The Importance of Position in Poker

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The Position of Play

Positioning is one of the least common issues considered by Poker players when they are learning how to play. The position designated to a player, i.e. his play position, vis-à-vis the croupier (or the button if playing online). By definition, to the left of the croupier is the small blind player, and then to the left of him is the big blind player. The third player in line, the one that plays before the flop at the first round of betting, is called UTG. This is an abbreviation of ‘Under the Gun’, that means under fire from other players.

Texas Hold’EM poker is effectively a game involving information; the more information a player posses regarding the hands of his competitors, the better informed they are regarding the risks of putting money on the table. The further down your playing position, the more time you will have to observe the reactions of other players, in view of their cards, and the more you will know of how much your competitors are willing to wager. According to the position you have, you will play differently; an interesting hand in the absolute (e.g. 8-9, Jack-10, Queen-10) will become a marginal hand if you are UTG or in one of the starting positions; it would be a very playable hand if you are positioned at the end of the round, especially the last to play, if nobody has raised beforehand. When you are the first to play, you are playing a, largely, unknown game. This is known as ‘being in the dark’; how do you know if your call or raise, will be not raised by one of the following nine players situated after you in play position? You would have lost money, without even having played, this is surely the most idiotic decision taken during the whole game.

Players in a Favourable Position

When a player has a good position, this allows him to play a more aggressive game, to steal games with a bad hand, because the player is able to judge the other players games, who are positioned first to play. When you are last to play you will have thus been able to observe:

- Players choosing to check: these players do not want to throw themselves into the game for money, preferring to wait for more cards before paying.

- Players who pay the raise or the blinds: this means that players believe that their hands are good enough to stay in the game. Be attentive of the amount raised; the higher the value, the more their game should be evaluated in terms of the rise.

- Players who raise: it could just be that these players are naturally more aggressive, but they could equally believe that they potentially have a good chance of being dealt useful cards, or they already have a good hand. The later in the positioning a player finds himself, the more they have a tendency of staging a raise that will win the table.

These above points are more or less important depending on where a player is positioned at the start of a round. Indeed as the game rolls on and players throw their hands, the force of position can be inversed. In poker you will often come across players proficient in ‘checkraise’ game play, this consists of checking your hand to wait for the second players raise. Therefore, positioning has an ambivalent aspect that pushes players who are last to play, to steal the pot.

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