playing in position

can someone explain why they say you can call bet or whatever second best or medioca hands when youve got position, i understand that your not betting blind but dont understand betting when you think your beat, or does it go something like this , early position say got 2nd pair so they check or small bet, me in late p see hes a bit weak and maybee got a chance at a better hand raise putting him on the defensive, i dont know can someone explain please.:toilet:

Play with position mean be the last one to play in a hand. But that doesn´t mean that you will play every single hand with anything. The difference of play in position is that you can make one of the most powerful move in poker: A raise. But you have to choose your spots carefully or you will loose tons of chips. If you feel that you are beaten just fold and save your chips.

Poker is a game played with limited information, and if you are in position you have more information on what your opponents are going to do.

If you are in early position you have to make decisions without knowing what your opponents are going to do.

This is also why the value of non-premium hands drops drastically with earlier starting position. For example, A5 on the button in an unopened pot is a great hand to raise with, but at a full table UTG it's nearly worthless because you have no idea what the players in later position will do. You might get 3-bet, or somebody might flat call with a better Ace and you're way behind and have no way to tell.

Having position does not guarantee that you will win the hand though, it's just one of many things you have to take into account. Also, don't make the mistake of playing garbage just because you have position, without other valid reasons for doing so.

great advise thanx

I agree with the reply about information. Being in position allows you to learn the most before making a move. Is the guy opening every hand out of position with just anything? Catch him in a bad spot by making 3 and even 4 bets because it's likely he has nothing to play with and position allows you to make such a move.

Keep in mind that the value of having position can be player-dependent. As a simplified example, say someone opens who you know will only c-bet on the flop if he has top pair or better, and who will never check-calls. You can call in position with a fairly wide range because you know that what to do on the flop will be clear as soon as you see whether he bets or checks. Otoh, if you know the opener's style is to barrel, your calling range should be tighter.

position is very important in poker, because when you are in late position, you can watch how the players act. if someone bets, and other player 3 bet you can sense these player has a very good hand, or maybe he is 3 bet light, so according to his style you can decide whether to call, fold or 4 bet with a very good hand.
Also after the flop, if you are involving in a hand with 1 or many players being the last one to act gives you information about villains hands.Thats extremely important because if you are in a dealer position and everybody checks if you bet no matter what you have, there are lots of chances that these players fold the hand, unless of course they are slowplaying or check raising.However positions gives you a very useful information that you can use to outplay your opponents.

This is also why the value of non-premium hands drops drastically with earlier starting position. For example, A5 on the button in an unopened pot is a great hand to raise with, but at a full table UTG it's nearly worthless because you have no idea what the players in later position will do. You might get 3-bet, or somebody might flat call with a better Ace and you're way behind and have no way to tell.

Having position does not guarantee that you will win the hand though, it's just one of many things you have to take into account. Also, don't make the mistake of playing garbage just because you have position, without other valid reasons for doing so.

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Agree with this.

I've seen other players play purely with position - rubbish garbage hands but because they're the last to act and have been observing the rest of the other players and pinning down their range, are able to exploit that information to their advantage. That plus their bet sizing makes for a lethal combo that can make even the guy with the best hand, fold.

Unless he's a calling station, fish, donk. Then... that's a different story.

With possition you have better information about other players in the hand, and you know better where in the hand is your foe, and if u are sure he has something a bluff can beat you raise and he folds, its better to bluff with position and play really carefull when you are not in possition.

thanx guys good info

Position is everything in poker. The more hands you play in position the better off you'll be. Since information is so limited in poker, you want to have as much of it as possible before you have to act. Position gives you such an advantage because you have more information when making your decision than your opponents did, because they had to act before you did.

betting on position isn't the best thing to do. experience has slammed me when someone ahead of me slow play their big hands. so be careful with betting with position.

sunburnt2k11 said:

betting on position isn't the best thing to do. experience has slammed me when someone ahead of me slow play their big hands. so be careful with betting with position.

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Of course this will happen sometimes. Perhaps you'd care to try to be more helpful by contributing your thoughts on how and why to be careful about betting despite having position.

I think of position as if I am in spot where I get to see what people do first that is good but I act first that is worse.

Being in a position, you can somehow widen your hand range and play those mediocre hands.
With regards to betting with position, most of the time its profitable but then again many considerations have to be followed before doing so. Poker is situational so you have to adjust as well. But then again, betting on position has more positive result.

Goodluck.