Playing Position
Deciding which hands to play
Position is a key concept when playing poker and is particularly
important when playing Pot-Limit or No-Limit. The importance
increases when playing flop games like Hold'em or Omaha because your
position remains the same throughout all betting rounds. When you
are sitting in early position you will be acting early in the hand
and, as such, will not have as much information as the players
acting in later position. Occasionally, you will call with a hand
when acting early only to see the pot raised and re-raised behind
you. Consequently, you might be forced to fold a hand you already
invested money with. If you are acting late, you know what pot-odds
you are getting on the hand and also have the advantage of acting
late in upcoming betting rounds. This means that you can play more
hands when sitting in late position than in early position. When
deciding what hands to play, position is always a factor that you
have to consider. For example, when playing Hold'em you should play
extremely tight under the gun (first to act pre-flop) and
add hands as your position improves.
Bluffing
Sitting in late position will provide you with more bluffing
opportunities. For example, if all players check in front, you have
the option of betting or seeing the next card for free. Late
position also offers more opportunities to semi-bluff. This means
betting or raising with hands that may not necessarily be the best
but have plenty of outs to improve to the best hand. If everybody
has folded and you are sitting in late position, you can raise with
hands that you would never call with from an early position because
you have a chance of winning the blinds and antes uncontested.
Tight or loose game
If the game is very loose and there is not much pre-flop raising,
position does not have as much influence as in a tight/aggressive
game. This is due to the fact that you can now play drawing hands
from an early position and remain relatively certain that you will
get the correct odds and the pot will not be raised. If the game is
tight/aggressive, you will have to play very tight from an early
position.
An example
Lets take an example from Hold'em when having the worst position
can cost you the pot. You hold the A -5
and your opponent, who has the better position, holds the 7 -8.
You are heads-up and the flop is K-9 -6.
You bet as a semi-bluff with your flush draw and overcard to the
board. Your opponent calls with the open-ended straight draw. The
turn is the J ,
which is of no use to both players. You bet again in the hopes that
your opponent will fold a pair of Nines or Sixes. Your opponent
calls again and the river is the 2.
You check and your opponent bets. There is no possibility that you
are going to call that bet with just Ace-high, so you are forced to
fold the best hand. Therefore, you just lost a pot because you had a
worse position than your opponent.
Loose or tight players
Ideally you want to have the loose/passive players to your right
and the tight/aggressive players to your left. The loose players
will call with too many hands and provide you with better pot odds
since you act behind them and have position on them. Essentially,
this position gives you a greater opportunity to capitalize on their
mistakes. Having the tighter players to your left means that you
have a chance of stealing their blinds and of winning more pots by
betting into them with bluffs.
|
