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| Your POSITION Of Power In Hold'em |
By:
Robert Myer |
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In Hold’em poker, the importance of your position in relation to
the dealer can not be stressed enough. The reason for learning
position is that the later your position is the more information
you will have about the other players. If you are in the last,
or dealer position, you have the most information of all the
other players, because they all have to act before you have to
make a decision.
There are hands that you would throw away, without a second
thought, in one position and raise with in another. The problem
is learning which position is best for each action.
The first point that you must learn is where the positions are
at the table. Early position: any one of the first four places
to the left of the dealer button; Middle position: any one of
the next three places to the left of the dealer; and Late
position: any one of the next two or three positions including
the dealer position.
The starting hand requirements for each position are quite
different Early position: You want to play only premium hands
such as high pairs, high suited connectors, or high cards. This
is because you don’t know what is going to happen after you have
bet or called. For this reason only cards that can stand a raise
should be played. Middle position: You still need quality hands.
Because the chances of raises are less, you can play more
marginal cards. In this position you can start to play drawing
hands and medium pairs. Late position: You can play lower pairs
and smaller drawing hands, if the conditions are right.
Play before the flop Early position: Play only high pairs such
as AA, KK, QQ, and JJ. Play high cards such as AK, AQ, AJ, KQ,
and KJ suited or unsuited. With AA, KK, QQ, AK, and AQ you need
to raise or reraise to drive out drawing hands that may beat you
later. Middle position: In this location you can start to play
weaker hands like medium pairs such as 10’s thru 7’s and drawing
hands such as A10, K10, QJ, Q10, Q9, J10, and J9, suited or
unsuited. Late position: Here you can play small pairs and
suited high cards such as Ax, Kx, Qx, even Jx if there hasn’t
been a raise before you. If there has been a raise, before the
action gets to you, you should fold all of these hands. High
cards (AK, AQ) should be played without raising, in this
position, because you aren’t likely to drive anyone out and they
are still drawing hands after all.
Play after the flop When you have seen the flop, you have seen
over 70% of your hand. This means that you must decide whether
to bet your hand or to fold. Early position: If you do not have
a strong hand, and you are pretty sure that the other players
will call, it is best to check and see what the others are going
to do. If you have top pair, it is best to bet or raise to take
away the drawing odds (covered in another article) for those
players on a draw. Also this is the time to consider a check
raise if you are sure someone will bet and you have a very
strong hand. Middle position: Here you should think about being
more aggressive with your marginal hands, if no one has bet
before you. A bet here may drive out hands that could beat you
later on or may already have you beat. Again bet your top pairs
and made hands. This is not a position to go for a check raise
as you may end up giving someone a free card. Late position:
This is where you want to play your middle pairs and semi bluffs
aggressively. If no one has bet or raised before you, the
chances are that no one has a hand they are that proud of, and
you may be able to take the pot right now.
By the time you have reached the turn and the river you should
know how strong your hand is in relation to the other players.
With a little study and experience you will know how to play
your hand. For the most part, try studying your opponents and
act in ways they don’t expect.
In the beginning try to concentrate on what position you are in
at all times. As you gain more experience at the tables, you
will find that knowing your position will become automatic and
you won’t even have to think about it.
Good Luck
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