Saturday, April 10, 2010

Poker Table Position Strategy

As you know poker is the current leading online industry of skill related games in the world; it is an industry that generates at least $1 billion dollars a year, so it’s not a surprise to see how many poker sites exist out there and want a share their business. Nevertheless, poker is still the sport and passion of many people in the world that do this for a living; whether it’s just for recreation or as a main income they just can’t live without it. Today we will focus our attention on an intermediate strategy that is very important for all the players out there – Position -, the position will define the way you play in many ways, check all the information below and get ready to improve your game.

When you play poker online or at a live tournament, there will be three different positions you can be part of whether you are playing Hold’em or Omaha; these positions will define if you must play and how you must play. It is important that you understand that each position is directly relevant to the dealer button and such it will change as the button and blinds rotate around the table. The more you understand the advantages and disadvantages of each position the better you will play.im09042010
  • Early Position: These are the seats that are to the left of the dealer, these are the first to act; basically these positions are the blinds and the player who acts first after the blinds that is also known as “Under the gun” position. This is a very restrictive position and you should be very careful. Your strategy here should be to play pocket pairs over 6s, and of course any 2 face card combination, also suited connectors above 7 are something worth to call if the bets are not high. Any other cards are an immediate fold. Here you have a disadvantage as the players from the late position can take advantage of their seating and pump the pot. Don’t over risk your money.
  • Mid Position: this is a position that is neutral, you can try to force the late positions to fold pre-flop and the early positions to fold with weak hands; you are still exposed to the aggressive style from the late positions and you should only play considerable mid strength hands. High suited cards such as Ace – 10, or King – 10 are good choices here; any two face cards will do the job as well, only call pairs over 8s. When betting analyze your hand strength and the way your opponents acted, if you see the positions before you checking, and you have a mid hand, raise and risk a bit.
  • Late position: As you can see in the diagram, they are the last players to act in a hand, and due to this they are the positions that hold an advantage at the time of betting, depending on how the other player played. In these particular seats, your hands don’t really have to be killer hands but they allow you to bluff the way of other players’ previous bets or blinds. You should play any connectors suited and unsuited, any pocket pairs that you get and any combination with an ace in your cards. Be aggressive and try to steal as many pots as possible.

I hope this position strategy can help improve your game, just try to follow the recommendations and you can find a winning formula. Nevertheless, we will leave with this last advice: Don’t play the same way all the time, educate your play and learn different strategies, and cycle them especially if you are playing at a freeroll. The more unpredictable player you are the better. Keep reading us for more strategies on poker and many other subjects and continue your way to the poker fame!


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