Position in Poker, What It Is and Why It Is So Important

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Poker pros and talk about the significance of position all the time and it is impossible to analyze a poker hand without knowing exactly where the various protagonists were sitting relative to one another. You need to know who had position and who was acting out of position before you can understand what was truly happening in the hand.

Let's say that the two hands involved were pocket 9s up against pocket 8s. Without knowing the position of the two players you would correctly assume that the pocket 9s were a prohibitive favorite and that if the player holding pocket 9s lost it must have been a "bad beat" or an awful suck out or very bad luck. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, and understanding this is the first step towards becoming a serious poker player. What if I told you that the pocket 9s were under the gun, that is in Seat 3 and first to act before the flop. What if I told you that the pocket 8s were on the button, that is in seat 1 and last to act before the flop. That should already start to change matters in your mind. Now, let's go further and say that the game was $20/$40 limit hold'em, and that the pocket 9s made it $40 to go and everyone folded to the pocket 8s who re-raised to $60. The pocket 9s called, because what else were they going to do as they were already trapped out of position. Then the flop came AKQ and the pocket 9s checked because what else were they going to do? Then the pocket 8s bet out and the pocket 9s folded. Or, the pocket 9s bet the flop in a desperate attempt to steal the pot and then the button used superior position to raise into that terrifying flop, and the pocket 9s still folded and still lost the pot.

When those poker experts tell you that you can only play premium hands out of position they aren't kidding around, and the above example is a perfect illustration of what they're talking about. In a typical ten-handed game there are three positions other than the blinds, namely early, middle, and late. Early position is defined at seats 3,4, and 5. Middle position is seats 6,7,8 and late position is seat 9 and seat 1. Seat 1 is the button or the dealer, and it is pole position because you are the last to act on every betting round. That means you have the most information of anyone at the table as you get to see everyone else's actions before you have to act. Information can be transformed into knowledge, if you have the right skills, and knowledge in poker is power. Seat 9 is the next best seat in the house. It's called the cut-off seat, and if you are aggressive you can "buy the button". That is when you make an aggressive bet and force the button to fold, thus making you the last person to act for all subsequent betting rounds. This is a valuable concept in poker, especially if you know that the button is a conservative or tight-weak player easily moved off his prime real estate. You want to be the button because buttons bully better hands, and win a lot of hands that they have no right to win, simply because no one else wants a piece of the action.

Early position is a tough place to be. Under the gun is even worse than it sounds and it sounds pretty bad. You live in fear playing a hand from seat 3 because you never know what's still to come. As a beginner in poker it is wise to ride out the storm in seat 3 by playing as few hands as possible. Don't get clever or tricky here with your one-gap suited connectors, because trust me, it just isn't worth it. You get frisky with 79 of spades because you were born in '79 and always play that hand for a raise, well that's very sweet but don't try that under the gun in any limit game that isn't for play money. Premium hands only in Seat 3 are words to live by, and when you do get the goods under the gun it is fruitless to slow-play them unless you are in an aggressive no-limit game, and even then I would only do it with Aces, and then only 1/3 of the time.

Middle position is slightly misunderstood and provides creative and intelligent poker players with plenty of opportunity to show off their talents. Aggressive play from middle position is often profitable, but so too is slower play, again provided you know what you are doing, and more importantly, you know what your opponents are likely to do. I have played in very loose games where limping in with JQ suited from Seat 6 is a money-spinning play, and then again I have played in many more games where any action other than folding JQ suited is disastrously expensive. It all depends you see, because poker is a game of context, and the most crucial context of all is where you are sitting when the action unfolds. Late position is what you want of course, because you can frequently show a profit without having to look at those pesky hole cards. If you are first to act and only the blinds remain you should raise before you look at your cards in a limit game. It should become a habit, and you shouldn't look unless you are three-bet by one of the blinds. Even then you can consider capping the pot, because the flop could a) make you a better hand, b) scare off your opponent, or c) you may already have the best hand, since you only pretended to look at it in the first place. Doyle Brunson used to say that he could beat his foes without looking at his cards. I bet he was on the button when he made that bold claim.