When playing Texas Hold'em, one of the most important dynamics is your table position. It is also one of the most overlooked elements in a new player's game. Your position in poker is where you are sitting relative to the "button". As the button rotates every hand, so does your position. Whether or not you decide to play a hand and how you play it should always be heavily influenced be your position.
There are basically 4 positions in Texas Hold'em. These are early position, middle position, late position, and the blinds. Most people consider the blinds late position pre-flop and early post flop, but I prefer to list them as their own separate position for the sake of simplicity. Let's look at the 4 positions and how they should affect your game. Keep in mind, these are fundamental rules and specific circumstances will change the way you play hands in different situations.
Early position in Hold'em is the two positions just to the left of the big blind (BB). This is when you need to be the most careful. Before the flop (first set of community cards) is dealt early position players are first to act. That means that everyone gets to see what you do before they have to do anything. You should petty much stick to playing premium hands in early position. Playing marginal hands here can easily wind up with you trapped in a hand against a monster. I recommend raising with premium made hands (AA, KK, QQ) in early position and raising or limp/re-raising (limping in and re-raising a single raiser) with premium drawing hands (AK, AQ). You should almost always continuation bet the flop unless you know it hit your opponent.
The two seats to the left of the EP players is considered middle position. In Hold'em, middle position should be played with most of the same strategy as EP. You can play a few hands in MP that you wouldn't touch in EP, but be careful! If you find yourself in a hand with JJ and the flop comes AhQh6s, it's time to toss your hand. Watch out for the EP players. A pre-flop raise or limp from someone in early position could mean you are up against a monster.
Late position defines the last two players to act. The Button is the last player to act before the blinds pre-flop and the last to act on all the subsequent rounds. In Hold'em, the button gets to dictate the action. You can open your game way up to include just about any two cards that have a good chance of connecting on the flop. You still need to be mindful of the action in front of you, but if there is none, you can raise with all kinds of hands like KQ suited, A-10 suited, 99, etc. If it is folded to you on the button (or in the cut-off, for that matter) you should be raising at least 75% of the time, no matter what cards you have. Since you get to see the other players act before you do, anyone who calls your raise will be at a disadvantage post flop.
One of the most difficult positions to play in Texas Hold'em is the small and big blinds. You already have chips committed to the pot before it is your turn to act and everyone is trying to raise your blind. The good news is that you often have the correct pot odds to call raises, since you already have in the pot. The bad news is that unless you are really really good at playing from the blinds, your position will put you at too big a disadvantage to be able to outplay your opponent post flop. In less you can see a flop cheaply, or have premium hole cards, I would fold.
Texas Hold'em is really a waiting game. Be patient and play your position. If you follow these strategies you could be well on your way towards winning at Texas Hold'em. Now "Let's shuffle up and deal!
Before you buy into another tournament, you need to head on over to Steve's Poker Strategies site for more great poker winning tips.
Related posts:
- Great Diesel Pusher Pass Times When it comes to getting the family from A to...
- Lions Back On Winning Track With CFL Win Over Roughriders The BC Lions may have turned the corner after a...
- Getting Game Downloads From Online Do you love to play games? I'm a gamer and...
- Power Wheels Toys: The Perfect Answer To Fuel Your Child’s Imagination Childhood is filled with imagination, make believe and pretend. A...
- Fantasy Baseball Leagues: Planning For The Next Season Your friends might have no time playing outdoors but when...
Comments on this entry are closed.