Pre-flop Positional Awareness or The First shall be Last and the Last shall be First

When I agreed to do this concept I thought, ‘wow, this shouldn’t be too bad. It’s actually something I think I understand’. Like most things in this game, though, I realize I understand position just superficially. Just enough to be dangerous, I suppose.

Since this is, or should be, a learning forum I’m going to start my discussion with a basic overview of why position is important. Then I’ll follow that with some positional thoughts with regard to our pre-flop play. Now a lot of this may be pretty basic, but I wanted to do something that would benefit most levels of players we have in this forum. So, my suggestion for those who are further ahead in their poker education, would be to skim the parts that you already have a good grasp on. Then I hope you will find this a catalyst to explore some of the more advanced concepts that will come out in the discussion to follow.


Why is position so important? Well it’s simple really. The Decisions we make in NL Hold'em are based on incomplete information. If everyone in the hand has acted before we do, we have the most information in which to base our decisions. This information gain is why position is one of the most important (probably thee most important) concepts for us to understand.

For example say we have 33 in the cut off, and we raise and the button, a nitty short-stack, pushes all in. We have to fold and forfeit our original raise. Now had we known that the shorty was going shove we more than likely would have just folded our hand, but we didn’t have that information. Now reverse positions with the shorty and you can see we can easily dump our pocket threes following the raise without wasting a BB or four.


Pre-Flop Positional Considerations

Review of Table Position Terminology – At a standard nine person table we divide positions into four groupings. Early position (EP) consists of first two seat to the left of the big blind, UTG & UTG+1. UTG, short for Under The Gun, is the first person to act pre-flop after the blinds are posted and cards are dealt. Middle position (MP) are the next three position after EP. Most of the time labeled MP1, MP2 and MP3. MP3 is commonly referred to as the Hi-Jack seat. Late position (LP) are the two seats to the left of the Hi-Jack, the cutoff and the button. The final two positions at the table are the Small blind (SB) and the Big Blind (BB). If we play at a site the runs ten player tables then you add one more seat into EP, UTG+2.


1. How position effects the Hands we play – Generally speaking we should be playing more hands and playing them more aggressively as our pre-flop position improves. Money flows clockwise around the poker table, from the blinds to the button. So it makes sense for us to see more flops and take the initiative more when we are in late position. Save EP for hands that can take some heat.


2. Who are the four players around us – We should be aware of our position at a given table vs different types of opponents. However, I think we should pay the most attention to the two players immediately to our left and right. Why, because these players will be in the blinds when we are in LP, and will be in LP when we are in the blinds. We are going to be involved in a lot of decisions based on our reads and stats on theses four people. These people are the ones who we are going to decide to steal from and the ones we will be make blind defense decisions about. We narrow or expand our Steal/Defense range based largely on how these people play. For example, we are probably not going to be stealing from the button with any two cards when the big blind runs something like 30/15 and enjoys playing back at LP raises, but against a fit or fold 10/5 it’s a +Ev play. While we want to be looser and more aggressive, especially from the Hi-Jack seat to the button, we need to remember that the blinds, because of their forced antes, have the last say pre-flop.


3. Can we manipulate our post flop position? – We hear this called an ISO raise a lot of the time because we are trying to drive players with better position than us out of the pot so we can concentrate on one or two players who have limped. What we are trying to do is the classic raise pre-flop, take it down post-flop with a Continuation bet. What many people have a hard time grasping is that, like stealing, we can do this, in certain situations, with any two cards and have a positive expectation. The play can really be all about position and have nothing to do with the cards we actually hold. Now, I don’t advocate going nuts with this, especially since most micro tables, at least at NL25 and below, very rarely offer this spot. We need to start thinking like this more though when we have hands like 57s in the cutoff and it’s one or two weak/tight limpers to us and we are pretty sure the button/blinds will fold if we make a raise. This effectively makes us the button post-flop and gives us the initiative also, thus opening up several ways for us to win other than having to actually make a hand.


4. Punish those who open limp from the small blind – I’m now raising any two cards from the big blind against small blinds who limp in when it’s folded to them. Most of the time they just fold or fold to the flop c-bet that comes about 100% of the time.


5. If we have bad position change tables – This gets a bit into the last “Concept of the Week” but it’s worth repeating. If we have players to our right or left that cause us to change our pre-flop play significantly, especially LP play where we make our money, leave the table or try to change seats. Don’t let your ego get the best of you and try to beat the guy who keeps three betting your steal attempts. Let it go.


Well I hope that gets us started as I realize I'm probably just scratching the surface here. Please feel free to comment and add your own ideas.

Thanks,

Vimes

Nice read, I enjoyed making sure my thoughts were in line with standard thought.

I wish you would have delved a little further into the types of hands that should be played in MP and LP. Like I have trouble identifying if 67s is a better hand than an AT, and if that changes based on position.

nice basic overview! good stuff and good addition to the Concept Week

as for this 67s v AT...

67s > AT OTB v a normal EP raiser

AT > 67s OTB v a normal CO raiser

our positional choices can often times be based off of other ppl's position, and subsequently range change.

Nice read. This should get way more love once PS25G is over...

nice read man, position is great,
but being OOP can be really great too

(to hit up the first thing people can disagree on)

Maybe some HHs would have been nice for the up and coming players.

Nice post, I salute you Captain!

There are some standard rules about how to tackle a raiser against whom you have position. A solid and well-known one is the 5-10 rule.

The 5-10 rule: Against a preflop raiser against whom you have position, you should call with any decent speculative hand if the cost is less than 5% of effective stacks, and fold if the cost is >10% of effective stacks. Between 5-10%, you need to make a decision based on the guy you're playing, the range he is playing based on his opening position, if and how many limpers are between you and him, the likeliness you get called or reraised by someone (especially if they have position on you), and your own hand.

The following isn't necessarily poker lore, but are my own thoughts on it, so take it that way:

Terminology:
decent speculative hands: The best are, in order, lower pocket pairs (say 88-22, though some would include 99,TT in this), suited connectors such as T9s-54s, T8s-64s, Axs

The ordering is down to this reasoning:
lower PP: They either flop monsters (sets) or not, so are very easy to play from that point.

suited connectors (no-gap and 1-gap): If they don't connect to a solid flush/straight draw or 2-pair hand, easy to fold. note the change of a one gapper hitting is a solid percentage less than a no-gapper, but the 'hiddenness' of the hand makes it more profitable when it does hit, imo.


Axs: These are transparent, but can be profitable against an aggrotard, or a raised pot with several limpers. Keep the pot small if you hit the ace, a tight player's range will have a lot of bigger aces in it.

Other considerations are also how much other action there is, and where in the range of 5%-10% you are. For example if you are facing a tight raiser under the gun with a full stack of $10, and you have $7, and the cost is 60c to call him, your percentage is 60/700, 8.5% - pretty close to 10%. I'd probably still play the PP if it's likely to be just the two of us, but a fold is okay here too. If there's a limper after him, I definitely play the PP, and maybe the suited connectors. If there's more limpers, I widen the range to Axs.


You have to remember this is all for in position (typically the CO where you think the button will fold, or the button).


There are further variants to this, such as the 3-6 rule, where even more speculative hands like offsuit connectors, can be playable for <3% of effective stacks, and fold for >6% effective stacks, but decide if it falls between, but you should first get familiar with, and have firmly embedded into your game, the 5-10 rule.

Also, remember the likeliness of making money with this depends on the type of player you're playing (eg TAG/LAG/Maniac/calling station/rock), and THEIR OPENING POSITION.

Your implied odds go down some way for the same type of player if they are raising in MP2, say, compared to UTG, because their range is wider. Wide ranges mean it's harder for them to have a top-notch hand, and it's harder for you to put them on hands too - most important though is, when you hit, the odds of them having something they'll play back at you go down.


Opening position is often lost in these discussions.

Starting hands in NL Hold'em are topic best left for another thread and are not the main focus of what I'm wanted to do here. Besides it would turn into an argument since everybody plays a bit different.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for adding this! I remember when I first signed up for this thread wanting to include this in the discussion but somewhere in the 65 hours weeks I've been working this got lost. I have not been thinking about poker much in the last three weeks and I think it shows.

I meant to say 'opening position of the first raiser', but that's implied in the text.

Nice work Capt!

Quick note:: In Colin Moshman's HU book, he quotes Harrington/Robertie as giving the player IP a 2 to 1 edge in a hand.

During my first reading, the bolded part I highlighted struck a nerve. I did not include the next line about "don't go crazy" in the micros but feel it is very important to overall understanding too.

The bolded part comes under the heading "Let's Make A Move". And I am firmly in the camp with a move Harrington makes in HOH1 when he picks up pocket kings. He talked about how he was going to move in on the two players in front with any playable hand and was very delighted when looking down to see KK.

1. He had decided BEFORE seeing his hand that he was going to move BECAUSE his position and table image would allow him to take advantage of the two players in the pot before him.
2. His decision was MOSTLY predicated by whether he had a playable hand or not. You all can have a differing range of "playable hands"....that's OK. But the underlying principle is "Garbage is Usually Garbage".

Which brings me to Baron Adams... RIP. We had a discussion not too long ago based on pre-flop positional advantage and Baron pushed the envelop by saying essentially that we can bully any two cards (ATC) as long as we had position and the right opponents in the pot already.

That thread was eventually locked as it started getting slammed with personal attacks due to Baron's....... in yer face attitude. I (and you too Capt) continued the premise in THIS THREAD.

I think we all came to a conclusion that garbage is garbage BUT....... position is SO powerful, even a hand like 94o can be played for a profit in the hands of a maestro.

One more link for us to use as a study guide..... Tien's 6Max Fundamentals. In this thread he stresses positional awareness and positional aggression. Don't be thrown off by the 6Max in the title. The principles outlined in his thread have helped many a FR player.

Well, I think pos is great but at the micro's it's really not profitable to make plays in LP

people can't even fold mid pair there, it's straight forward to the bone

irritating at times, when you know you have to play straight forward alltho you are totally card dead

In that case position is a bit overrated imo, but in other cases position is crucial

Very nice post Capt..

Great start to this week's CotW!

I'll add:

Having position gives you more options in the hand. The other player in the hand is attacking from a point of weakness, and you are sitting in a position of strength because you get to decide how the hand will be played out. You can use the threat of a big pot and make a raise or take a more passive line and just call. As the player with initiative who is betting OOP, you don't have those options. It is much easier to have a wide range when you are in position, which is why you have more options and why you should be making more money when IP vs OOP.

Sorry if that's totally incoherent, I just got up like 10 minutes ago. Hope my point comes across.

Good post