The question of a player's position at the poker table is something that should never be underestimated.
Where you're sat in relation to the Big Blind should have a huge influence on how you decide to play your hand.
Yet all too often the question of position is ignored (most notably by new or inexperienced players) who end up effectively handing over their hard earned chips to their competitors without a second thought.
In poker, the person who is able to act last has a big advantage over their rivals.
That person is able to estimate how strong his hand is in relation to his opponents based on how the other people at the table have acted.
In an ideal world, we would be able to sit in the final position for every hand of a poker tournament.
Unfortunately though, that's not going to happen.
As we all know, action at a poker table rotates in a circular manner meaning that for every occasion we find ourselves able to act last, there will be another occasion where we are going to be sat in the first seat trying to decide whether to bet without any information about our opponents' hands at all.
This is why we need to be aware of where we are sat in relation to the play and adjust our game accordingly.
Generally speaking (and in the absence of any other information), players should be a lot more conservative when sat in an early position.
For example, trying to decide what to do with a marginal hand like an A 10 becomes very tricky when you're the first to act.
The sensible thing to do would probably be to muck this sort of hand.
After all, with so many players left to make their move, the chances are that someone has a better hand than yours.
You may try to limp in or maybe go one stage further and bet out to see where you stand, but again with so many other strong hands likely to be out there, all it needs is for someone to raise or even re-raise the pot and you're going to be forced to throw the hand away ...
by which time you'll have lost a few extra chips.
However, this kind of situation changes greatly if you're in a late position.
When you've seen a raise and a re-raise before you, you're able to fold your hand easily without wasting those chips.
To take things one step further, if you've seen people folding and quietly limping in before you, then you can start building a bit of confidence in your hand and even consider making a raise of your own, seeing as no one else appears to be showing much faith in their own cards.
Either way, these decisions become a lot easier when you've been able to see how the rest of the table has responded to a situation.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that you're going to play your hole cards the same way no matter where you're sat at the table.
Even if you're dealt an obvious raising hand such as a pair of Aces in the hole, bare in mind that where you're sat gives you different options when it comes to playing them.
When sitting in first position for example, you have a great opportunity to encourage a large pot to be built.
Therefore, with so many people left to act, you may consider just calling the Big Blind and then coming over the top of any raisers.
When you're last to act with a pair of aces, you will probably choose to raise straight away to reduce the number of players who are looking to catch a lucky card on the flop.
Position is not a complicated concept to come to grips with, but it's one of the fundamental rules of playing solid poker.
It only takes a split second to think about where you're sat but, when applied correctly, position will help to preserve your chip stack.
Where you're sat in relation to the Big Blind should have a huge influence on how you decide to play your hand.
Yet all too often the question of position is ignored (most notably by new or inexperienced players) who end up effectively handing over their hard earned chips to their competitors without a second thought.
In poker, the person who is able to act last has a big advantage over their rivals.
That person is able to estimate how strong his hand is in relation to his opponents based on how the other people at the table have acted.
In an ideal world, we would be able to sit in the final position for every hand of a poker tournament.
Unfortunately though, that's not going to happen.
As we all know, action at a poker table rotates in a circular manner meaning that for every occasion we find ourselves able to act last, there will be another occasion where we are going to be sat in the first seat trying to decide whether to bet without any information about our opponents' hands at all.
This is why we need to be aware of where we are sat in relation to the play and adjust our game accordingly.
Generally speaking (and in the absence of any other information), players should be a lot more conservative when sat in an early position.
For example, trying to decide what to do with a marginal hand like an A 10 becomes very tricky when you're the first to act.
The sensible thing to do would probably be to muck this sort of hand.
After all, with so many players left to make their move, the chances are that someone has a better hand than yours.
You may try to limp in or maybe go one stage further and bet out to see where you stand, but again with so many other strong hands likely to be out there, all it needs is for someone to raise or even re-raise the pot and you're going to be forced to throw the hand away ...
by which time you'll have lost a few extra chips.
However, this kind of situation changes greatly if you're in a late position.
When you've seen a raise and a re-raise before you, you're able to fold your hand easily without wasting those chips.
To take things one step further, if you've seen people folding and quietly limping in before you, then you can start building a bit of confidence in your hand and even consider making a raise of your own, seeing as no one else appears to be showing much faith in their own cards.
Either way, these decisions become a lot easier when you've been able to see how the rest of the table has responded to a situation.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that you're going to play your hole cards the same way no matter where you're sat at the table.
Even if you're dealt an obvious raising hand such as a pair of Aces in the hole, bare in mind that where you're sat gives you different options when it comes to playing them.
When sitting in first position for example, you have a great opportunity to encourage a large pot to be built.
Therefore, with so many people left to act, you may consider just calling the Big Blind and then coming over the top of any raisers.
When you're last to act with a pair of aces, you will probably choose to raise straight away to reduce the number of players who are looking to catch a lucky card on the flop.
Position is not a complicated concept to come to grips with, but it's one of the fundamental rules of playing solid poker.
It only takes a split second to think about where you're sat but, when applied correctly, position will help to preserve your chip stack.
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