Position in Texas Holdem

What importance does your position at the table actually have?

The way you play your starting hands in Texas Holdem varies depending on your position at the poker table. The player who acts first in a betting round has to select starting hands more carefully as there is a big risk that there is another player with a better starting hand than himself. The player in an early position does not know if there will be any raises, he does not even know how many of the other players will join the betting round. A certain number of players in the pot is good for a certain type of starting hands and another number of players is good for another type of starting hands. A “sudden” raise which scares players away might for instance change the prospect of profit for the player who from an early position chose to play a hand which would have been better suited for a multiway pot – a pot where many players make bets. What hands are good for multiway pots or not? You will learn this when you study the chapters about how to calculate the odds.

A raise in a betting round might cause the odds for a certain hand to get worse which in its turn makes the hand not worth playing. This is one of the reasons to why it is better to sit in late position and observe the game.

Different positions at the poker table mean different amount of information. The dealer who always acts last in turn except in the first betting round in other words gets a better chance than the other players to make the correct decisions.

One way for a player at an early position to improve his chances is to set more narrow limits for playable hands for the player at a later position.

A player at a late position can often join the betting round with a somewhat worse hand if there has been no raise. He can always pull out in time in the next betting round if the flop did not end up good for him.

The position in relation to other types of players is also great importance!

Here are some examples of how the position in relation to other types of players might influence the game:

- If a very aggressive player to the right of you raises and joins the betting round you will always see this in good time and you will have the chance to fold with your mediocre hand and wait for a better one. Your position at the table has been in your favour.

- A very aggressive player to the left of you can ruin your plans by playing two low suited connectors by raising and thus making many players to fold. Because of this your hand gets bad odds. You want as mentioned in the chapter "starting hands" as many players as possible to play low suited connectors or low pairs. Your position at the table has been a disadvantage to you. (This is just an example - you won´t for example play low suited connectors very often in fixed limit Holdem from an early position. Those cards are for No Limit Hold'em)

On the other hand an aggressive player to the left of you can be so predictable that he in spite of all his raises manages to make many of the other players join the betting rounds. Thus he creates action. If this is the case you are favoured because you can easily decide to checkraise the whole table once you get a strong hand.

- An interesting fact is that if a player sits opposite you at the poker table this means that you act after him as many times as you act before him (Of course).

- If you play no-limit it is good to have the player with the most chips to the right of you. This is good because he can force you to an all-in which might make you lose all your money whereas a loss to him will not have that effect. In other words – it is good to be able to quit – as always.

- When playing no-limit it is of course extra nice if the very best players are sitting immediately to the right of you ( for the same reason as mentioned earlier).

- The importance of the position at the poker table is something that many players do no pay attention to, very often because they do not think it is important enough. The important thing for a winning game is to play practically without mistakes and to do so it is important to take all the factors into consideration. In other words – the position at the poker table is of utmost importance!

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