Poker Position
ISSUE #5 - An Introduction to Position 3
Ok Folks,
The boss has spoken. He wants more advice and less drivel in the
column (what’s the difference you may well ask). He just doesn’t
care about whether my fridge was empty at the end of January...
So what if my 5 year old daughter couldn’t go to the cinema
to watch Peter Pan ? What’s wrong with a good game of noughts
and crosses ? Exactly. So, here’s probably the minimum I can
get away with on the subject of ‘position’.
'Position' is just plain common sense. The further you are
from the Big Blind, the more information you have. It is commonly
believed that having the best position is always being in
last position. In fact, my mate Brad who has an IQ of 180, insists
that being last to speak is always the best position to be in. It
is in fact one of the few statements he has made that is completely
incorrect, wrong, short sighted simplistic rubbish…but for
the time being we will assume he is right.
Let’s assume that we have all been good boys and girls, and
we are sticking to Fixed Limit Hold’em at bet365poker ...no
bigger than 50c/$1. (I know that No Limit is more fun but patience,
patience, patience.) Ok. So you are first to speak after the Big
Blind, commonly referred to as ‘under the gun’. You are
looking down at AJ. Nice hand…No, not in this position. There
are 9 players who haven’t acted yet. 9 hands that may contain
a pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings, Aces, AK or AQ. All of which, you
don’t want to play against. And, should you raise from this
position, all the hands that you want to play against, JK, JQ, J10,
A10, A9, will probably fold to your raise. The bottom line being
if continuously play AJ from here, you will lose money in the long
run. Difficult to believe ? but true…honest guv, I’m a
poker player.
OK. So we are now sat on the button. Le position perfecte. You
look down at AJ. Nice hand…well maybe… Lets say. The man
under the gun raises, the next player re-raises, and the ultra tight
Miss Rock of Gibraltar, I only play Aces, next to you has capped
it. Do you want to play your AJ now ? No, of course not. But the
point is, you have found out that you don’t have the best hand
without putting a cent of yesterdays winnings in. If you had raised
under the gun, and then had to fold, you would have wasted 2 bets,
$2, half of Sian’s entrance fee to watch Peter Pan.
OK. So we are now sat on the button. Le position perfecte. You
look down at AJ. Nice hand…well maybe… Lets say. The man
under the gun folds, everyone folds and the regular limper in with
A 2 to your right, limps in. Now of course, we want to raise. The
guy to your right didn’t raise, so he can’t have a better
hand than you. And there are only 2 hands (the small and big blind)
behind you. A very small chance of there being a better hand than
yours… If you get really lucky, the Big Blind might fall in
love with his J 9 and call as well. The flop comes down Ace high
or Jack high, and they will probably bet and call your raises all
the way to the river.
So the moral of this week’s story is that AJ under the gun,
is errr… a fold I’m afraid. Ok, well A 10 or A 9 is anyway.
Ok that’s all I can cope with this week, but if you are really
keen maybe we will talk about the positional advantages for bluffing
at a later date, why my mate Brad is wrong, and why Brad is famous…(Yes
he does exist. He is not my fictional friend. Oh, what a beautiful
mind.)
Dave
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