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Today we will talk about poker positions.AS you know (or maybe not) poker position is very important for the game.
There are following positions:
- Early position Small blind (SB)
- Early position Bing blind (BB)
- Early position Under The Gun (UTG),
- Early Position 2 (EP2)
- Middle position 1( MP1),
- Middle position 2 (MP2),
- Late position HIJACK(HJ),
- Late position Cutoff (CO)
- Late position Button (BTN)
Your position at a poker table is referred to by many different terms. There are five specific terms that are commonly used to describe a specific position in relation to the button, illustrated below.
"Dealer", "Dealer's Button", or "Button": This is the best possible position since the player will be the last to act on the flop, turn, and river.
"Under the Gun": This is the first player to take an action preflop. This player is to the left of the big blind. Being under the gun is considered to be the worst position in holdem. In its defense, it is a lousy position, but a player under the gun will actually have a better position post-flop than the blinds.
"Big Blind": This is the player to the left of the small blind unless the game is heads-up.
"Small Blind": This player is directly to the left of the dealer's button unless the game is heads-up.
"Cutoff": This is the player to the right of the button. It is called the cutoff because that position often "cuts off" the dealer's ability to steal blinds by betting.
"Hijack": This is the player to the right of the cutoff. At a full table it functions a lot like the cutoff position.
It should be noted that when play is heads-up, the player on the button is the small blind and the other player is the big blind. The other unnamed positions are commonly referred to in relation to the dealer's button or the player under the gun, whichever is closer. The player to the left of the player under the gun might say he's "To the left of the gun" or "Under the gun plus one".
Another way that position is described is by the terms "early position", "middle position", and "late position". These terms are often abbreviated "EP", "MP", and "LP". Players in early position are some of the first to act in a betting round, like the player who is under the gun. "Late position" players are some of the last to act in a betting round, like the cutoff seat and the player on the button. "Middle position" is naturally the players in between. These terms are often used when the table is full with nine or ten players. Once play gets down to a few players, it can become confusing to describe what middle position actually is.
Here is a list of the main Starting Hand categories:
Big Pairs
Pocket Aces (AA), Pocket Kings (KK), Pocket Queens (QQ), Pocket Jacks (JJ),
Medium Pairs
Pocket Tens (TT) through Pocket Sevens (77)
Small Pairs
Pocket Sixes (66) through Pocket Twos (22)
Suited Aces
Ace Ten (ATs) through Ace Two (A2s)
Suited Connectors
e.g. Ace King of Spades (As Ks), Jack Ten of Hearts (Jh 10h)
Unsuited Connectors
e.g. King of Clubs, Queen of Hearts (Kc Qh or KQo)
Suited Un-connectors
e.g. Queen of Diamonds, 10 of Spades (Qd 10s or Q10o)
There are good hands, and there are bad hands. There are hands that play well
with others, and hands that want to play alone. In almost all the Limit Hold’em books,
the “experts” say to only start with the top hands. That being AA, KK, QQ, AKs, TT,
AQs, AJs. If you only play these top hands, and play them correctly, you will take down
more pots, and win more often.
If you are waiting and waiting for those
BEST hands, eventually, the blinds will dig into you. What you need to recognize, as a
good player, is what a good
hand looks like. Or, more importantly, how much it is worth
Here are the rankings of the hands:
Group 1: Hands 1-5: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: Hands 6-10: TT, AQ s, AJ s, AK, KQ s
Group 3: Hands 11-16: AT s, KJ s, AQ, 99, QJ s, KT s
Group 4: Hands 17-24: 88, QT s, A9s, AJ, JT s, KQ, A8s, AT
Group 5: Hands 25-42: K9s, A7s, KJ, A5s, Q9s, T9s, 77, J9s, A6s, QJ,
A4s, KT, QT, A3s, K8s, JT, A2s, Q8s
Group 6: Hands 43-51: T8s, K7s, 98s, 66, J8s, A9, K6s, K5s, A8
Group 7: Hands 52-68: 87s, 97s, K4s, Q7s, T7s, K9, J7s, T9, 55, Q6s,
Q9, K3s, J9, A7, Q5s, A5, K2s
Group 8: Hands 69-84: Q4s, A6, T6s, J6s, A4, J5s, K8, Q3, 44, T8, A3,
J8, Q8, K7, A2, K6
# of hands Frequency NOTES
Hands 1-24 11.3% Groups 1-4
Hands 1-42 20.0% Groups 1-5, 1 in 5
Hands 1-51 24.0% Groups 1-6, 1 in 4
Hands 1-68 32.9% Groups 1-7, ~1 in 3
Hands 1-84 43.9% Groups 1-8, almost ½
There are only a small percentage of hands which are good enough to call a raise, but not good
enough to re-raise with. Get into the habit of folding marginal‘raising hands’when there is betting action ahead of you,
or when you are one of the first to act at the table. This will save you a lot of
chips over time.
Four Biggest Reasons to Play in Position:
When it's your turn to act, you have more information than your opponents.
Position gives you "bluff equity," meaning simple, cheap and effective bluffing opportunities.
Acting last lets you make more accurate value bets.
Having last action gives you control over the final pot size.
Early (EP1 – EP2) - Big Pairs, Medium Pairs and Suited Connectors (AKs through 98s)
Middle (MP1 – MP2) - Big Pairs, Medium Pairs, Suited Aces, Suited Connectors (AKs through 76s), Suited and some Suited Un-connectors (AJo through JTo)
Late (HJ,CO,B) - Big Pairs, Medium Pairs, Small Pairs, Suited Aces, Suited and Unsuited Connectors, Suited Un-connectors
It's easy to see that there are just far more hands that are playable on the Hijack, Cut-off and Button. That's where newer poker players should concentrate their efforts.
See you soon and GL on the tables!
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