Texas Holdem Poker - Table Position

Now that you understand the Blinds and the movement of the Dealer Button the significance of Table Position (also known as Seat Position) relative to the Blinds must be explained. Table Position is probably the single most important aspect of Texas Holdem Poker and particularly important in No Limit games. It is odd then that it is seldom discussed and rarely even noted on other websites!

Using a ten handed game from Party Poker as an example:

Cash960 has the Dealer Button, Badger94 the Small Blind and so on. The table can be split into 3 sections - Early Position, Middle Position, and Late Position. Those in Late Position are at a significant advantage as they have the benefit of seeing what their opponents in earlier positions do before they have to act. Here Cash960 has the best position being "on the Button" because he acts last in all but the first round of betting. You would consider yourself to be in late position if you were Cash960, King Raiser or Green Canvas. Middle position in this game would be the four positions anti-clockwise from there and Early Position is represented here by the Blinds and Chemical Boy.

Remember Late Position puts you at an advantage as you can collect information about your opponents" hands before you play. If everyone folds around to you and you are in Late Position there is a reasonable chance you will be able to steal the pot with a bet. Conversely if the pot is raised heavily by a player in Early Position you have to put them on a significant hand (sure they could be bluffing, but the chances of that are reduced by the fact that in making such a bet an Early Position player has 7-9 players following and any big hands such as AA or KK will almost certainly re-raise the raise).

Table position alters as the Blinds move around the table. Appropriate use, and recognition of the significance of Table Position is key to good Texas Holdem Poker play.

Published on: 2005-05-10 (23369 reads)

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