Position In Poker

To be successful in a hand of poker your goal is to decipher what it is that your opponent holds and then bet or fold accordingly. It's like putting together a puzzle. You might see a piece that has a window on it, but you have to finish putting it together before you find out if it's a house or a shed. Poker works the same way. The more of the puzzle you have completed the easier it is to figure out what the picture is. The more information you have about your opponent's hand the easier it is for you to make the correct action.

Position is the key to being successful in a hand of poker. If your opponent has to act before you then you can react accordingly. When your opponent takes their action it is just like them putting another puzzle piece in for you and helps you get the bigger picture. If you know exactly what your opponent has then you can bet big when you know you are winning and fold when you are losing. By using position to help you figure out what your opponent has you can make a lot more money in the long run than by just playing your cards.

Playing Out of Position

In early position it is very important that you play tight. There are still a lot of people behind you who still have to act, so you want to have only a great hand in case one of the many behind you wants to raise. By playing tight in early position you make it so that you can open up more in later position and it not seem too peculiar.

When you are in early position and someone behind you calls you are out of position against them. This is horrible. Your opponent then gets all the information you give them on every street before they have to act. Just like that helps you against your opponents, it helps them against you as well. You want to play as few of hands out of position as you can.

Another bad thing about being out of position is that it makes it harder to get money in on the hands that you want. When you have a hand that you consider to be the best you really want to get as much money in as possible. You can still bet with and hope your opponent calls, but that is just about it. If you check then your opponent could bet, but they could also check behind and prevent you from building the pot to the size you would prefer with your winning hand. In general, when you are out of position you are left with only a few options, which can make it harder to win money.

Playing In Position

Being in position is much better than being out of position. You can loosen up quite a bit when you are in position. Other players don’t want to play out of position against you so will fold more often than not. When your opponents do call you have a huge advantage since you get to see what they do before you have to act.

It is important that you loosen up when you are in position. When out of position you are playing extremely tight and will lose money if you play that tight from every position. Since there are less players left to act when you are in position it is easier for you to steal the blinds. Not only are you stealing the blinds, but a lot of players like to call preflop and then fold to a continuation bet on the flop. This extra money you earn from opening up your range makes up for the lack of hands that you are playing in early position.

You will normally win more money when you are in position. Again, this is because there are less people you need to fold in order to take down the blinds. Since you have a goal of making 5 big blinds per 100 hands, every time you take down the blinds you have made 1.5 bi blinds of the 5 big blinds you are hoping to achieve.

The Power Of Position In Poker

Online Poker is a game of information. The more information you have about what is going on the better you can appropriate your actions to the situation. All of the top professional level players stress in all of their teachings the importance of position. It is vital that you too realize this great power and strength in the game.

The better you are at staying out of hands in which you are out of position the more money you will win. You are to fold more in early position and loosen up more when in position. As long as you stay true to this you will become a very successful player.