The Importance of Position

I remember the first time I entered a poker room, I had overheard a couple of players discussing the topic of position. To a newcomer like myself, I had no idea what these gentlemen were speaking about, however, I later learned the topic they were discussing would be one of the most important factors of deciding whether to enter an unraised pot preflop.

Let me begin with a few common definitions many players use when discussing position. The definitions below are assuming we are in a full handed ring game, with nine to ten players.

EARLY POSITIONS

• The player directly to the Left of the Big Blind will be the first person to act before the flop. This person is commonly referred to as "Under the Gun." A common internet abbreviation for this is simply "UTG."
• The two players directly to the Left of the Under the Gun players are also labeled as Early Position.

The Key Aspects to remember about early position are fairly simple and routine. When playing in early position we have many players that are left to act behind us. Thus, in theory, we need a very strong hand to open for a raise when in early position. Hands like big pocket pairs and Ace-King suited/unsuited are the types of hands you want to be playing with from early position. We really want to refrain from playing hands that are easily "dominated" from early position. A hand that is "dominated" is one in which you share a common card with another player in the pot, but his "Kicker" or second card is higher than yours. For example a hand like King-Queen suited may look like a fine hand from early position. In reality, when we enter a pot from early position with a hand like King-Queen, we have no knowledge of what the players behind us are holding if they call. Someone that is in a later position than us could have a hand like Ace-King and opt to just call our preflop raise, and would be correct to do so in my opinion. The trouble we are now in is this; in the event that we hit our King on the flop, we will have a second best hand with a very difficult postflop decision to make once betting begins. So in general it is best, and correct, to throw easily dominated hands away in early position. Hands like small pairs also become somewhat tricky to play in early position and should be folded as well. This again, is just a basic guideline for playing in early position, and by no means a definitive way of playing.

MIDDLE POSITIONS

• The middle positions are the subsequent three players following the early positions.

When in middle position our starting hand requirements remain fairly strict as there are still a number of players left to act behind us. We again should not be in a rush to open the pot with easily dominated hands, although if the players left to act behind us are "rocks" or generally "tight" players, it may be OK to do so. I will get more into the topic on player profile, table image, and more in another post, and discuss how position relates to our play against specific player profiles. While in middle position, if it has been all folds to me, I will open the pot with any of our early position hands, along with King-Queen suited, Medium, and Small pairs.

LATE POSITIONS

• The seat directly right of the dealer button is commonly referred to as the "cut-off."
• The player whom has the dealer button, if they decide to play the pot, will have the best position possible on all betting rounds.

I would say that we want to play 75% of our hands from superior position, this being late position. The reason for this is simply the obvious. When in late position we gain much more knowledge than anyone at the table when it comes our time to act. We will have seen what everyone has done at the table, (check/bet/fold), before we have to make a single decision. This obviously makes all our decision making a lot easier. A player in late position also has the last chance to attempt to steal the pot on a bluff if it is checked around to him/her. These two aspects of late position make it a very powerful tool if used properly. The are some players who take this concept a bit to the extreme and raise with any two cards in late position. I really don't advocate this strategy because although we have great position, we will not be hitting the flop nearly as often as we'd like and our opponents will know this.

As far as starting hand requirements go for late position, we would open an unraised pot with all of our early and middle position hands, as well as many Ace-x suited combinations, King-Nine or better suited, Queen-Nine or better suited, Jack-Ten or better suited, and all pairs.

OVERVIEW

The aspects listed above are a general overview of the importance of position in poker. Hopefully some of the views will give you a little edge the next time you sit at a table. Below I have listed a starting hand requirement guide to give you a visual aid of hands you should be playing in certain positions.

The image below was from Phil Gordons No Limit website which I highly recommend visiting. He is a phenomenal player and an author of two outstanding books which have helped elevate my personal game and overall thinking in and out of poker.

STARTING HAND REQUIREMENTS GUIDE

Suited Hands


Unsuited Hands