Table positioning [where to sit]

When I play poker with my friends, it's a lot different then on the internet. There a player who raises a lot ( and plays good) and some medium skill players and 1 (maybe too) tight player.

What's the best position i should sit at table?
Should I sit directly behind the best player so i always have position on him?
This way i can always act directly behind him. But is that a good thing, cause when i suspect he might be bluffing and i want to call with a mediocre hand I have all these people behind me (who can re-raise). So do i sit before or behind him ? Table is mostly 5-7 people.

What do you guys think?

If you hav to pick one, there's no way you want the good player to have position on you, take his left. The best case would be across from him, that way you don't get into as many pots with him. He's in EP when you're in LP, etc. But of course if it's shorthanded that's not as easy. You definitely want position on him though.

Dont worry about the best player, you're trying to spot the fish and get position on him throughout.

Generally, you want tight players to your left and loose players to your right.

There isn't a real way to get position throughout, as the button moves the position will move. However, having a tight player on your right arm is ideal in most cases (as stated above).

wow, alot of conflicting opinions here. not really sure who is right and i myself would love to hear some more in depth responses to this question.
I have my opinions on this, but thats it. So i hope you get some deeper insight
I like the finding the fish response best myself, but i would still like to see a solid answer or at least a majority rules kind of thing for where to sit according to the best player at the table
GL

FYP.

Loose players on your right so you can punish their limping or playing to many hands while having position on them post flop.

Tight players to your left so you can steal their blinds.

There are other reasons too, but this is simple explanation.

In a little more depth and in ideal situations:

You want the loose/reckless players with large stacks to your right. You have position on them more often, get to see their actions first, and when they make a big mistake you get paid off!

The tight/weak players with short stacks to your left. You can steal their blinds more often without much resistance, you will be out of position, BUT if you do make a mistake it won't cost you as much...

Hope that helped some. Again these are IDEAL situations so its not likely you will be able to find tables with these exact specifications. Just an optimal standard to judge tables against when you are about to sit down.

In live games, when I have a seat choice here is my criteria. I choose the 1st seat that meets the highest criteria

1) I want to sit on the left of the player that I think will provide me with the largest amount of $$

2) I want to sit across from the 'best' player at the table if this player is hugely better than the other players.

3) I want to sit to the right of the 'rock' at the table.

I love having position on good players and dont mind giving up position to a bad player because I can usually bluff them.

Since i started the topic, i'll tell u guys what i usually do. Since the (too) loose player raises so much, i usually sit in front of him, trying to get a read on him. But I'm not that good at reading yet .. I once had a tell and it sure paid off. (it was a big pot he raised a lot but i kept calling with middle pair). In my experience loose players like to bluff a safe looking flop with ace high. Sometimes i cal and call and then he rivers me an ace and he gets paid off.
But thats just bad luck. It happens.

Normally I find it more relaxing sitting to the right of tight players but loose players i don't really always know how to play them.

Anyways, thanks for the replies guys

i like sitting to the immediate left of the loose-aggressive player

There are to ways to look at it, the general theory is loose player on your right, tight to your left, but as someone else posted...I don't mind sitting to the right of a loose aggressive player, largely because by sitting to the left of them it can take away the ability of letting them do the betting for you when you hit big....of course they may still lead out at you but the chance is much greater if he/she sees you're playing tight that they'll fire at it if you're first to act and check. I actually prefer to have the stronger players to my right because I want to be able to take away their position on me in cases where I might want a free card or am trying to read them....almost always in a live game I will ask myself after a short while at the table who the one solid (not weak) player is I least want to get mixed up in a pot with and will eventually if a seat opens move to their left if I'm not already there. Since I go by the theory there is no such thing as a good loose aggressive player its fine if their to my left.

Always sit to the left of the most dangerous player at the table. This gives you the advantage after the flop.

But if he's dangerous it's going to be tough to exploit him, even with position. You want to be across from the good player, although if you have to pick left or right pick his left. You want to be far away so he's in EP (where he'll be playing not many hands) when you're in LP (where you play most of your hands) and vice versa. Rocks you want on your left, loose players you want on your right, and shortstacks you do not want on your left, because this prevents you from opening as wide as you will get shoved on a lot more and not be able to get implied odds from raising SCs and such.