Understanding positioning in Texas Hold’em is one of the most important fundamentals for players.
Your “position” at the poker table refers to the order in which it will be your turn to act during a specific hand. As the dealer button moves, so will your position.
There are a total of three different position classifications in poker: early position, middle position and late position. Understanding what position you are in is crucial because it will drastically impact not only the way you play your hand, but also which hands you choose to play.
Early Position
There are four spots at a ten-handed table that are considered early position. The small blind position, the big blind position, and the first two players seated to the left of the big blind are all considered to be early position players.
These spots are called early position because these are players that will have to act first after the flop, which puts them under pressure since they won’t know what their opponents are going to do until after they have already made their own choice.
It is highly recommended that early position players stick with premium hands – such as the top ten starting hands – and avoid medium to weak hands as they have no idea whether or not someone in middle or late position is going to raise and make an already mediocre hand appear even weaker.
Middle Position
Three spots at a ten-handed table are dubbed middle position. These are the three players sitting to the left of the fourth player in early position.
Middle position players have the advantage of seeing the action taken by the early position players, and this will help them in their decision making. Because of this, middle position players can open up their range of hands a little bit to include smaller pocket pairs and hands like A-J suited.
Late Position
The final three spots at a ten-handed table are classified as late position, and are the players that sit to the left of the last player in middle position.
The final player in late position is the person with the dealer button, who is always the last person to act post-flop (as long as they haven’t folded, obviously).
Being in late position, especially on the button, affords players the opportunity to make well-informed decisions based on the actions of all the players that have had to act before them. This is why you will often see late position players enter a pot with medium strength hands.
Key Points
• Position = the point at which it will be your turn to act
• Position can hugely affect your game
• Player’s in early position should stick with premium hands
• Player’s in middle position can utilise weaker hands
• Player’s in late position can benefit from acting last and entering a pot with medium strength hands
Chris
- Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.
