Benefits of early position

Alexeyss

Alexeyss

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Hi there folks, I wanted to ask if Im the only one who sees the benefits of early position play?

All books tell us playing from late position is the best, and playing from the button even better. Ofcourse I understand benefits like you get to know what other players did before you.

Nevertheless I see also benefits from early position play. It is for example a much better place to bluff in my opinion or to set traps like check-raising.

I am still learning about poker, but comment me your opinions about the pro's and con's of early versus late positions.

Thanks, Alexey :)
 
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bnasp2

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Its interesting that many people thinks the same, but all of them are newbies.
You must undetstand as fast as possible:
- you will need value bettin much-much more often then bluffs
- even if you bluff, how often you want to bluff with check-raise? You need good hand, good board PLUS opponent that will actually bet.

What you mentioned are features of early position, yes. But no way making it better then later position. Early position might be better against some types of opponents, but quite special ones.
 
Alexeyss

Alexeyss

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Its interesting that many people thinks the same, but all of them are newbies.
You must undetstand as fast as possible:
- you will need value bettin much-much more often then bluffs
- even if you bluff, how often you want to bluff with check-raise? You need good hand, good board PLUS opponent that will actually bet.

What you mentioned are features of early position, yes. But no way making it better then later position. Early position might be better against some types of opponents, but quite special ones.

Thanx for this message, it indeed makes sense. :)
 
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hffjd2000

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Actually, its hard to bluff when out of position.

Do agree though about trapping where cr is done.

Overall, late position is way better than early position. Weighing it, it has more advantages than the latter.
 
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Running Nose II

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You need a monster hand in early positions if you want to do this, and how often do monster hands turn up. There can be up to nine players still in the hand behind you just waiting for you.
Are you winning or losing with this strategy?
 
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AckLakCak3

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Where do you see value in betting with little to no information available to you? Of course, you want to play high pocket pairs from any position on the table. But your starting hand range should be much tighter from early position than from late position. You aren't stealing blinds from early position, there is the chance that you would be raised from early position, and all of these variables make post flop play much more difficult to be a profitable long term decision.
 
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CallmeFloppy

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Generally speaking it is much better to be in late position. In some situations it is nice to act first such as before a tight passive player as you can steal. The real money comes from playing position properly. Like Caro says, the money flows to the left.
 
koreano

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Alexey,

I agree with you in just a situation to take advantage in starting positions. The check-raise.

But the problem to run the check-raise is that you can not see the flop with limps. Here comes the need for you to have an interesting hand to get into that kind of game.

One thing I have noticed is that in cheaper tournaments usually end positions give check behind waiting for a bet on the turn to give the raise.

About bluffing, I find it very difficult to bluff you out of position.
 
danndourado

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If you do many check raises, it will be easy to read you. When you have premium hands and make some "slow" moves, everybody will know that you bluff your check-raise and slowplay good hands. Seem some easy to stove your game.
 
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Valerio Rodrigues

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Its interesting that many people thinks the same, but all of them are newbies.
You must undetstand as fast as possible:
- you will need value bettin much-much more often then bluffs
- even if you bluff, how often you want to bluff with check-raise? You need good hand, good board PLUS opponent that will actually bet.

What you mentioned are features of early position, yes. But no way making it better then later position. Early position might be better against some types of opponents, but quite special ones.

when i saw the post i thought the same... if the guys play just with new players, players who don't even think in study about, just that this guy can play better making this...
 
Greg Austin

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If you do many check raises, it will be easy to read you. When you have premium hands and make some "slow" moves, everybody will know that you bluff your check-raise and slowplay good hands. Seem some easy to stove your game.
This!!! check raise on the river is nice to trap someone for extra cake but decent players spot that move. I dont like to step out of position on a bluff, feels like pissing in the wind to me and its one of the main reasons why i hate AQ
 
quick

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If you have a strong hand and know your opponent is likely to bet out ahead of you and you have him beat you can check raise him. But as others said that's pretty exploitable if the opponent is paying attention over time.

At the micros online it's rarely a good idea to limp in any position because this trap check raise can fail and suddenly you have half the table on the flop with you. I almost always make a bet in EP with premium holdings.
 
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freestocks

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Early position is where I lose with queens. Raise a little, everyone calls. Raise a lot everyone folds. Be wary cawfull...
 
proud2Bwhack

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I like your thinking because it will lead you to new ways of thinking and make you a tougher player. If you are playing tight and raise UTG, people give you respect. I also remember Annie Duke saying if you are in the small blind with 3-5 people seeing the flop, all you have to do is check out and wait because someone will bet and you will actually be getting to act last from the earliest position!

just a thought here, if you are playing a small pair and only want to continue with trips, you can do that from anywhere position wise, and it is a great hand to trap with as well. check raising preflop against a loose button raise when you have a hand like AK is lots of fun too!!! :)
 
makisaa

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Because the early positions have the last word or bet to say in the game.
 
joker131

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how often do u have to fold from early position from a raise from mid or late in a 9 player. limping is no good and a small raise will get called by the big and small blind. keep reading the books
 
tocloc238

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I wrongly used to think that being out of position was an advantage, because I could bet first postflop (after missing) and get players to fold, lol. Expensive lesson, lol.
 
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Hi there folks, I wanted to ask if Im the only one who sees the benefits of early position play?
...
Thanks, Alexey :)

out of position you will always loose more mony than in position. espacially bluffing is very expensive.
 
Amanda A

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I do find there is a benefit in live games raising from early position as people give it more respect and tend to fold more hands after a raise from early position. I know late is better but I do think a raise in early position scares some people off so it has some power to it. Also if you have a really good hand you can always end up going all in after the flop and that neutralizes position for the hand.
 
BlackJesus

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Nobody said there were no benefits of being in early position. Its just that benefits of being in late position are better. Perhaps this is why poker is such exciting game - there are no such thing as just black or white, pure advantages or disadvantages. One shall master many aspects/positions to be able to go ahead in any situation and only in this way there are winners to be made :thrasher:
 
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the only advantage you get from playing with a raise from early position is that your opponets will tbink that you have a strong hand.. like AK AQ..
 
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AcesDJD

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Being in early position can be an advantage in the later stage of a tournament IF you are playing with tight fearful players who may never have reached this stage before. Often the first preflop bet that doubles or triples the blind will take down the pot unless another player has a premium hand.

In a cash it is almost always a disadvantage, and you don't want to be playing trouble hands KJ, QJ etc from early position, whereas in late position if only one or two players have come in you may want to raise with such a hand.
 
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Emma Hugo

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I must agree but it depends on your raise and can your stack afford it.
 
MattRyder

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From what I've seen, it's a disadvantage when playing low buy-in tourneys, especially early on, because you are going to get called/raised by many hands. If any of these other players hit ANYTHING on the flop, then your bluffy hand is going to see some pretty strong aggression post flop. At a minimum, they're going to hang in there till the showdown. If you continue your bluff post, it can get costly. It's also a disadvantage when playing against stronger players at higher limits since they won't let you get away with too many trashy early position bluffs. In other words, your bluffs are going to get raised a lot pre-flop, often by better hands.

I always prefer to be in late position. Unfortunately in a full ring game, you have to take the cards you're dealt in whatever position you happen to be, which is going to be earlier (rather then later) half of the time.
 
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