Now we are able to clearly define who sits in what position and categories those players in to Early, Middle and Late Positions, what is the real benefit to this? Well you might have come across the terms “Out of Position” or a player saying “I have position over you”. A player having position over you basically means that they will act after you. In poker when having position gives you the advantage of seeing what all the players before you do, being observant can be key to using position to your advantage.

Here are a couple of basic examples when using position along with observation.
If you have picked up on a player who will only raise Under the Gun when holding a pair of aces, you have position over this player and know to fold.

Or if you have noticed a player calls with low value cards when Under the Gun, you have position over this player with Ace King then not only do you have this player calling “Out of Position” but you could possibly entice them in to playing a pot out of position where they are an outsider.

That is just some basic examples of positional play, to take positional play to the next stage we will look at the types of hands you should play from the different positions.

Early Position Hands(NOTE: Ignore the actual suits, all suits are applicable to the hands displayed)

Middle Position Hands(All of the above hands)

Late Position Hands(All previous hands)

Let’s pick up with some basic examples of play based on the above hands and positions.
You are under the gun, the first person to act pre flop holding King Queen suited a middle position hand, it is irrelevant if you flat call or raise although from this position you should really only be coming in with a raise. A player who has position over you raises/re-raises, when the action comes back round, you will be in a dilemma. All of the Early Position hands have you dominated and many from the Middle Position have you in bad shape. It would be much better to fold this and any hands that do not fall in to the Early Position Hands.

Another example is you are the dealer, the last player to act post flop, with a pair of aces. A player in Middle Position raises, one option you might do here because you have position is flat call, or if too many players have come in to the pot you can re-raise.

The final example we will look at, you are sitting in middle position and flat call with ace five, the flop comes and an ace is shown. This hand could turn in to a heavy loss, a hand with ace six or better has you beat.

We have now covered the basic principles of Position and covered the basic advantages position has, good poker players change their styles and the hands they play dependant on the position they are in. It is important that new poker players pay attention to the types of hands to play in the different positions and be fully aware of the pitfalls, avoid putting yourself in a situation where you feel obligated to make a call when you are certain to be an underdog. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve deeper in to positional play, such as second guessing others play/hands, bluffing and how to play given certain actions of other players, however keep a look out as we will be covering these topics in the near future.