The Importance of Table Position
Make no mistake about it – choosing the right seat in Texas Holdem is very important and can be considered one of the most vital decisions you make. Unlike its cousin 7-card stud, where the betting position will vary, in Hold’em the position stays fixed through out the entire play. This alone gives players a great advantage and it’s an advantage that gets overlooked far too often. If we were going to categorize or better yet prioritize the decision process before playing Texas Holdem, the first most important strategic move would have to be whether or not to play your cards. Coming in second as a high strategic priority would have to be which seat to take at the table. When it comes to playing any form of Poker, strategy far out weights any form of Poker skill – please don’t get confused; what we mean by this is you can teach a 5 year-old how to play poker. However, don’t expect that 5 year-old to come up with a winning strategy which could break the bank at Full-Tilt. Let’s really break down what it means to win especially if your still in the new fish category. More or less your winnings are a direct result of poor choices made on the part of your opponents. Although at first light there is really no way of knowing the exact skill level of your opponents, rest assured the answers will come eventually. It honestly makes no difference what level your skills are at with Texas Hold’em – the odds of being the best player at the table greatly increases especially when playing against weak opponents. Making the appropriate decisions based on the cards your holding comes down to quick answers. You either have a winning hand or you don’t. You are faced with either betting or not. The decision is somewhat simple – you will either pass or play. It’s a done deal with no looking back and probably for the best anyway. However, choosing the right seat at the table and most importantly choosing the right seat eventually becomes an art form and a sure way to win some serious money.
In order to fully understand table position with holdem, it’s best to familiarize yourself with some poker holdem terminology. One term in texas holdem, which refers to a type of player is the “Maniac”. The saying goes “Always sit to the maniac’s left”, but this only works of course, if you can sniff out whom the maniac is. This seat is also debatable because we can’t forget about the “Tight” or “Timid” player. Before making any decision its best to compare them and have a look at some of the oldest advice about table position.
The maniac is a type of player who raises every pot, he is also known as the loose, skillful or aggressive player. This player honestly believes he is the next Ivey. But, it’s your job to know better – in this case you should know he is just a crazy fool, AKA the maniac. Once you sniff him out, and as you can see it’s not to difficult, you want to seat yourself to the left of the maniac; this way you get to act after he does. By seating yourself to his left, when you do in fact have a hand and he raises, you can easily make it three bets. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a game where the players frequently call raises. Just remember that very few players will cold-call three bets without having a great hand. The fact is you personally can’t arrange the table, but if you want a sure way to win some money, try your best to get the loose and aggressive player to your right. The reasoning behind this is you want them to act before you. This way if you’re raised you can go ahead and release a questionable hand. Better yet if you can make three bets, you can kill off the bad ones leaving the strong hands. Besides, three-betting builds a nice pot and cuts down the number of players. By acting last after your opponents have either bet, checked or folded, right there you have acquired an advantage – this advantage being direct knowledge. Knowledge as we know in Poker is just another word for strategy. The bottom line is you want loose players to act before you do because you are then given the full advantage to trap them for at least two bets. If you had acted before them, you risk them folding instead of calling. Keep them loose on the right and tight on the left.