For simplicity sake, letís assume you are playing at a 9 seat table. There are a total of 9 players and you are one of those 9. To best illustrate position play letís imagine that the table has been broken up into three parts, each part containing three sequentially seated players. We will call these groups: Early, Middle, and Late.
How you determine which group you are in depends on where the Button is at any given time. If the Button (or the Dealer Button) is to your immediate right, then you and the two players to your left are in the Early group; this represents players number 1, 2, and 3. Players numbered 4, 5, and 6 will be in the Middle group. And players numbered 7, 8, and 9 will be in the Late group.
As you already know the Button moves around the table with each hand, so your position (or seat number) will change with each hand as well.
Playing Late means that you are one of the last three players to act. It also means that two of the three players will be in the blinds. One player in the Big Blind, one player in the Small Blind, and then the last of these three who will be on the bubble, so to speak, and have the Dealer Button.
When you are in late position you will have had the opportunity to see what most of the table has done before you have to decide if you want to play or not. If you are in the Big Blind, you will have seen what all of the players have done. It is this information that gives you the power and the advantage over the other players. It is not so much the cards that you hold, but rather the information that is important.
If You Are On the Button: Being on the Button means you have the Dealer chip in front of you. It also means you have not yet paid the big blind to get into the game. If everyone before you has folded and you have at least a marginal hand you may want to go ahead and play. But donít fall into the mind-set that you have to play just because you are on the Button. If someone before you has raised big and you donít have much of a hand, fold. Itís that simple.
Now on the other side of that, if you feel that the two players in the blinds will fold (and you know this by having watched them play) you may want to raise to them and hope they throw their cards in. This is called stealing the blinds, and it often works.
One of the best reasons for folding a weak hand when you are on the button is that you will have to pay the blinds during the next two hands. This you have to do and it will cut into your stack. So, by not investing in a weak hand now, you have saved that money for the blinds, which will be right in front of you before you know it.
If You Are In the Small Blind: In this case, youíve already put up half the big blind. You have money in the pot now and itís silly to just throw that away. If you have any kind of hand at all, itís usually okay to go ahead and pay the other half of the blind in order to see a flop. If you donít catch the flop or you donít feel up to bluffing, you can always fold.
Now there is a caveat to this. If someone ahead of you raises big and you have a weak hand, then consider folding and simply giving up on that small blind that you posted. But that, too, needs to be taken with a grain of salt. You donít want to be known at the table as someone who folds to a raise. If you get that reputation, expect a raise every time you are in the small blind or even the big blind, for that matter.
Many times the only two players left in the game pre-flop are the blinds. When that happens to you, and you are in the small blind, you have a couple of options.
You can call the big blind and wait to see what the other player does. He can either check or raise (or fold, but that rarely happens).
Your other option is to raise.
The option you choose will be dictated by your cards, your level of confidence, and your knowledge of the playeróis he tight or aggressive?
When You Are In the Big Blind: As you already know, being in the big blind means you have already paid the price to play. It also means that you have had a chance to see every other player make his move by either calling, raising, or folding. You know exactly how many other players are still in the game, and who they are. In a sense, you are in the cat bird seat.
Being in the big blind allows you many options. You can Check (if no one has raised), you can Raise (if you have a good hand or if you think your raise will run some of the others out of the game) or you can Re-Raise (if someone else has already raised), and, lastly, you can fold if someone made a huge raise and you are not ready to call that big raise.
What you do is dependent on your skill level, your level of confidence, and who you are playing against. For the most part, if you have a weak or marginal hand, you should Check. This is a good way to see the flop without having to pay more money to do so.
But there are times when a raise is more appropriate from the big blind. If you pull in a pair for hole cards and there are, say, three players still in the game, you may want to consider a raise. By raising, you are attempting to get some of those players to fold. As mentioned earlier, you donít want to go to the flop with a lot of other players drawing against you. If you can run them off now, then do so.
By that same token, donít be afraid to fold. If someone goes ďAll InĒ and you donít have much of a hand, donít risk your stack just to protect your big blind investment. Let it go.
This concludes our three-part series on Position Play. We hope you have gained some insight to the importance of position but do understand that learning to play your position correctly takes time and practice. It cannot be learned overnight, but it is well worth the time invested. It will help you win more often.
