A Debate Over Position

Back when I started playing poker in public cardrooms in Washington state in the early 1990s, one of the concepts that intrigued me was the importance of position. This was a topic frequently discussed among the experts in my local $1-$3 stud eight-or-better game. Within this group, the consensus was that if they wanted to play position, they'd be home on the couch in front of the television. As I learned more about the game, though, it became clear to me that my position relative to the other players in the hand was one of the most important considerations in how I played.



The question was recently posed to me on the website pokerprosvsearth.com regarding whether position is a more important consideration at a full table or in a heads-up game. My opinion is that position is more meaningful when the table is full. However, I'm sure there's a fair number of players who will disagree with me on this. I am going to present my case by giving some examples in which position is more relevant when there are more players at the table.



The later your position at a full table, the more you know about the relative strengths of the hands that are out there. For example, if you hold A-J under the gun with six players yet to act, you don't really know how good your hand is. However, if you have the same A-J on the button, you have a much better idea of where you stand by the time the action gets around to you (if there is a raise in front of you, you will often want to fold; conversely, if everyone has passed, you can raise). So, the fuller the game, the better the information you gain preflop about the hand strengths that are present by being in late position. When playing heads up, hand values have significantly less meaning preflop, so for this specific reason, position is unimportant.



After the flop, you gain much from being last to act in a multiway pot. Assume there are four players in the pot. When you have the button, you can much more accurately gauge when you have the best hand, and can bet, and when your hand is trailing, so you can fold. This isn't going to matter too much when you hold a monster hand (which is one reason why you will typically want to play only very good hands when out of position), but it sure makes your life easier when you hold something fragile, such as second pair or even top pair/weak kicker. When out of position, you are likely to give some disastrous free cards by checking when your marginal hand is in front, or to be betting the worst hand should you decide to fire some chips into the pot. When you are last to act, you are more equipped with the right information to make a good bet to protect a weakish holding, and some good folds that preserve your stack when the action in front of you indicates that you are behind.



Heads up, it is true that you can bet your marginal hands when your opponent checks, and fold at times when he bets into you. However, unless he is a real moron (these guys do exist, fortunately), your opponent certainly will be aware that you will be bluffing on the button fairly often (or at least betting some very marginal hands), and he will counter this by check-raising or at least calling you down with some mediocre hands.



My point here is that you won't gain the same degree of information when it is checked to you on the button in a heads-up game as you will in a multiway situation. It is this information that makes position so valuable.



One more thing to add here is that when you are heads up, you can bet much more liberally when you're out of position. This applies both to making value bets (betting marginal hands that figure to be the best hand) and to bluffing. The reason for this is that your lone opponent is unlikely to be holding a very good hand himself.



The check-raise offsets the button's advantage. Although it is used frequently by early-position players in a full game, and is probably the best weapon you possess in poker when out of position, I would contend that the positional advantage in a heads-up game is damaged even more by the check-raise opportunity presented to the other player. Against an aggressive button in a heads-up game, the out-of-position player can simply check it virtually every time, and then check-raise (with or without the goods). Having the lead in the pot is very important when heads up, as it is common for neither player to have a hand that he is willing to "show down." So, the last bettor wins quite often, and it doesn't much matter whether this player was first or second to act.

I am interested in hearing from the other side of this debate. Please e-mail me at [email protected] with your thoughts, and I'll try to incorporate them into a future column.