Holdem: Positional Concepts - Your Position

 See also

Your position is simply where you are in relation to the button. Being on the button is the best position because you will act last in all but the first betting round. Being one to the left of the button is then the worst position.

Position is perhaps the most undervalued component of good holdem play. It's easy to see that bigger cards are better, suited is better than non-suited, and if there is raising going on, you need a stronger hand to play. However, many (if not most) low-limit holdem players make their playing decisions without considering their position. If you play without careful attention to your position, your bankroll will suffer.

By acting alter other players, you know what they will do (check, bet, etc.) before they know what you will do on a given betting round; this gives you an advantage. For instance, suppose you have a very strong hand. If your opponent acts before you and bets, then you raise. If he checks, you bet. Regardless of his action, you get the maximum amount of money in the pot. On the other hand, if you're first to act, then you must decide between betting immediately, hoping he will call, or trying to check-raise. If you check with the intent of raising and he checks too. You have lost the bet you would have made had you bet and he called.

Here's another example of the importance of position. Suppose you have 55 as your starting hand. If you are the first to act before the flop, you normally shouldn't call. We will cover this in detail shortly, but you need a lot of opponents to play small pairs.

Suppose you call with your 55 in early position. If the next player to your left raises and scares out the other players, you now wish you hadn't called the original bet. However, suppose you are on the button. If somebody raises early and limits the pot to two players, you fold, knowing you're doing the right thing. But if six players call in front of you and there's no raise, you can call with your fives. Simply being closer to the button means you have more information about how many opponents you will have and how much you'll have to invest, enabling you to play this hand.

There is one aspect of position that is perhaps not as important in low-limit holdem as it is in the higher limits. In tough holdem games, when the flop doesn't hit anybody, the player last to act can often bet and win the pot immediately. Because of the number of "calling stations" that are often in a lower limit game, it's unlikely you'll be able to do that. However, good position is still vitally important, and you must consider it at all times.

For the purposes of this text, we will consider a nine-player table. We'll declare the first four positions to the left of the button "early position", the next three "middle position", and the last two (including the button) "late position". Of course, you'll need to adjust this for the exact number of players at your table. When doing so, tend to err on the side of caution; if you can't decide if it's early or middle position, call it "early."