Position Question

I posted this question in low-limit and didn't get an answer. I'll try again here, and apologies for the double post.


What I'm wondering is how to evaluate position, particularly when deciding whether or not to see the flop in Hold 'Em (and, to a lesser extent, Omaha Hi Lo) in dealer's choice game where the opener in each round is the player to the left of the player who opened the previous round.


In practical terms, this means that when the player to my right deals, I have the worst position on the deal before the flop, but the best position after the flop. Do I treat this as a bad position as far as deciding to see the flop, or as a good position?


(We use it in dealer's choice so as to not disadvantage people who like to deal stud games).

Acting first is the pits. Being first forces you to tighten up since you have less info about whats going on in the hand while its still your turn.

Goat, I understand you mean well, but you seem to have entirely missed the point of my question.


I understand that acting first is undersireable. However, I'm talking about a specific situation where you have to act first in an early round but get to act last later, or vice-versa. How does this effect your behavior compared to when your position will be constant for the entire hand?

I guess I'm confused- what kind of game do you get to act last then you act first? In Hold'em you act last on the first round when you are in the blinds but act first on all subsequent rounds so that is the only thing I can think of. Anyway I'd try to answer your question if I knew exactly what you meant :-)


Kris

It's a dealer's choice game. To avoid penalizing people who choose games where position doesn't matter (like seven card stud) what happens is that position isn't constant. While the player to the dealer's left is UTG in the first round, after the flop, the player to his left is considered UTG. After the turn, the third player from the dealer is UTG. On the river, the fourth player from the dealer opens.


(I thought this was pretty common in home games. I guess not.)

I see what you mean, this sounds wierd but hey thats what home games are about sometimes. I guess it shouldn't matter what game you choose, although I don't really know- this is confusing me for some reason. Anyway one thing that would keep this simple is to just have the dealer act last no matter wht the game is- if its stud just have the button determine the action instead of high board starting it off. Sorry I don't have any better ideas.


Kris

To answer your question, I think that I'd still play pretty tight up front. It is true that your position will improve after the flop, but I think that your overriding concern is that you may get raised before the flop with a weak hand. I take it that you don't use blinds in this game.


I have found that rotating who acts first causes confusion about who acts when. My suggestion would be to have someone call a game, and then deal an entire round of that game. That way, everyone is on equal footing so far as position is concerned.


I used to play in a home game that was mostly high-low stud and Omaha/8. To help compensate for the positional considerations in Omaha, we had the last bettor/raiser act first on the next round. I find this less confusing than rotating who leads, but maybe you're used to that. I always dealt high-low stud because it was my best game and I don't care much for Omaha. Positional considerations be damned. /images/smile.gif

In my opinion, I would use the flop or turn as your indicator. If you are 1 left to the dealer, treat it as mid-late/late position. My bet is that your game is very passive preflop, so you would want to take advantage of your excellent position on the flop and turn.


If your game is aggressive and people are raising lots preflop, tighten up but still play large suited connectors. You are going to have a lot of opportunities to use position on the flop and turn to maximize your draws.


Mojay