Hi guys! I need your help. I am missing something big and I don't know how to overcome this on my own.

I have been playing poker for 4 years on a regular basis. I have read close to a dozen books about poker (Brunson, Sklansky, etc). And I have finally realized I do not understand position. I keep on hearing how important it is, but I just don't see why!

Here's an example. I am playing a short handed game. On the flop I am heads up against another player. I was the pre-flop raiser.

Let's say I am OOP. If I bet - I could be c-betting with air. Or I could be value betting. The sole fact that I bet tells my opponent nothing. I am well capable of doing both - c-betting with air and value betting.

Now let's say I am IP. If my opponent bets - I may call with air, or I may call with top pair. My call does not really tell him anything. If my opponent checks - once again, I could bet my top pair, or I could bet my air. My bet still does not tell him anything.

I really can't see why position is so important. Please help me understand. After playing the game so long I want to get better and I feel importance of position may be something big I am missing.

It's all about extra information on what your opponent is going to do. Just like how in blackjack the dealer gets to wait for the action of all players before they act giving them an "edge" being in position allows you to observe all of the action and choose your course of action with the knowledge of what your opponents chose to do. Of course your opponent can check when they are strong but logically they should be betting when they are, you can never 100% know what your opponent has or why they are doing what they are doing but you equate their action to the logical reasoning (check = weaker betting = stronger) and play from there. Of course you take all other factors such as raising/calling/flatting/re-raising etc. pre flop into consideration and then put your opponent on ranges of hands and given the lines they take having to act first out of position you can further pinpoint possible ranges and then capitalize on your position by acting appropriately. It's putting your opponent in the position to have to decide what to do that makes position important they have to ACT and you get to REACT. Their action gives you possible insight into their hand and allows you to then better decide what to do.

Think of it this way - if your opponent raises and you call OOP on the flop what do you now do when you miss? Do you barrel into your opponent who is in position and is representing a strong hand due to his pre-flop raise? If you were in position and called his raise now he has to take into account whether he wants to c-bet because you showed strength calling and you get to see what line he takes. In the first situation you have to bet into him and he gets to react in the second he must bet into you and you react. In both scenarios neither of you know for certain what the other has but you must decide whether to bet or check. Knowing how your opponent reacted you can then react and put them on the spot again. That's the power of position.

playing in position is the best. I can't count how many times realistically I lose money from small blind position

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When you're in position, you have better control of the pot-size, because you get to act last. This means you can fold to a bet on a particular street (meaning you don't put any money in the pot unnecessarily, thus losing the minimum), you can call and close the action (there can't be a raise if you just call, as you just go to the next street), you can bet to make villain pay if he wants to stick around, or you can check back, either to take a free card or to get to a cheap showdown. Being able to check back the river in particular is especially advantageous.

e.g. Suppose you have TT on J62 and you know villain has KJ. On the flop, you'd rather not put any money in the pot, because you're losing and drawing to 2 outs. Ideally you'd like to see a free turn card. If you're OOP, you'd check, but you can't stop the BTN from making a bet. If he bets $10, the only way you can see a turn card is by calling the bet. It will literally cost you $10 to see the turn. Since you only have a 2 outer, you fold.
Now imagine you're in position. If villain leads for $10, you can just fold (and villain gets no value if he's ahead). If he checks, you can just check back and you'll see the turn card for free. Being able to realize your equity at a price of your choosing is very advantageous.

To switch the example around, imagine you're the guy with KJ and villain has TT on J62. If you're OOP with the best hand, how do you get your value? If you bet, villain just folds. If you check, he checks behind. There's literally no way to make villain put money in the pot, because when you act first, he folds to a bet and checks behind if you check.

Ok so he's not getting any information out of you OOP, but what information did you get out of him on the turn while you were IP? The more information you have, the more likely you should be to make a profitable decision

Let's change the example a bit. Suppose you're playing in a live low stakes cash game. You know your villains are only raising with JJ+, AK. They will only 3 bet with QQ+. So you start off with TT in the UTG. You decide to raise. A player in MP 3 bets you. You're not deep enough call to set mine so you decide to fold. Now if you were on the button, the MP would raise. The bet is smaller, so you can call with your TT and look at set mining. Instead of folding, you're still in the hand.

I don't think this is a great example. The advantage of position is information advantage. Position is no advantage at all if the cards are known already. How exactly would you get the opponent to put money in the pot if you're IP with KJ instead of OOP?

The advantage of position is information. OP, you say that you could c-bet with air or a made hand, so you are not leaking information. The problem is that there are hands you should take certain actions with, so if you take a one action the IP player knows you can't have certain hands. Even if you take incorrect actions to conceal information, you are losing money by playing those hands incorrectly.

Pre-flop has many obvious examples. If you are on the BU you have the advantage of knowing what everyone else wants to do before you except the blinds. If everyone folds, you know you only have to deal with the blinds. If you were UTG instead you have to deal with any one of the players behind you possibly having a big hand.

If you have KQs on the button and there is a raise a 3-bet and 4-bet ahead of you, you can easily fold losing nothing. However UTG you wouldn't have the advantage of seeing these actions yet and you would lose your open.

Guys, thank you very much for your responses!

The example wasn't great, but the informational advantage is overstated.
If two players have perfect information on each others ranges (like they would if you enter the ranges into a solver), why does the player in position win more money, more often?
Being in position allows you to realize your equity better, by playing a pot-size of your own choosing. You can literally check back to take a street off if you get the opportunity to do so. The player that is OOP can never guarantee a street will get checked through when he wants it to; all he can do is hope.

I like to simplify problems whenever possible.

The later your position, the wider a range you can play for a profit due to the number of opponents being lower, the more you get to value bet, the more you get to bluff, the higher your winrate will be, relative to earlier positions.

This is why I never put much study into postflop lines in the early positions. I focused mostly on shorthanded stuff cus that's the kind of poker that sparked my interest.

position is very important because you are the last person to act so you have infomation that you can use to make a bet or decide to fold the hand. also you can take advantage by making lots of c bets after villain checks because most times players are not going to bluff out of position so you are going to win many pots because you have good position.

I've only just got my head around position but it is very important.. saves you some chips in the long run!

Easiest way I understood it was in late position you are first to act pre, and all the betting rounds post you are last to act. So say if you have A10 and raise pre, get callers.. post flop they have to bet or check first, so say if flop is A 5 10 rainbow.. you hit top two pair and can trap players if they bet smallish.. just a call instead of doing a big sized bet if you were first to act and then getting folds.. early position you are first to act post flop and if the flop doesn't go your way, eventhough as you say you could just bet with air, its still an uncomfortable spot