An advantage in playing Texas Hold'em tournaments or poker cash games is the ability to use position against your opponents to take down a pot. Position can easily afford a player the opportunity to win without having the best hand. Learn to play Texas Hold'em poker like a pro when you execute a brilliant position play.
In order to understand how position works, you must first understand the different positions in a no limit Texas Hold'em poker table. There are three segments of position in a Texas Hold'em poker game. That is Early position, Middle position, and Late position.
Early Position
The deal in Texas Hold'em poker always begins with the player to the left of the dealer button. Early position is comprised of the first three players dealt into the game, specifically the small blind (SB), the big blind, (BB) and the person who is first to act after the hole cards are dealt, called Under The Gun (UTG) or more commonly referred to as first to act.
Middle Position
Middle position (MP) consists of the three players immediately left of the UTG, sometimes called under the gun plus 1 (UTG+1), the next player is usually called middle position and the player to his immediate left is sometimes referred to as late middle position.
Late Position
Late position players in Texas hold em encompass the final three players in the hand. The player to the immediate left of the late middle position is known as the Hijack (HJ), the next player is referred to as the Cutoff (CO) and the final player is the Button, signified by the dealer button, and sometimes called Last to act.
Note that in the case of a six-handed table the positions are relative, being SB, BB, UTG, MP, CO and the Button. As the number of players at a table change, the only remarkable difference is the middle position players. In the case of ten handed, there is an extra MP player and in eight handed there is one less MP player.
Because the position of the players change with each deal, choosing appropriate starting Texas Hold'em poker hands and actions to take with each position can make the difference between having a winning session or a losing session in Texas Hold'em poker.
Your choice of starting hands in a Texas Hold'em tournament should be directly related to the position you hold in each deal. For example, playing a weak ace in early position is not as wise a move as playing the same hand in late position. If you choose to play a weak ace (Ace 6 for example), in early position, you risk the chance a later player may raise and force you to fold preflop, thereby wasting your chips.
On the other hand, a weak ace is better played in late position. If other players limp or fold to you, you could raise with a weak ace to represent a stronger hand. Typically, the best case scenario is to play stronger hands in earlier positions and make raises or post flop plays with weaker hands in later positions.
Another example is drawing hands. While suited connectors such as 7 8 of hearts may be an attractive hand to play, in no limit Texas hold em, it is better in later positions simply because you can limp and if you hit the flop, your opponents will make bets to you. For example, if you play 7 8 of hearts and you flop two hearts with an 8 on the board; you are able to conceal the strength of your hand until others have acted before you.
In that example, if a player makes a bet, you can opt to smooth call or raise to take down the pot. The fact that you have the flush draw AND you are last to act after the turn card comes down gives you many possibilities to control the action in the poker hand.
Let us say your opponent bets and you raise, then your opponent just calls. When the turn comes down, in many cases your opponent will just check to you, because they may be afraid of what you had on the flop, and your raise disguised the fact that you had a draw as well as a pair. Your opponent's likely check to you gives you position and allows you the opportunity to bet enough to get him to fold, even though you have not made your hand yet.
This example of using position to play a hand in Texas Hold'em poker can certainly help you take down more pots than normal. However, exercise caution just like in any other play, that you do not overuse your Texas Hold'em poker strategies. Take a conscious effort to mix up your play and occasionally change the way you play certain poker hands to keep your opponents off-guard.
In order to understand how position works, you must first understand the different positions in a no limit Texas Hold'em poker table. There are three segments of position in a Texas Hold'em poker game. That is Early position, Middle position, and Late position.
Early Position
The deal in Texas Hold'em poker always begins with the player to the left of the dealer button. Early position is comprised of the first three players dealt into the game, specifically the small blind (SB), the big blind, (BB) and the person who is first to act after the hole cards are dealt, called Under The Gun (UTG) or more commonly referred to as first to act.
Middle Position
Middle position (MP) consists of the three players immediately left of the UTG, sometimes called under the gun plus 1 (UTG+1), the next player is usually called middle position and the player to his immediate left is sometimes referred to as late middle position.
Late Position
Late position players in Texas hold em encompass the final three players in the hand. The player to the immediate left of the late middle position is known as the Hijack (HJ), the next player is referred to as the Cutoff (CO) and the final player is the Button, signified by the dealer button, and sometimes called Last to act.
Note that in the case of a six-handed table the positions are relative, being SB, BB, UTG, MP, CO and the Button. As the number of players at a table change, the only remarkable difference is the middle position players. In the case of ten handed, there is an extra MP player and in eight handed there is one less MP player.
Because the position of the players change with each deal, choosing appropriate starting Texas Hold'em poker hands and actions to take with each position can make the difference between having a winning session or a losing session in Texas Hold'em poker.
Your choice of starting hands in a Texas Hold'em tournament should be directly related to the position you hold in each deal. For example, playing a weak ace in early position is not as wise a move as playing the same hand in late position. If you choose to play a weak ace (Ace 6 for example), in early position, you risk the chance a later player may raise and force you to fold preflop, thereby wasting your chips.
On the other hand, a weak ace is better played in late position. If other players limp or fold to you, you could raise with a weak ace to represent a stronger hand. Typically, the best case scenario is to play stronger hands in earlier positions and make raises or post flop plays with weaker hands in later positions.
Another example is drawing hands. While suited connectors such as 7 8 of hearts may be an attractive hand to play, in no limit Texas hold em, it is better in later positions simply because you can limp and if you hit the flop, your opponents will make bets to you. For example, if you play 7 8 of hearts and you flop two hearts with an 8 on the board; you are able to conceal the strength of your hand until others have acted before you.
In that example, if a player makes a bet, you can opt to smooth call or raise to take down the pot. The fact that you have the flush draw AND you are last to act after the turn card comes down gives you many possibilities to control the action in the poker hand.
Let us say your opponent bets and you raise, then your opponent just calls. When the turn comes down, in many cases your opponent will just check to you, because they may be afraid of what you had on the flop, and your raise disguised the fact that you had a draw as well as a pair. Your opponent's likely check to you gives you position and allows you the opportunity to bet enough to get him to fold, even though you have not made your hand yet.
This example of using position to play a hand in Texas Hold'em poker can certainly help you take down more pots than normal. However, exercise caution just like in any other play, that you do not overuse your Texas Hold'em poker strategies. Take a conscious effort to mix up your play and occasionally change the way you play certain poker hands to keep your opponents off-guard.
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