Poker Table Position

Position is a factor that is greatly underestimated by many beginner poker players. Your poker table position can be the difference between winning or losing a hand and can have a big influence on how much you win during your poker sessions.

Before playing a hand in Texas Hold'em you should always be aware of your table position relative to the button.

• The seats nearest to the left of the button are called early position or EP for short.
• The seats nearest to the right of the button are called late position or LP for short.
• The seats in between these will be called middle position or MP.

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Poker table position diagram.

• The seats in Red are early position
• The seats in Blue are middle position
• The seats in Green are late position

Early position.

The red seats are less favorable than any other seats at the table because on any given round in the current hand, you are likely to be one of the first to act. This means that in early position you should be more selective about the hands you play, because you will have less information on your opponents at each stage of the hand because you are first to act. So you will need to be playing your cards and not the man when in EP.

Middle position.

The blue seats have positional advantage over the red, but the seats in green have position over them. This means you can afford to play a few more hands in these positions as you do not have as many people left to act behind you. However, if all of the players in the red seats folded, that will mean that you will be the first to act on each round. So bear that in mind when deciding whether or not to play your hand.

Late position.

The green seats will prove to be one of the best seats in this particular hand. There is a high chance that you will be last to, or one of the last to act on each round. This is where you can loosen up your starting hands even further but not so much as to hinder your game. Just remember, just because you have position, does not mean that you should play poor starting hands.

The button.

The yellow seat is the best seat in the hand, because on every round except for before the flop, you will be last to act no matter what. This is why you should look to play as many hands as possible (within reason) from the button, as you have a big advantage in the hand when you are last to act.

How to use table position in poker.

If you have position over another player, it means that you are acting after them on each round.

This means you can use the information they give you by the way they check or the amount they bet to inform your decision on what to do. For example; if you have position over your opponent and he checks, this could be a sign of weakness. So you could use this information to bet out and take the pot because they have shown weakness.

Poker table position example.

Lets say there are a number of players in the pot, and you hold a mediocre hand like middle pair on the flop.

If there is a lot of betting and raising before the action gets to you, you can be sure that you hand is not as strong as you hoped and so you can fold it comfortably without losing any chips.

On the other hand, if you were in early position you may have made a bet with a hand that you thought was good, only to find that there are much stronger hands out there that will re-raise you and force you to fold. Therefore you will have lost chips due to this lack of information on your opponents from playing in early position.

The later you act in a hand, the more information you will have available to you about your opponents.

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The cut off.

The 'cut-off' is the position just before the button. This would be the second best place to be in a hold'em game because if the button decides not to play, then you will be the last to act on each hand. The button and cut-off are very useful positions for stealing the blinds as there are less players to act behind you, which makes it less likely that they are holding a good enough hand to call a raise with.

Poker table position evaluation.

Table position is easily one of the most underestimated factors in playing a hand by many amateur poker players. Position is so important that often hands can be won or lost based on your position alone, irrespective of the strength of the cards that you and your opponent hold.

The sooner you start paying attention to your position, the sooner you will start making more money.

A useful article to read from here is starting hand selection, as it highlights how you should stick to playing only the strongest hands from early position due to the big disadvantage of having to act first on betting rounds. After that, you may want to think about more advanced position strategy with the article on relative position in Texas Hold'em. However, I would recommend that you get the importance of basic position nailed down before any further reading!

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