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Author : James Jackson
Article Written : 18th September 2007
Position is Important
Dealing with position in online poker is one of the more subtle aspects of
the game, few people care enough about to really understand. Then again,
even fewer online poker
players care about off-table edges like rakeback and cashback too,
which doesn't really make any sense, given the huge advantages they offer.
Anyway, all too often, people do things, which do not really make any sense,
and I suppose not paying attention to the fine details like those mentioned
above, fits into that category nicely.
While in principle it's fairly simple (early position is bad, late position
is good), there are far-reaching implications that your position at the
table will have on the way you win or lose your money.
Before we go any further down this thread though, let's make a few things
clear. When you are in one of the blinds, or coming up right after the
blinds, you're in early position. This means, you'll pretty much have to
fire your shots into the night as you'll be acting unaware of what the other
people at the table plan on doing. Whether those shots hit anything or not,
you'll only be able to see in the morning, that is, when the flop comes.
That's just not good-enough efficiency.
If you are in late position however, (you're on the button or on its
immediate right) you'll act after everyone else has already made his/her
move, so you'll basically have a clear target in your sight. This makes a
huge difference, and this is exactly the reason why a really good pocket
hand is worth less in an early position than in a late one.
You may argue that AA has the best pot equity no matter where it is, and you're
right about that aspect. Pot equity is only dependant on the cards that you
and your opponents have, and possibly the money that you've already
committed to the pot. What exactly does pot-equity illustrate? The odds of a
particular hand taking down a given pot.
However, the money-making potential of that same hand is seriously
influenced by position. The amount of money you manage to get into the pot
that you'll end up winning makes all the difderence in the world.
Let's see an example
If you were to play a small pair, would you prefer to play it defending the
BB, and facing a late position raise, or would you want to be the last one
to act? Playing this hand is simply counter productive. You just won't be
able to win enough money when you do land trips on the flop, to compensate
for all the money you lose when you don't.
If you do hit your trips, still, you've got nothing to be happy about. You
need to build a sizeable pot, to make it all worth your while.
If you're on a perfect hand (your opponent flops smaller trips than yours)
then, it's not a problem, but you do realize you cannot build a strategy on
the odds associated with that.
You'll be in an extremely precarious position because: If you bet into it,
or if you check and then raise, you'll pretty much blow your cover and scare
everyone out of the pot. If you check, there's always the risk that the
other players will check around too, and you'll end up with an empty pot.
If you check-call it, once again, you're showing too much muscle. A skilled
player will be on to you, faster than you can say "cheese"
Basically, the only reasonable thing you can do (depending on the
circumstances, of course) is check around, and hope for someone else to make
a move. If they don't, then you have to try to get someone pot committed on
the flop, in order to take him/her all-in on the river. That too, will be
pretty difficult to accomplish though.
Quite naturally, it will be much easier to build up a pot when you're in
late position, with your trips, and thus playing small pairs in late
position will be much more lucrative too.
I hope this example paints a fairly accurate picture of the difference that
position makes on the outcome of a session.
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