Master Your Poker Positional Play
Position in poker refers to the tactical advantages and possible disadvantages to the order in which players are seated around the table. Players who act first are in the early position, players who act later are in the late position It is beneficial to play in the late position because the player has a better idea as to how the 1st round betting will pan out. A player has position on other players acting before him and is is considered out of position when players act after he plays. Because players act in clockwise order, a player has position" on opponents seated to his right, except when the opponent has the button and certain cases in the first betting round of games with blinds.
The main advantage held by a player in late position is that he will have more information with which to make his decisions than players in early position, who will have to act before him. If you think about it, an early player out of position could bet heavily with a pair of queens but if he see's a reraise after him, the likelihood is that the queens will already be beaten pre-flop so he may well consider folding the hand. Also as earlier positioned players fold weak hands, the probability of a hand being the best goes up due to the number of opponents goes down, so a weakish may still be worth a play in a later position. Again this is all dependent on the play beforehand.
To make any significant progress at poker you must understand positioning while at the poker table. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is to the calculations and decision making process as the game progresses. If you can master the understanding of player position and use that information accordingly, then you are heading in the right direction. This is what separates the good players from the bad.
Your position at the table is your position in relation to the dealer. The dealer is at the most advantageous position because he gets to see how the other players bet before making his play. There is good positioning and bad positioning while at the table and it is vital that you grasp an understanding of this before you jump into any real money games.
This section will teach you not only how to understand player positioning, but how to use it to your advantage. You will learn to scare off other players and steal pots at vital times. You will learn when to go all-in with certain hands, and when to avoid it.
The section on betting has already shown you the mechanical process, so lets get started on building that winning edge
So as you should already be aware, the player to the left of the big blind acts first after the hole cards are dealt. He is referred as being “on the bell” or “under the gun.” He is in an early position, and as the clockwise motion of betting progresses players then play their hands in the later positions.
The later the position, the better feel you will get for the way the hand is turning out. At the later positions you have a better idea of whether you should continue paying into the pot. As a result you may have the opportunity to play a weaker hand you may have automatically folded in one of the earlier positions, knowing that lets of your stake money in the pot.
The person to the left of the dealer is not only the small blind, but must act first after the flop.
The person to the left of the small blind is the big blind. This person is already obligated to the game by the compulsory pay in and is in another early position.
The blind positions and the player under the gun (early positions) must be more selective with their hands, as they don't have the opportunity to watch other players betting patterns before they must decide if they think it's worth staying in the pot.
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