Understanding position

 

Position is a very important concept in the game of poker, yet many players do not really understand the meaning of it and how it aids you in your decision making, not knowing position is a easy way of loosing at poker, this article will allow you to understand this concept.

What is position?

Position determines where you are sitting in relation to where the button is (the button is the dealer button on a internet game of poker it is moved around every deal so every player has a chance of being dealer) in regards to this there are areas of early position, middle position and late position.

Early position

At a full game with ten players early position means that you are one of the first three players immediately to the left of the dealer button to. Pre flop early position is the players immediately to the left of the big blind the first player to act in a round of betting is said to be “under the gun”

In most situations in poker it is a distinct disadvantage to be in an early position, the reason being that you have to be one of the first to act meaning that players can react to your play after you have done it, allowing good players to try and exploit or disrupt your plays.

Middle position  

Middle position is normally the next players left of the early position in a ten handed game this would be the 4th to 8th players left of the dealer middle position has one advantage In that you have already seen the action of the players in early position and the later you are in middle position for example the 8th player to act the bigger the advantage you have as you are able to see the majority of the plays around the table and make your own play accordingly you still have to be wary that you have players to act behind you, meaning that you should really not be attempting to play many marginal hands from this sort of position.

Late position

Late position is the last two players to act on the table there are two different terms for these players “cut-off” who is the second to last person to act and the “Button” who is the final person to act in a round.

Late position offers a massive advantage in Texas hold’em as it means you can as it means you can play hands that you maybe wouldn’t consider playing in another position for example if the whole table has checked round to you can consider making a steal or bluff.

The steal is virtually impossible for anyone to consider in early or middle position as they do not know how the player behind them are going to react to it, where as if you are last to act you have already seen the previous plays on the table

Playing lat allows you to represent a hand that you could not otherwise represent in other positions you should look to make the most of plays in a late position as many players make the majority of there money from the two late positions.

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