Texas Holdem Early Position
The UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2 positions are known collectively as “early position”, or “EP”. Because they are the first players to act preflop, their starting hand ranges need to be tighter, as there are several players left to act after them. What is table position in Texas Hold'em? If you take a close look at an online poker table, you will notice that the dealer button moves to the left after every hand. This allows for each player to put an equal amount of blinds into the pot as the game is played through each rotation of the dealer button.
Texas Holdem Early Position Drills
In order to be a skilled and, therefore, successful Texas Hold’em poker player, you’re going to have to play a lot of poker. Experience is everything in Texas Hold’em and separates the great players from the decent players. That said, while experience means the most, there are still standard rules and strategies to follow that you can learn quickly. Every skilled player knows these sure-fire facts and uses their experience to build upon them. One of the most important rules to learn is playing Texas Hold’emby your position matters. If you don’t know what this means, you need to keep reading.
Texas Holdem Early Position Calculator
If you’ve played enough poker, you’ve hopefully noticed how most no-limit hold’em hands are played heads-up after the flop. There is a raise, someone calls, then those two players play for the pot. Very often, no matter the type of game you’re playing, there’s going to be two players left by the time the community cards arrive. In these heads-up moments, it’s obvious enough to point out that one player will be in the correct position post flop and get to act last on all streets while the other will not be and, therefore, must act first.
Most good players play the vast majority of their hands in the correct position. This is because when it comes to starting hand selection, good players fold more hands when they would be forced to play from out of position and play out more hands when they are in position. This is because they know there are many advantages to their position post flop.
Position
The seats around a hold’em table are described as either early position, middle position, or late position. Early position refers to the players having to post both the small blind and the big blind and the players immediately following, depending on the size of your table. The middle position we be just that, the players who find themselves between the early and late positions. The late position is the seats that include the button and the few seats to their right.
Once you see the table and the number of players there, it becomes rather obvious. All you need is the starting point to know who is where. The button, obviously, moves each hand to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to play from every position. The best no-limit hold’em playerswill play most of their hands from that late position, few from the middle, and very little from the early position. Most players are net losers when playing from early position. Now the important question, why?
Free Cards
There are many times when playing drawing hands when you would not pay a price to get to the next post flop street. When you have position over your opponent, this changes. You have the opportunity to take a free card if your opponent choices to check to you while you’re on the draw, checking behind to see the next card.
You Control the Pot
Getting to play last on every post-flop street will help you control just how big or small of a pot you end up playing. If you wish to play a small pot and an opponent checks, you can check behind, and if your opponent choices to bet, you can simply call and shut down the action. If you are going for a bigger pot, you can simply bet or raise when the action comes to you. When you are out of position, you won’t be able to check and be sure your opponent will check and let you see the next card for free. You can’t bet and be sure your opponent will fold or only call you, either.
More to Bluff
Having position on an opponent is very valuable and can often time make up for having a relatively weak hand. When your hand is weak, but you’re position is strong, you’ll still be in the hand because by getting to play last, you have more leverage when trying to represent stronger hands. This translates into more chances to bluff when your opponents who is out of position demonstrates weakness by checking to you.
Know Your Opponent
This is probably the best and biggest advantage to having a position because you are able to know how your opponent is going to play any given post flop street before you have to decide how to play it. Because of your position, you are much more informed knowing that while your opponent can always be trying to deceive you, a check usually means they are not so enthused by the what’s happening on the board and a bet will indicate that the opponent has interest. When playing from a primeposition, a lot of strong players will use their opponent’s action as the main factor when deciding how to play each street.
One of the first and most important things to learn when playing Texas Hold'em is which starting hands are worth staying in with -- and which you should fold. Deciding whether or not those two down cards you're first dealt are playable is the most important decision in every hand because while you have to be in it to win it, you also can't lose money you haven't bet.
Since the two hole or pocket cards are the only things that will make your hand better or worse than any other players, it's important that they are good strong cards.
If you're new to Hold'em, begin by learning these two lists:
And play only the cards in the 10 best list and always fold the hands in the worst hands list. Doing this alone will improve your results.
But to really succeed as a good Hold'em player, you need to vary your starting hand selection standards depending on your poker position. Read more about understanding poker position if it's a new concept to you. It's important because you need to tighten up your standards in early position (such as the blinds) and can loosen up your standards in late postion (such as sitting on the button).
Here's a quick guide to what Hold'em starting hands to play in different positions:
In early position, only play:
- High Pairs: Ace-Ace, King-King, Queen-Queen, Jack-Jack
- High Suited Cards: Ace-King, Ace-Queen, King-Queen, Ace-Jack, King-Jack, Queen-Jack, Jack-10
- High Unsuited Cards: Ace-King, Ace-Queen, King-Queen
In middle position, you can also play:
- High Suited Cards: Ace-10, King-10, Queen-10
- High Unsuited Cards: Ace-Jack, Ace-10, King-Jack, etc.
- Middle Pairs: 10-10, 9-9, 8-8
In late position you can add:
- Suited connectors, such as 9-10, 7-8, etc.
- Small pairs all the way down to 2s
- Ace-littles: A-8, A-6
Now, this is not an absolute guide. Just because I say you can play ace-little in late position, that doesn't mean you always should. Almost none of the hands that I added for a middle or late position should be played if there is a large raise before you get to act, and definitely should be tossed if there are two raises in front of you. The reason the hands are more playable in later positions is precise because you'll have more information about what the other players are going to do, and if everyone's just calling or folding, there's a better chance that one of the second-best hands above is the best hand at the table.
All that said, this is a rough guide, and it also helps to be able to read the most basic of poker tells and pay attention to the other players playing styles (are they tight? loose? etc.) so you can guess what hands you might be up against. Still, if you stick to this what-to-hold and what-to-fold guide, your poker profits should grow.