The Best Way to Play Is In Position

A good poker player knows that position is a crucial factor in the game and plays a vital part in the success of a player. The term “playing in position” means that a player who is in this situation is the last one to make their move.

If you’re playing in position, you have the maximum amount of information available to any player. You have the edge because you get an idea of what is happening with your fellow players before it is your turn to play, and you have to decide what you are going to do with your hand. Someone who is not playing in position is groping in the dark, trying to guess the value of his opponents’ hands.

If you are in an early position, you would be well advised to play very tight. Since you are not in position, you are at a disadvantage, so counteract that by reducing the time you spend playing out of position. This makes later decisions simpler to make.

Poker can seems delightfully easy when you’re playing in position. When you’re joining a table, spend some time observing the table and try your best to get the seat to the left of the weak players at the table. This way, you’ll get the most possible time being in position and can wield that positional power against the weaker players who don’t have the know how to recognize what you are doing or defend against it.

Because of the power and usefulness that playing in position carries, it is sometimes referred to as the “Jesus Seat”. You can walk on water or perform any miracle when you’re playing in position, with your enviable control over other players, and thus the game. Your rivals are forced into a defensive position and have to play what is called “scared poker”, ever apprehensive about the outcome of the hand.

A person whose turn comes just after the cards are dealt is said to be playing “under the gun”. This expression, however alarmingly is it, describes the situation well as it is the position that is most perilous and often proves to be very expensive for the player. Under the gun, you are the first to act before the flop and among the first to act after the flop, so you lose the opportunity to gather information from your opponents actions before you have to act - this opportunity is in the hands of the person who is playing in position. So you will usually find the players in position controlling and defining the way a hand is played.

There are some strategies and techniques to playing out of position. Only play really good hands. You should have cards comprising aces, kings and pairs. Secondly, if you have pocket aces, pocket kings or pocket queens or ace king, raise at a tight table, and limp in at a loose table.

You can try placing “feeler” bets in an early position to check out your opponent’s reaction to it, and gain some information on them. But in general out of position make sure that your game is extremely tight and play your hands carefully to make the best of playing out of position.

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