Position, position, position

Table position is one of the most important aspects of playing good poker – some say even more important than the cards you’ve been dealt. Position in power. If you watch poker on TV, you’ll often hear the commentators say “he’s got position on him” that means that the player they’re referring to gets to act last for the rest of that hand. Most beginners don’t know this, so the sooner you take this into account the better off you’ll be. I will keep this video short, basic and to the point and explain more about table position a more advanced video.

Table position is so important for the same reason that the dealer is the most powerful position at the table - because the later your table position the later you get to act in each hand and the more information you have about what your opponents are holding before making you have to make a decision.

Hands that you would fold in early position may become great hands to raise with in late position.

There are 3 main table positions in texas holdem – early, middle and late position.

The first player to act in a game of poker is known as being “under the gun”. This is the most difficult position to be in while playing poker – hence the name. The “under the gun” player is the player sitting to the immediate left of the big blind before flop and the player to the immediate left of the dealer after the flop. The best way to play from this position is by waiting for premium hands.

The later your position, the better off you are and the more playable your hands become.

A hand like 10-J offsuit in early position is unplayable in early position because there are so many players to act after you and you don’t know if they’re going to call or raise and chase you out of the pot. If you are in late position and no one has raised, there may only be 1 or 2 players to act after you and the probability that someone has a hand better than yours decreases significantly and you can call or raise with more confidence.
Table position is also a great way to tell how strong your opponent is – this is known simply as a tell. If someone raises in early position, then you can be pretty sure they have a decent hand and if yours is less then decent, you should probably get out of the way. Of course, they might be a bad player and not know about table position or they may be bluffing, but we’ll cover that in a later video.

In the next video in the series, “starting hands”, I will be referring to table position a lot. I’m going to cover exactly which hands are playable and from what position. Move onto the “starting hands” video next.