[TomHimself]

No matter where you look for poker advice, everyone always stresses position. However, I feel that many people still don’t truly believe the power of position in no-limit hold’em. In my opinion, position is the single most important thing to consider while you are playing hold’em. Errors in handling position correctly can be very costly to a player’s bottom line. About two weeks ago, I sat down with Taylor and reviewed many of my Poker Tracker stats. When comparing these stats to Taylor, I noticed one major leak in my game. I was playing too loose out of position, especially from the blinds. This was proving to be a costly error to my overall results.

People often unknowingly play loose from the blinds. They rationalize calling a raise by the fact that they have already invested chips in the pot. However, this is faulty reasoning. If anything, you should play extra tight out of the blinds. While you have already invested chips, you should not let that affect your decision. It may slightly increase the pot odds, and that is something to consider at times. On the other hand, the slight increase in pot odds is more than offset by the disadvantage in position. Your main consideration should always be the cards you are holding and the position you will be in for the remainder of the hand.

It is very hard to play marginal hands out of position, especially against experienced players. If you are playing against a player you consider a good player, you need to be even more aware of your position. The players who act behind you will always have the added information they gained by your actions to help make their decisions more effective. I myself will often look to steal pots away from people who play a hand weakly out of position. I use my late position as an advantage to win extra pots. Doing this also creates a loser table image for me. By playing aggressively and stealing from late position, I increase my action when I do play a hand in early position. When I enter a pot from early position or call a raise from the blinds, I often have a very strong hand. The fact that people see me as a maniac player due to my late position play really pays off for me in early position. For instance, I would raise A8o almost every time on the button in an unraised pot. Conversely, I will most likely fold A8o under the gun. A8o is certainty a reasonable hand, especially at a six-handed table, but playing it out of position proves to be too difficult. By playing a hand like A8o out of position, you are setting yourself up to have to make difficult decisions. Making marginal calls or bets when you are the one in the disadvantageous position often results in a money-losing situation.

Attacking from late position is a great strategy in no-limit hold’em. It is very important to be aggressive and apply pressure to the table. Nevertheless, it is imperative to not overdo this aggression by raising or calling with marginal hands out of position. Always think of your position when you are playing a hand. Use position to your advantage, as a good player should, rather than letting it be a downfall in your game as it was in mine.

written by online player muddywater