Playing Position
Deciding which hands to play
Position is a key concept when playing poker and is particularly important when playing Pot-Limit or No-Limit. The importance increases when playing flop games like Hold’em or Omaha because your position remains the same throughout all betting rounds. When you are sitting in early position you will be acting early in the hand and, as such, will not have as much information as the players acting in later position. Occasionally, you will call with a hand when acting early only to see the pot raised and re-raised behind you. Consequently, you might be forced to fold a hand you already invested money with. If you are acting late, you know what pot-odds you are getting on the hand and also have the advantage of acting late in upcoming betting rounds. This means that you can play more hands when sitting in late position than in early position. When deciding what hands to play, position is always a factor that you have to consider. For example, when playing Hold’em you should play extremely tight under the gun (first to act pre-flop) and add hands as your position improves.