Poker Strategy: How Position Can Help or Hinder

Posted by Trix @ 12:00 AM, Friday Sep 18th, 2009

Interestingly, position is generally a concept which is not learnt in the very early stages of a poker players development. Poker players are often taught hand rankings and reasons for betting, calling, or folding in many diverse situations first and foremost.

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That isn’t to say players do not understand the basics of position though. Of course players learn that the button and blinds move around the table and the action moves to the left. But, the strategic ramifications are often more difficult for the inexperienced poker player to see when they first start out. Poker by it’s very nature, involves decisions and situations that change due to what might seem to an inexperienced poker player, trivial issues. You may play one hand when in slightly later position but not in others, or you might contradict the general guidelines of this due to a hand you had previously seen your opponent play.

This can be confusing for new poker players, especially as you can consider all this intricate information carefully, make an excellent informed decision, and still lose the poker hand. That is the volatile way poker and fortune can work though, and poker players only ever play by the fact that a decision will result in winning more than it loses over a more lengthy timescale. Position can often dictate the way you play hands, because often in late position the action will be folded around to you, giving you the information that most of the table do not have strong hands. Even if there is a raise from a tight poker player before the action gets to you, well then your position just helped you by giving the answer of how to play your (A,9) or (5,5).

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