Why you need to dismantle your poker game (part 4 of 5): Position

Now that you know how and why to select your starting hands, and use aggression, it’s time to delve into using position to your advantage. I touched upon position in part 2 of this series (the position sensitivity of a hand), now it’s time to go into more detail.

Position offers a player information he/she would otherwise not be entitled to. Basically, having good position allows you to gather more information before you have to make a decision. However, there are also strategic advantages (and disadvantages) to be had post-flop, and it’s imperative you know how to properly play in each scenario.

Three common situations you will find yourself in:

1. Last to act
2. Out of position, but you were the pre-flop aggressor
3. Your position relative to the pre-flop aggressor

Being last to act gives you the most strategic advantages post-flop:

• You will have more information about your opponents’ hands by their actions, and your opponents are in the dark about your hand! This makes your decisions easier, and your opponent’s decisions more difficult. A true win, win scenario.
• If you were the aggressor pre-flop you have tremendous fold equity, or the option of ‘taking one off’, since most players will check to the raiser on the flop.

One significant disadvantage to acting last is when you flop a strong hand, and it gets checked to you. In this case you have to decide on giving free cards, or likely ending the hand right there with a bet. For example: you have AA, and the flop is A38. It’s highly unlikely another opponent has an Ace, and since you raised pre-flop they will assume you do.
When you are the aggressor pre-flop you will find it much easier to play out of position than if you simply limp in.

• By taking the betting lead pre-flop you are basically saying, “my hand is better than yours.”, and by calling your opponents are saying, “My hand is pretty good but not great”. This gives you the opportunity to make a continuation bet whether the flop helped you or not.
• Calling a raise speaks volumes about the type of hand a player might have. Players tend to call raises with fewer hands than they would raise with. Therefore, it’s easier to pin down a caller’s hand, than it is a raiser’s hand.

One significant disadvantage to being out of position is when your opponent calls your continuation bet. They could either be slowplaying a monster or what’s known as ‘floating’, calling a bet to bluff the next street. In these cases you are usually in the dark on how to proceed.

Hopefully you won’t find yourself in this situation too often, but it’s extremely important to play these scenarios properly. You will find yourself calling raises pre-flop more often in big bet poker than in limit poker, because of the implied odds.

1. You want to act immediately before the pre-flop raiser in multi-way pots. As I’ve already explained, it is normal for players to check to the raiser, effectively putting him in first position! Therefore, the player who acts immediately before him ends up in last position!
2. You want to act immediately after the aggressor in heads-up pots. Acting after the raiser allows you to float, get off a missed hand, and basically use every deceptive play in the book.

Position is crucial pre-flop -to gather information, steal the blinds, and no when to give up a hand- and strategically more important post-flop. A good player will know how to take advantage of whatever situation they find themselves in.

Previous entries in this series:

• Part 1: Introduction to Systemantics
• Part 2: Starting hand attributes
• Part 3: Proper use of aggression
• Part 5: The importance of odds