Ariston - The importance of position

This article will go into position in tournaments, position in cash/ring games, position in satellites, chip position, reverse position, and position position position! It isn’t as fascinating a subject area as some of my other articles but if you don't understand the power of position you need to work on it.

Basic position

This is the first concept every player needs to grasp before entering tournaments. If you are only interested in the two cards that you hold you may as well give up, and you will need to get very lucky to ever win a tournament. Imagine the table in your head with you being the dealer button.

The two people to your left are Small Blind (SB) and Big Blind (BB) and have to put money into the pot no matter what they hold. After these two players come seats one (known as Under The Gun/UTG), two, and three - these are known as early position (EP).

Seats four, five and six are known as middle position (MP). Seat seven is known as the cut-off (one off the button) and seat eight is in effect you - the button. These terms will be used throughout this article in their abbreviated forms (SB, BB, UTG, EP, MP, cut-off, button). In very basic terms the earlier you are to act pre-flop, the stronger a hand you need to join the pot - this is because there are more people to act behind you and therefore a strong chance one of them will find a better hand than you. For instance AQ may not be a hand worth raising with UTG but if you find it in the cut-off you only have 3 people behind you (a lot better than 9 people behind you if you raise with it UTG). This should help your decision making process pre-flop. Remember, it is possible to play the opposite way that people think you should be and disguise the strength of your hand.

Post flop position

It is obviously advantageous to be last to act after the flop. For example, if you are the button you can see how the other players have bet before you decide to act. . This allows you to bluff if you think they have missed the flop. If they have raised with JJ and you have called with TT, you may be able to win the pot without hitting a ten. If the board comes down with an ace and a king on it they will most likely check fearing you have one of the over cards that has arrived. A bet here will more often than not win you the pot. If you flop a flush draw and they check, you can bet to try and take the pot there and then (knowing if they call you can still win by hitting one of your outs) or check and take a free card to try and make your hand. I always like being last to act on all streets if it is possible.

Reverse position

This is where you turn the above round. You lead out with your flush draw representing a made hand. When the flush comes they should not probably read you for it as you bet "on the come". There are also set up plays you can use to reverse the positional advantage of you opponent but I have covered these in previous articles. To play reverse position you have to be willing to bet, bet and bet again - any sign of weakness will usually end in a strong opponent betting you out of the pot. The “stop go” play is also reverse position as you get the chance to be the first to bluff into the pot. Remember, unless your opponent has a big pocket pair that doesn't need to hit to improve, he will miss the flop more than he will hit.

Being the first to bluff can win you plenty of chips. Also what if you were to raise up front with suited connectors, you may be called by a far superior hand that is wary of an EP raise. When you hit the flop hard with these type hands they will be disguised by the fact you have raised- you can’t have raised up front with 78....why not? To play reverse position you have to be willing to fold sometimes when you have caught part of the flop and you must be a strong player through all rounds of betting. Using reverse position is not for the feint-hearted.

Positional steals

In a tournament late on, you are on the button, it is almost illegal to fold if everyone else has folded before you - there are only two people to act behind you and it would be a shame to just let the blinds battle for their own money. Some people argue if everyone has folded to you on the button there is a strong chance the blinds will have something as all the "good" cards will be left in the deck- I don't buy that theory myself. It may just be that the aces have all been folded because they had weak kickers with them. The conclusion you should draw from this is that if someone raises UTG or EP, the raise should be respected more than a raise from the button (depending on the player obviously-some players will raise with any ace no matter where they are sat - check your notes). Position is obviously very important in tournaments as the blinds go up you will need to do your share of thieving to avoid falling behind the escalating blinds.

If you have read any of my previous articles, you will know all about my theories on raise sizes, if you are going to steal don’t allow yourself to be outplayed - do not give someone the chance to run a re-steal on you (see article on bluffing). I also raise heavily with my genuine hands which some people will read as steals and pay you off with lesser holdings.

Position in cash games

Position is not as important in cash games as it is in tournaments. You will not be trying to steal blinds but you still need to use position to your advantage. If you have the nut flush draw in a cash game you may want to lead with it or even re-raise with it, you need to get your big hands paid. The key part, in my opinion, to cash games is who you are sat with. It is far more important to know your opponents style of play and how they bet various hands. Being last to act does help you bluff the odd pot but cash game players tend to be far trickier and will vary their play a lot more, they are not under the pressure of escalating blinds and if they lose their entire stack they can just pull up more money. You will be able to bet the change with position but I would be careful who you do it against - some players on here can smell a bluff from a mile away and will call you down with ace high on the river.

Chip position

This is a key aspect of tournament play. If you have a big stack late in a tournament, you can pound away at the short stacks with any hand. If one of them eventually makes a stand and beats you, you will normally be paying them with their own chips anyway. If you constantly raise or re-raise the shorter stacks you will win so many chips uncontested that you can afford to lose the odd coup and still be in front. To try and avoid the other big stacks or people who can hurt you is an often used theory. I agree with this to a certain extent but why not use the other big stacks reluctance to go to war and take advantage, let them be afraid of playing you. I don't mind going to war with any tournament player as I need to win all the chips to win the tourney anyway. I wouldn't go to war with a big stack with junk though obviously (unless I know they are going to fold). If you are a short stack do not try to steal of the big stacks - they won’t need much of a hand to take you on. As a short stack you should only try to steal off other short stacks (sometimes I will decide I am going all-in before the cards are even dealt because of the stack sizes of the blinds). The other option as a short stack is to just wait for a real hand and don't get blinded away while you wait (not an option I use very often). If you are a short stack still trying to win the competition you may chose to go in with the worst hand because of the value factor - say you have 4, 5 diamonds and there is a raise with a couple of callers, going all-in may get you 5 or 6 to 1 on your chips, it is unlikely you are those odds against to win the hand.

Position in satellites

This is something so many people don't understand. If there are 3 seats available and six of you are left in, it doesn't matter how many chips you have when there are 3 of you left as long as you are one of the three. If the chip leader has 6 gazillion chips and you have 78 chips, you still win the same prize. All you need to do is keep ahead of the blinds and let the short stacks play before you. Do not run big bluffs into the other chip stacks because they can only call you if they have beaten you - it is terrible to be in a very comfortable chip position and give them away and miss the prize. This is one of the only situations in poker it is correct to pass aces pre-flop. Fold your way into a seat if you have enough chips to do so - I don't care how good a hand you have, do not put your chips in. 3 of the seats I have won this year have been handed to me on a platter by people cutting each others throats. When you get towards the business end of a satellite do not panic and go sticking all your chips in on a draw or AK, the hard work has been done getting to the last few players you just need to close the deal. In the BPO qualifier, 4 of us had around 10k and 2 players had 50k each, one of the 50k stacks bluffed all-in on the flop(no hand no draw) and the other big stack knocked him out with a flopped set - that gave the 4 of us the chance to battle for a seat. Realistically we shouldn't have had a sniff at the prize but all of a sudden one player blew it.

Hope this has given some of you some things to think about and reminded some of you things you already know but sometimes ignore.

See you at the tables

ariston