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The importance of position
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A very important concept that might be hard to grasp when you start out playing poker, but cannot be stressed enough is, position. With position I mean your location at the table in relation to the dealer. It does not matter if you play online poker or live poker, holdem or Omaha, limit or no limit, your position at the table is always important.
The best position you can have, when playing Texas holdem, is the dealer button. You are the person acting last in all the betting rounds except the first one. This gives you a lot of information regarding your opponents’ actions, which in turn will make it easier for you to decide how to proceed with your hand. In poker you always make decisions based on incomplete information, but the more you know about the other players’ dealings the better.
If the best position is the button, the worst position in Texas holdem poker is the first position (small blind). After the flop you will always be the one acting first, without knowing what your opponents sitting behind will do.
The later your position is - the better, but how do position affect your game? In early position you should be more conservative when it comes to choosing starting hands. Consequently; the later your position, the more hands you can play. But if you are new to the game you should still be careful choosing your starting hands even if you sit on the dealer button.
An effective way to level out the position disadvantage that you have when you are one of the first to act is to check-raise. If you occasionally do this you will keep your opponents guessing and make it more difficult for them to know how you will act. But you also risk that everyone checks and you miss the opportunity to raise.
There are numerous factors you should take into consideration when you make your decisions at the poker table and to learn to adapt to your position will definitely have a big impact on your game.
• Shorthanded hold'em
• Texas hold'em starting hands
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