Seating Yourself at the Table: Late Position
In Texas Hold ‘Em the three main positions are “Early position”, “Middle position”, and our topic of this article, “Late position”.
Late position is the most advantageous position you can get in Texas Hold ‘Em. You’ll have tremendous advantages that you can use to (hopefully) prevail over the other players. Before we get too deep, let’s touch on the others so we’ll understand late position better and why it’s different from the other Texas Hold ‘Em positions.
Think of the players in terms of thirds. The first third are the disadvantaged players in early position. These players have to act (bet/call/fold) first, without knowing what other players have done.
The second third are the players in middle position. They are free of some of the disadvantages seen in early position, as they have seen a few bets, etc. But they don’t have the same level of advantages those in late position enjoy. They are pretty much smack in the middle, like the name suggests.
The lucky last third are the player(s) in late position (technically, it’s one player, but an argument can be made that the last few are in “late” position.) Late position is good to be in because one can observe other players before making one’s move. They observe more body language, they observe folds, checks, and raises, etc etc. Players in late position can play riskier hands, and can even steal blinds if all other players check. Plus, since players before the late position player will fold before his or her turn, the probability of holding a winning hand increases. For example, if one person out of four players fold, your chances of winning just went from 25% to 33.3%! You didn’t even have to do anything to get that winning bonus (isn’t that nice?)
So when you’re in late position, what should you do differently than in early or middle position? Well, for starters, you can make more informed bluffs. Since you’re able to observe most (if not all) of the players, you can look for subtle tells for weak hands. Raise and knock them out of the game (you villain you!)
You can also gamble more on non premium hands. While other positions depend on the best hands or good hands due to their playing position, you have a wider range of poker hands you can gamble on. Normally you wouldn’t have too much faith in a pair. But if everyone else is limping/folding, then that tells you they may not even be able to beat your high pair.
So no matter what position you’re in, just remember to adjust your playing style and you’ll walk away a winner more often. Good luck during your next hand of Texas Hold ‘Em!
