www.poker.com – Positional Play
Category: Poker
www.poker.com – Many players who have not been playing poker long seem to have difficulty grasping just how important position is during any given hand. The amount of players left to act will often shape the way a hand develops both before the flop, and during the betting stages afterwards.
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If for instance I am dealt (A,J) and am first to act on a full table, I am going to be far more wary of how much I bet into the pot, because there are so many unknown hands waiting to act behind me. If however I am on the button, I know that most of the players are likely to have a weaker hand than me if they have folded or flat called. Each player that folds their cards before it is my turn to act, essentially shortens the odds of my hand being the best at the table. This means I can be more aggressive with my hand in later position than I can in an early position.
Also when the flop comes down, if I am heads up with an opponent, I know that if they have to act first, their actions will give me information about the possible strength of their hand. If I am first to act on the flop however, I have to make my decision with no clues whatsoever as to whether my opponent has connected with the flop in any way.
Another way to look at things would be to say that if you are first to act on the flop, then you have the first chance to bet out and pick up the pot, but you would be doing so with no information to help you which is risky.
So in general terms, poker is very much about using the information available to you, and as such, being in late position is always more helpful than being first to act.