tips on playing from a good position

I've been playing poker for about 2 years (mostly online but some home games also) and i always hear about the importance of playing cards in position but I for some reason cannot seem to grasp the concept lol. I can see how playing cards from a good position that I wouldnt normally play can be an advantage but i seem to have trouble picking the right spots to play marginal hands. Can you guys please help me with this?!

If you ask any player what the best position is in poker, the answer will probably be the button. Why? You are the last to act postflop, you are in perfect steal position preflop, and you can get into the pot with more marginal hands than in any other position. Players that open up the pot with a raise from under the gun usually signify a big to really big hand. Make sure that you are both aware of this, and use it to your advantage if you think your table image is good enough to steal from first position.But other than that , I've always played my cards the best I can , no matter what position you're in ,if u aint got the balls , well..u know..

Basically what Pokerkid said about position plus you should change your hand requirements for limping, raising and calling raises depending on your position.

Eg. your are in 1st position with 88, limp and fold to a large raise in front of you. Late position with 88, limpers behind you, or all folded around to you then a raise is more appropriate depending on how the table is playing. If for example you raise and all the limpers called, then that bad news for 88 unless you catch another 8 on the flop. And therefore only make late potition raises with very good cards, and limp with those marginal cards instead.

So blend position and the style of the other players for making judgements.

Position is very important. I'm playing $0.01/$0.02 ring games these days and most of my profit comes from playing position.

If you flop a monster it's hard to extract maximum value from the hand if you have to bet into someone. If you bet first on the flop either he's going to fold or if he has a piece but is not that strong might just call. But how much can you bet that he is willing to call with his holdings?

If you have position on him, then you can let him do the betting or wait until he catches something to get paid off for your hand.

Another thing if you preflop raise with position and catch a caller or two, then most of the time your opponent is going to miss the flop. Most of the time you are going to miss the flop as well, but your continuation bet will take down the pot. If you don't have position then your continuation bet is going to get raised or called, in which case you are going to be done with the hand unless you improve on the turn. Of course sometimes you'll get check raised in which case you'll just toss your hand.

That's why you can raise with such a large range of hands from late position. As an example, let's say I have 87s. This is a hard hand to play from early position. You can limp in and hope you don't get raised and hit a big flop, or you can raise and hope you don't get reraised and hit a big flop, but basically with any kind of resistance you are going to have to toss this hand. From late position though, you are going to have a much easier time playing it. If there are any raises before you act preflop, you'll just toss it. If there are only limpers or it's folded to you, you are going to raise. If you catch any callers and get a good flop texture, one that's likely to have missed most hands that players might be calling a preflop raise with, and they check to you, then your continuation bet is going to take the pot down most of the time. If you do flop a big hand, two pair, straight, flush, or a big draw, then you are more easily able to extract maximum value for your hand when you have position. You'll be able to get a better idea of how much people like their hand by the amounts they are betting and you'll be able to judge how much they are willing to pay you off with. If you are betting into them, then you don't have an opportunity to judge what size of a bet might get called. Say you bet half the pot into someone and they call. Maybe they would have called a pot sized bet too?

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Here's a basic guide for cards to play and in what position:
http://poker.about.com/od/strategyad...demhands_2.htm

A quick Google search for 'Poker position' will find plenty of other more detailed strategy guides.

Over the past year or so of playing online and at home, I have finally somewhat learned what an advantage/disadvantage table positioning can be, especially being short stacked and having a decent hand but there are already players who have raised and if you call...well you're all-in, and hope the flop is with you lol (if it is then awesome!). If you decide to let the decent hand go and wait until a better one comes then you're risking blinds kicking you in the behind as well.

Still learning...but lovin' it!!

Another good search is "starting hands". That will find various tables of starting hands. Implicit in these is the concept of position. Be careful though, read carefully what a particular table applies to. A table for 6 people fixed limit will say very different things from a 10 player no limit table. Amd even then, you should regard them as no more than a guide, your stack, the blinds, the other players, the other players stacks etc etc are all things that modify how you play. Tables are just a useful starting guide, but at least they give you a feel for the types of hands to play, and how to play them, and feel is more important than specific hand values because of all those other factors.

I've made a post here archy.
I think watching these Pros play through some hands would help you in understanding 'position'.

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Personnall I don't really pay attention to position in a tourney until after the first break. For me position doesn't become important until the blinds are 100/200 or 150/300. At that point usually I want to know what people are doing (especially the big stacks) before I make a decision to play or not. But early on I completely ignore it because chances are 1/2 the people at your table are ignoring it too. This of course applies to the tourneys I play---$10 or less MTT usually 1000 entrants.

Cash games are different. Position rules all. Especially when you got a couple all-in fenatics.(did I spell that right)