Poker Strategy

How you play and which positions you assume are quite crucial part of Poker strategy. Position is particularly important when playing in Pot Limit or No Limit games. Its importance grows when playing flop games such as Hold'em or Omaha since your position remains identical for each betting round. When placed in an early position, you'll have to act early in the hand and, thus, simply would not have as much information available as players in later positions.On occasions, you may call a hand when acting from an early position only to find the pot raised and re-raised after you from later positions. Therefore, you may be forced to fold a hand that you have already invested money into. If you act not on time, you know the pot odds you are getting on each hand and have the advantage of acting late in each of the upcoming betting rounds. As a result, you can use more hands when in a late position than when in an early position. Position is always a key factor to consider when deciding which hands to consider palying. In Hold'em, for instance you should play very tight when you are under the gun, which means you are first to act pre-flop, and add hands as your own position improves.

When the game is going loose and not much raising occurs before the flop, position doesn't have as much importance as when playing in a tight or aggressive game. This is so as you can now play drawing hands from an early position while remaining reasonably certain you will get the right odds and the pot will not be raised. If the game goes tight or aggressive, you should play very tight when in an early position.

It is best to have passive or loose players to your right and aggressive or tight players to your left. The loose players often call too many hands and give you better pot odds because you act after them and have a position on them. In effect, this position provides a greater chance to profit from the mistakes of others. Having tight players to your left will ever provide you an chance to steal their blinds and win post by betting into them with bluffs.