred to as being in "early position." The next two or three seats are often called "middle position." And the player sitting two seats to the right of the button (in the "hijack" seat), the player sitting to the right of the button (the "cutoff"), and the button are usually referred to as playing from "late position."

It is always preferable to play after seeing what your opponents have done; therefore, you want to be playing more hands from late position than from the middle or early positions. In hold'em, you usually do not want to be playing anything but premium hands (e.g., high pocket pairs, ace-king, ace-queen) from early position, and even then you want to be cautious. From middle position you can play more hands, such as middle and low pairs, and perhaps weaker aces or two face cards, but again you want to be wary of those players who might be acting after you in the hand.

From late position, you can open up your hand range much more, playing those hands you'd play from early or middle positions, of course, but also adding other hands such as suited connectors or other "speculative" hands. The fact is, from late position you can afford to speculate more, since you will be able to act with the knowledge of what your opponent(s) have done first.

Let's say you are in the small blind and are holding a hand like A-J. It folds around to the cutoff who raises, then the player on the button reraises. Do you want to call? Well, you like those two big cards, but since you are going to be out of position for the rest of the hand, you're probably better off folding and finding a better spot. After all, you will have the button on the very next hand, meaning you'll get to have the advantage of playing from late position.

Bottom line: Try to avoid putting yourself in uncomfortable situations in which you have to play hands from out of position, and look for every opportunity to take advantage of playing hands from late position.