Betting from position
The earliest position in hold'em is directly to the left of the big blind. The player sat here is 'under the gun' and, as the name suggests, it's not a comfortable place to be.
The best position to be on a poker table is ‘on the button’ – with the dealer button in front of you and the big and small blinds to your left. You’re the last to act and can make decisions on your hand based on what you see other players doing.
Poker, as I’m sure you’ve heard it said already, is a game of limited information. In this hand Kate, who’s sat on the button, is going to have a lot of information before she plays her K-J off suit. If everyone just folded or called the big blind before her, she’d probably call the blind. But, looking at the other hands at the table, that’s not too likely, is it? Erikka, with her A-10, might raise. Mark almost certainly will with pocket Q’s and Klaus is bound to at least match Mark or even re-raise.
By the time the action gets to Kate she’ll know there’s a lot of strength around the table and she’d be wise to fold her K-J off suit and wait for better cards on the next deal. But look who else has K-J off – John. He’s in the worst position, under the gun. If he knew some big raises where coming he’d be unlikely to take a chance with such a marginal hand. Trouble is, he’s got no idea what other players are going to do. He’s got no information.
John might well be tempted to call his K-J and, if he does, it’s bound to be a waste of his chips as he’ll be forced to fold before the flop in the face of strong raises from three other players on the table.
So that’s why hands in early position have a lower value. There’s no way of knowing how much it’s going to cost to see a flop when it’s your turn to call – so calling marginal hands, like K-J off from bad position, is like taking a double gamble. First, you’re betting that you’re going to hit; second, that no one else will re-raise before the flop. This cycle repeats itself through the flop, turn and river.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play cards from bad positions – you just need to be more selective. As a rough guide, in normal play, consider playing the following hands from different positions on the board: |
