Poker Table Position Strategy

When you refer to your position at the table, you should think about the place you have in the poker room relative to the player that is the dealer for that specific hand. If you are the dealer for this hand, you find yourself positioned last to bet, so your position is the best as you can see everyone's reactions and bets before you make up your mind.

The player that has to bet the small blind is the player situated in the left of the dealer and after the pre-flop betting he or she will be the first to bet from now on.

The player that has to bet the big blind is the player situated in the right of the dealer and after the pre-flop betting he or she will have an early position. This position, as the small blind, is an obliged position, which means they cannot fold in the pre-flop

The player that has the position situated to the left go the big blind has the first action when cards are first dealt. Because the bets are placed in a clockwise motion, the ones that have to bet or decide later are the ones that are in late position and they are the one that have many advantages. They can think and see what everybody else is doing before acting and place bids accordingly. They can even gamble a little if the odds tell them too. They are most likely to lose less and they most certainly are the most confident players at the table.

The early positions presented above must select their hands carefully, if they have clearly a bad hand and they can fold they should do it. They have no privileges when it comes to decide the actions, so it's better if they are more careful than the late positions. Let's just say you are the first player to act, meaning the player situated to the left of the big blind. And you have these two cards: a ten and a Jack of different colors. The player right after you raises the bid, and all the other players in the games decide to give up and they fold. And now, you cannot change your bet, now you are being left alone with that player that stands a big chance of actually having a good hand and there is nothing you can do.

But, thinking from a different perspective, if you are the dealer you can clearly see how all they others are betting and also estimate the value of the pot and adjust it if necessary. If a dealer raises after a bet, all the others must act again, and is they betted once it is quite possible to do it again and maybe even again until the dealer is satisfied with the size of the pot.