Position is your place at the table in relation to the dealer button, which in turn dictates when you have to act during a hand. At a ten-handed table the three players to the left of the blinds would be counted as being in early position, the three next to those would be middle position and the last two would be in late position.

So why is position so important? Ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Doyle Brunson once famously said he could beat the majority of his opponents heads-up, even if they were dealt a pair of aces every hand as long as he had position on them.

Poker is a game played with incomplete information, meaning players have to make their decisions based what they know at any one time. The more information they have, the easier it is to make the correct decision and one of the ways information is gathered is to observe whether a player calls or raises.

Being seated in one of the latter positions at the table allows you to win pots you probably would not have if you were seated anywhere else. If you are sat on the button and everyone folds their hand around to you, you stand a large chance of stealing the blinds by raising with a wide range of poker hands. You can also make a bet or raise when the community cards have been dealt if your opponents have shown weakness. You can even represent a hand stronger than the one you actually hold as you get to act after everyone else has.

Conversely, you can also save yourself chips by folding out hands you would otherwise have played. Imagine for example you are seated immediately to the left of the blinds, known as being under-the-gun and are dealt a pair of fours. You decide to limp but by the time the action gets back to you there has been a call, a raise and a re-raise. You now fold you small pair, without seeing a flop and after investing money into the pot.

Now imagine the same scenario but this time you find yourself in late position. Again, there is a call under-the-gun, another call, a raise and a re-raise. Now you can safely fold your lowly pair of fours, knowing you are almost certainly a massive underdog. This time you have not put any money into the pot. Saving the odd bet here and there can be the difference between a winning session and a losing one.

In the last couple of decades, a lot of players have turned to professionals and strategists like David Sklansky. He has given us what is widely known as the fundamental theorem for the game. This is general knowledge, available in all of Sklansky’s books.

Basically, this theorem states that you gain if you play your hand as if you could see the opponent’s cards and you also gain if the opponent plays the cards differently than he would if he could see your hand. The bottom line here is that a player should not only play his hand based on all the information available on the table, such as up cards, but should also make an effort to determine what the opponent has, based on how he plays his hand.
A few basics of strategy are possible here, though we have to tie some of them to particular games to make them clear. Every player should understand the concept of card odds, no matter what the game. For instance, in Texas Holdem Poker – if you have two hearts in the hole and the flop (first three cards on the board) contain two more hearts you need only one more to make a flush.

Your playing strategy should be based on the chances of you getting another heart. The odds in this case are about 2 to 1. How do we determine that?

There are 13 cards of each suit. You can see four hearts, which means there are 9 more somewhere in the deck. In our simple example, you subtract the five cards you can see from the 52 cards in the deck. This leaves you 47 cards unseen. Nine of these will help you and 38 won’t. The card odds are 38 to 9 or about 4 to 1. You have two chances to get another heart so you divide 4 by two and get 2 to 1 card odds we originally mentioned.

Your decision to stay in the hand should compare these odds with the pot odds you have in front of you. Again, this is just a simple example but if it will cost you $10 to stay in and the pot will contain $20 that is 2 to 1 and you should stay. If you have 2 to 1 card odds there will be few times when you shouldn’t give it a try. Of course, if the pot has $40 in it, that’s 4 to 1 for your money. Stay in.
That is poker strategy, in its simplest form.

Other key elements of poker strategy include raising instead of calling if you are the first player to act in a round. If you have good cards, such as A-K or a pair, your strategy should probably be a raise. This can eliminate a player or two and give you a better chance to win. It also signals others that you are serious about staying in the hand.

Other elements of poker strategy include bluffing, which is the subject of books and classes. This strategy is intended to get opponents to fold a hand that might be better than yours. Good poker players also consider position at the table in their strategy. If you will act last in a hand, you have a lot of information about what other players are doing before you have to make a decision.

There is much, much more to poker strategy, some of it specific to certain types of poker. Learn as much as you can about the game you choose and develop a solid strategy. The best way to practice poker strategy is to play on Poker Sites.

Sooner or later you are going to be in a SNG tournament or a MTT and you are going to be sitting somewhere from the button to the BB and you are going to have multiple players that are pushed all in ahead of you. If you are looking at a stack where you are covered by most or all of the players that have already pushed, you are going to have to let this hand go. The time to do this of course is when you are on the bubble. It may be difficult to do, but if you want to make the money, this is a golden opportunity to slide right in there with absolutely no risk.

Let’s say that there are 6 people left in the tourney (of a SNG) or there are only 2 positions left to go for the money in a MTT and you are on the button. Everyone has started the tournament with $2,000 in chips and you are sitting at $1,200 and you are in the BB. Under the gun pushes with a short stack of $1,000 and next position immediately pushes all in with $4,000 in chips. The next player also pushes in and has $2,100 and the button also pushes and has $2,400 in chips. If you double up, you would be looking at $5,800 in chips, but you have to get through 4 hands to survive.

Before you rush and just throw those chips in there, start to break down the hand and really figure out where you stand. In most cases, the short stack is going to be sitting on some type of pair. The big stack will more than likely be looking for isolation and would have two high cards or a pocket pair. The third and fourth players in almost certainly have a pocket pair. Best case scenario, you are looking at three pocket pairs and AK or AQs.

While you are still the favorite on the poker table, your percentages go dramatically down every time someone else puts in their chips. You are not going up against only one hand here, you have to beat all of them in order to be alive. For arguments sake, let’s assume that they all have a pocket pair. At pre-flop, you now have 8 cards that can beat you in the deck. That means that you are actually a severe underdog to the rest of table as any one of those 8 cards can beat you and send you to the rail.

While the ‘technical odds’ have you much higher, AA will really only hold up about 70-80% of the time. In this situation, you are better off dropping the hand and letting other players get eliminated. You can actually make the money right there if the big stack wins, but either way, you are going to be a lot closer to the money and in no risk of being eliminated.

This is not an easy play to make as most people will rush to get their chips in the pot here. However, if you have the discipline, you are must better laying down the hand and letting everyone else go to war. We all know you will get sick to your stomach if the AA holds up, but you can be assured that in most scenarios, it is more likely to go down that it is to win that hand. Take solace in knowing that you made the right call.

First thing’s first: there are a few basic advantages you can secure without ever playing a single hand of poker. Take rakeback for example. Don’t know rake back is? Read around, stay informed. Be the guy who reads, and not the one who follows the pack blindly.

Sign up for a rakeback deal like the Absolute Poker rakeback or the Full Tilt rakeback and get about 30% of your rake back. Once you understand how poker rooms take their rake, you’ll understand why rakeback is so important.

Similarly, when you hit the table and you get down to actual play, you need to keep reading. If you do that, you’ll become a reasonable player within an amazingly short period of time.

One of the basic concepts that make a difference between reasonable players and suckers is starting hand selection. Another such concept, possibly an even more important one, is that of the position. Texas Holdem Poker is a fixed position game, which means certain players will enjoy an advantage over other players, simply on account of the position they have at the table. Here’s how position really works. The dealer button is the point of reference when it comes to position. Because the dealer button moves around the table in a clock-wise direction with every hand, nobody will be stuck in a certain position for good. You will still be able to secure lasting advantage over an opponent by sitting down on his immediate left, because that will mean you’ll have to act after him most of the time.

Anyway, here’s how the positions are allotted in relation to the dealer button. The person sitting on the left of the dealer button is the SB, the guy on his left is the BB. Except for the first betting round, these are the people that will act first on every street.

The position on the left of the BB is called Under the Gun. He is the guy who has to act first in the very first betting round. These are all early positions which force the players to act blindly and thus to lose value on their starting hands.

The best position to be in is the button. The button is the last to act on every street. The cut-off is a late position too, which carries the possibility to foil the blinds-stealing plans of the button. As far as the other positions are concerned: the closer they are to the UTG the worse they are.

Here are some of the strategic advantages that late position offers you at the poker table:

- If offers you numerous and cheap possibilities to steal blinds and to bluff.

- It offers you information in the form of reads which you’ll be able to deduce from the betting patterns of those who act before you.

- Value betting properly will be a cinch from late position.

- You’ll have control over the size of the pot. This is probably the most important advantage that position offers you: it gives you control. Most of the advanced strategy moves require that you have control and your success rate sky-rockets every time you’re in control in a hand.

- Your starting hands gain additional value when you’re in late position.

If you need an illustration of how position works in poker, take a look at the hand histories of the durrrr challenge. You’ll see an obvious trend surfacing: both players (Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius) have logged most of their winning hands while in position. They both lost more when out of position.

Given the fact that these two are currently among the best cash game players in the world, this statistic should say plenty about the importance of position in poker.

Let’s get the time that it is not good to throw your chips in on a draw. Let’s say you see a flop that has 2 cards to a flush and your hole cards are suited. You fire out a bet and someone comes right back over top of you to put you all in on a call. What do you do here? Odds aside, you have to let the hand go. You are going to see arguments for both sides of this, but the bottom line is that this is not a cash game. You cannot re-buy and you are risking everything pretty much knowing that you must improve or you are gone.

On the flip side of that, you get the same flop but hold position on the other player. He fires out and you are short stacked and decide to come over the top of him and go all in on a draw. This is actually a good play. You have two ways to win this hand. Your opponent could fold thinking you already have the made hand and of course if he calls, you are still alive with a 35% draw. The difference in the two situations is that you are being the aggressor and putting someone else on a decision.

Finally, you can also make this call when you are stacked and not in danger of putting yourself at risk by covering the bet for the all in. In most cases, you don’t want to risk any more than about 25% of your stack and you have to make sure you are getting odds for the play. You are going to need to see about 2:1 to make the call off of the flop and about 5:1 to make the play on the river. If the odds are there, make the play.

Draws are great when you catch them, but they are way to overrated and lead to a lot of early deaths in tournaments. A good way to keep your head straight about it is to remember that you can always push on a draw, but you should never call on one. You only need a chip and a chair to stay alive. Putting your money in on a hope and a prayer will more than likely get you to the rail rather than to the final table.

Many very skilled veterans of the sport never even see the light of day when it comes to professional poker; meaning there are hundreds upon thousands of players who have been more skilled than you that never made it big time. This doesn’t mean however that you won’t have a chance; but the first step to improving your game is overcoming your plan to bath in a gold plated bath-tub and swim in a sea of money.

Most players that start out in the world of professional poker live on the very bottom; sometimes scraping their last bit of life savings just to get another round of cards in. Professional poker buy-ins are very big deals these days with some starting off over $200,000. Who exactly out there just has $200,000 dollars sitting around available to use in order to jump into a game they are uncertain of winning?

Especially considering the times; practically no one does.

Needless to say; you will never know how skilled you actually are at the game until you jump into a professional career even if only for a short period of time. It should be noted that poker is up to chance; meaning even if you are a profitable player, or skilled enough to bring in a profit, chances are a majority of the time you will end up empty handed. This means all players need to make sure they have a bankroll that can compensate for losing over a long period. As with most anything out there you need to anticipate the future; if you anticipate losing and have enough cash to back yourself up then you will be golden.

It is a rare feat to enter the professional world of poker and win in your first few games; if it does happen most of the attributing factor likely would be beginner’s luck which in turn is rare. That does not mean that if you are skilled enough you can’t pull in a win the first time you hit a professional grade poker table, but it just means that more than likely you won’t. In other words, don’t go there expecting to win.

It is important not to get discouraged by a loss either. Even in the peon games you played outside the professional world you lost sometimes as well; that is life. Take a hit and keep going, especially in the professional world where you will take many big hits that could certainly knock even some of the greatest potential players out.

With that said in some instances you won’t be required to put even a cent down to make it big-time. That more specifically involves satellite poker tourneys. These tournaments are hosted by professional poker vets and offer the chance to play in the pro world to those who win the tourney. Sometimes satellite tourneys are free and at other times they include a small buy in; either way they equal a great chance to try your hand at making it to the big time world. Most satellite tourneys are difficult because they have a maximum amount of individuals who are allowed in which exists in great numbers. This in turn means you will have to play a very lengthy tournament in order to even come close to the final table; which in any event won’t ensure you win the entire tournament. This provides a great way to test yourself under pressure however because these exact odds are the type you will face in the professional world.

Only the first place winner takes home the gold.

Yes of course figuratively speaking this is wrong; second third and even many places down take home money as well in different tourneys but the biggest bankroll given always lies with the first place winner. Second place winnings and down often isn’t enough to make back what time, effort and money you put in the game; in some cases you may not even make back your buy in.

The place to shoot for then is first; which means the odds are completely stacked against you especially in a tournament listing over five-hundred accepted applicants and players. The bigger tourneys include higher stakes and more people; and the scary thought is that all of those people are considered pros and not just the usual lackeys you’re used to being up against at a regular casino table.

Life in the fast lane is tough; but for those who are there they claim it is very worth it. So I declare to those who like to shout how much skill they have at the game of poker; give the professional world a try.

Just keep a mindset that a good majority of the time you will lose and be prepared; that way eventually when you gain enough experience to hit your big-time streak you are in the positive because you prepared yourself for a long haul of losses.

The big problem in this situation is that the player mentioned above was not aggressive enough. Had they made a larger bet pre-river or even sooner than chances are the opponent would not have made a choice to stay in. While it is certainly true that you always want to play a good hand as far as you can to get the most money out of it; winning some money is always better than none. In this instance above the player was not aggressive enough, therefore the opponent pulled ahead. When you are playing veterans, and professionals there is no way to win unless you play aggressively; they will always pull ahead of you when given the chance.

Every poker pro out there plays very aggressively; even the stingy players who love to moderate their betting. They pick the right times to throw out their chips, and when they do they usually put most of it on the line. The main point to keep in mind however is that being aggressive is not the same as being reckless; and this point is what separates the poker duds from the poker studs. Poker pros are always aggressive, and they always use aggressive play styles and strategies, but they are anything but reckless. They never throw down too many chips on a hand they know is weak; even at time when it may seem strong and they never go all-in unless they are completely sure of a win. Course, unfortunately in the game of poker sometimes there is almost no way to tell if you’re holding an absolute hand or not but that is exactly what drives the game and makes it exciting. Even the pros sometimes miscalculate and go all-in on a play where their opponents certainly have them beat. The main difference between those pros and the novices is that they rarely do make those mistakes.

Don’t be reckless and throw out all your chips with every good hand you have. Chances are that if you’re opponents are keeping up, or are even betting than they have you beat. On the same note you can’t be considered aggressive if you attack with a bet every turn of the flop and then fold pre-river because you get a whiff of danger. The key is giving your opponents the appearance of recklessness while you remain reserved and careful.

Poker is all about deception; it’s been said before and will be mentioned many times more. Learn it, and use it to your advantage. When you sit down at a poker table put on a costume; what I mean by this is that you should become something you’re not. If you act like you’re one type of player, than no opponents will be able to guess how your hands are actually being played. Trick all those opponents into thinking you’re the player that throws down chips recklessly with every hand you’ve got. They’ll never expect a winning hand when you throw one down, and even when you do they’ll attribute it to luck because they really won’t be able to tell that you’re a skilled player. Consider it the same as hustling while playing a game of pool. You never want the opponent to know you’re excellent; until it’s too late that is.

While your costume is on however it is important to remain aggressive. When you have a good hand, go for it; don’t hold back. Chances are you probably will pull in more cash going at it with all you’ve got than if you were to limp it along after every turn of the cards. Don’t be afraid to throw down enough in order to push your opponents out of the round; thus using their fear as an advantage. In many cases you’ll still get a good amount of their money and chances are, the longer they stay in the more of a chance they have of throwing down a hand that beats yours.

Remember that a 25%, 50% or even 75% stack bet however is still aggressive and an all-in call is not always needed to scare off opponents. That small amount of chips left in your stack keeps you distanced from being too reckless. Always leave an exit route while being aggressive; just in case. If you’re too aggressive and you lose a hand at least you’ll still have cash to go on instead of being knocked out completely; unless of course, you throw it all out.; and it’s safe to say, never do so unless you are absolutely sure of a win; never.

Playing aggressively like the pros and vets of the sport is certainly the way to go; just remember to check your reckless alter ego at the door. While you’re at it, toss on that silly pimp costume you’ve been meaning to try on and trick all your opponents into thinking you’re something that you’re not.