Free Poker Strategy

Position in Poker: Learning about position in poker and how it affects the way a hand plays out is probably not the first thing you will learn about the game. It is not essential to understand position in order to play at a social, fun, home game level, but serious players should understand the importance of position.

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In poker, players will always take turns in making their decisions, with the action always moving to the left.
The players who are forced to act early on in the betting round are disadvantaged to an extent, because they have no clue as to what the intentions of the opponents behind them are. If we were to look at a hand such as (A,10) suited, which is not overly strong, we will see that it becomes more playable depending on position.

As the first player to act, if you raise with this hand, you know that the only players who can call or reraise you are very likely to have your hand in deep trouble. With so many players yet to act behind you, playing the hand is usually too dangerous in a serious poker game. It isn’t just preflop that you have to worry about position, but being one of the first to act on the flop too. These marginal hands can sometimes be played in later position to good effect, because if you have already seen most of the players fold, you know that there are very few players left behind you that may have a hand which can challenge you.

In some cases being first to act can be turned to your advantage, check raising a poker player when you have missed a flop can be a risky play, but it looks powerful when you make such a move. Most of the time though, it is preferable to be acting from late position. Generally you should open up your range of playable hands slightly depending on how late your turn to act is, but remember to do this within the framework of your own style of play. Do not feel compelled to play a marginal hand simply because of your position, for example.