Learn how to take advantage of your position in any hold’em poker game

Position plays poker, period. Your position at the poker table significantly affects the outcome of the game. Pro poker players are known to use their positions, to secure wins. Position has a massive effect on the winners and the losers of poker.

What is position in Hold’em?

Position is the order in which poker players are seated around the table. Players have position on rivals acting before them and are ‘out’ of position to rivals playing after them.

Types of position

Early position for players who are the first to act.

Middle position for players who are neither first nor last.

Late position ( dealer button), for the player who is last to act.

Taking advantage of position in any Hold’em

Playing after your opponents is more beneficial than being the first to act. The dealer button moves to the left after every hand, so that each opponent is able to place an equal amount of blinds into the pot, through every rotation.

Here are the advantages of late position poker.

• You can gather information from plays by your opponents.
• You can make bluffs and flops and get away with them.
• As opponents in early position fold, the number of players decreases, thus increasing your chances of having the best ‘hand’.
• Being the last to act allows you to make the correct value bets.
• By having the last action, you can control the final pot size.

For example, if you have not yet managed to improve your hand but are up against an opponent on the flop, you can still make a successful bluff. However, if you are in an early position, it is impossible to predict their next action.

Avoid playing hands from an early position, unless you are sure that your hand is too good to fold.

How to play position poker in Hold’em

Preflop play

It is easier to play from the preflop position. Being the button, you can be able to see all players but two act before you. It is also important to note that even if ‘playing in the blinds’ is a form of late position, you will be out of position, post flop.

Being the button is especially beneficial when you are playing against the ‘table’ because no matter what happens pre-flop, you will still be in position post flop.

Playing post flop

The button is the best position to be in postflop. Also, when you are in a heads-up pot on the flop, you can be UTG+1 and your rival UTG and still have position on your opponent.

• When your opponent checks, ensure that your flop bet is significant enough to block even the most aggressive check-raisers.
• When your opponent bets small, be extra cautious as they could be luring you into a raise, only for them to commit more chips later in the game.
• When your opponent bets big, it is usually a sign that they are avoiding the pressures of continuing to play without position.

Be flexible

Change your game play with the times. For example, become tighter when another tight player opens the ‘pot’ with a raise. Also, consider folding if you have a hand like A-9 off-suit and there are many players in the pot.

The Pot limping trick

If you are the dealer button and one or more opponents limp into the pot, consider playing suited connectors or small pocket pairs. You can also choose to limp on the button with any two cards or whip out a ‘pot-spicing’ raise.

Swipe the blinds

Being in late position is the best place to steal blinds because there are fewer players, meaning less struggle.

Check the stack

Before nabbing blinds off, check the stacks of your opponents. While short-stacked players are desperately looking to make bold plays, big-stacked opponents can still afford to come at you.

Fact is, position plays poker. To increase the probabilities of winning, play position poker. Meaning, you should play late position poker.