Seating Yourself at the Table: Early Position
In simple terms, your “position” refers to your seat’s proximity to the dealer. In general terms, as far as actual positions, you can be in Early Position, Middle Position, and Late Position.
Early Position can refer to several players – the person right after the dealer bets first in all rounds but the first, so he or she is almost always considered “early position”. However, the player to the left of the big blind is in early position for the first round. In Texas Hold ‘Em, Early position is usually considered to be a disadvantage, as they have to act first.
Here’s why early position is considered to be so bad: in a nutshell, you don’t know what your opponents are going to do! It’s like setting up a game plan for an unknown opponent in an American Football game – what if you set up a gameplan that is heavy on pass defense, but the opponent favors the run – you may be in some trouble.
It’s the same in Texas Hold ‘Em. Sure you can guard against some strategies, however it’s better to observe your opponent’s moves and adjust your strategy instead of guarding against the unknown. If Cactus Pete has pocket aces and is going all-in, well, it might be good to know that before you make your opening bet. But if you are in early position, you can’t do that. And, of course, your opponents in later positions have plenty of time to observe your moves. Cactus Pete is going to take your opening feeler bet because you just didn’t know he was going to bet huge right away.
Bottom line: When you are in an early position, you don’t know if someone is going to tip you off to a good (or bad) hand. Sometimes the whole table may get a bad starting hand and not call. Because nobody called, they gave away the secrets of their bad hand and gave the late position an incentive to bluff (which is a good way to steal the blinds. Hey, every little bit helps, and free money is nice!) But you can’t really do that at an early position unless you start with a very strong hand.
The best strategy to keep in mind is to consider your hands differently in different positions. All hands cannot be played the same in different positions. Stronger hands are generally needed in early position, while a person in a later position could perhaps take more chances on a weaker hand.
Good luck, and may you draw those pocket aces the next time you’re in early position.
