Texas Holdem Poker Table Position

One of the most important aspects of Texas Holdem Poker is using your position at the table to your advantage.  Using your position correctly will help ensure that you are a winning Holdem Poker player.  But why is your position at the table so important?

Your position at the table dictates what hands you should play and which ones you should fold.  Just because you may have a strong hand does not mean you should play it.  It also means that just because your hand is weak that you need to fold it.  Your position at the poker table should influence how you play your hands.

Let’s take a look at how the table is broken down and how to use it to your advantage.

The table is broken down into three positions which are known as early position, middle position and late position.

Early Position
If you are seated in one of the first three positions to the left of the big blind you are in early position.

The button dictates the order in which players act for all of the betting rounds.  There is an exception to this rule though, the blinds act last on the first round of betting but after that they are the first ones to act.  If you are seated in early position you want to limit the hands that you play to the very best ones – High Pairs (Aces, Kings, and Queens) Ace-King suited.  You can call and/or raise with these hands.

As you get more comfortable and get a feel for the competition, you can decide whether you want to call or fold other good starting hands (Pair of Jacks, Pair of Tens, A-Q suited) suited connectors and middle pairs (Seven through Tens).

I do recommend that you mix up your play and not fall into one very predictable strategy.  Also, pay attention to how your opponents play and let that help determine what and how you play when you are in early position.

Middle Position
If you are seated in either the fourth, fifth, or sixth positions to the left of the big blind then you are in middle position.  Your play in middle position is similar to early position.  You still are not acting with complete information about all of your opponent’s hands so you will want to stick to the best hands.  You will be able to add additional hands to the ones you play in early position.  I would play the following pairs – Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, Tens and Nines.  I would also look to play A-K suited, A-Q suited, A-J suited and A-K.  Since you have some information about the strength of the first three or so players seated before you, you can determine which hands to play or not play based on some idea if they have a strong hand or not.

With the above hands you can bet or call.  As you get more information about your opponents you can decide if you want to call with suited connectors or not.

Late Position
If you are seated on the button, to the right of the button, and sometimes the second position to the right of the button you are seated in late position.  In late position you have the advantage of seeing what everyone else has done (bet, raise, call or fold) so you can see who may have a strong hand.  The “later” you are in late position the larger the advantage.  You are in excellent position on all of the betting rounds.  This will let you make better decisions than you can make if you were seated in any of the earlier positions.

Based on what the others at the table have done and how many players are still in the game, you may be able to play with most any pair, high card combinations and suited connectors.

In summary, the later your position the greater the number of hands you may be able to play.  Drawing hands increase in value with later positions, because more information is available.  Don’t just play a drawing hand because you are in late position but because of the information you have gathered.  A common mistake made by players is calling raises with high cards.  Again, it is ok to play them based on information that you have gathered.  If you don’t have good information on your opponents then you can (and probably should) decide not to play them.

Incorporating your new found knowledge on how to use your position at the table will make immediate improvements to your game.  Begin improving your game today at one of our recommended poker rooms.