winning poker strategy

The home team is always considered to have an advantage when it comes to wagering on sports. In poker, a similar boost goes to the player who has the positional advantage during a hand.
On a larger scale, the players who focus on making sure that they have favorable position as often as possible will have an edge over those who are less selective. The good news is that there are plenty of players who fail to focus enough on their position.
First, players who are new to the game fail to understand how big of a leak it is to call preflop raises out of position.
They also fail to understand the benefit of buying the button, and the importance of sizing their preflop raises to reduce the likelihood of having players call behind them.
Second, the large majority of players have been told that position is important, and they know it is, but when they are in the trenches they find themselves somehow justifying preflop calls that leave them out of position.
This article will help you to obtain favorable position at the poker tables as often as possible.

The Benefits of Position

When you are the last person to act in a hand you always have more information than any person who acted before you.
Your decisions are much clearer when you have position. If you make a bet from early position, and your opponent raises, it is not always clear where you stand. However, if your opponent checks from early position and then reraises you it is very clear that they have a real hand.
Having position also allows you to make positional raises and semi-bluffs.
For example, if your opponents check to you on the flop, you can make a positional raise with high fold equity. Because everybody has declined to bet, and calling would leave them out of position, they are not likely to call a raise without a very strong hand.
You can also bet your strong draws in position as a semi-bluff. By semibluffing you can either win the pot right there, or you can win a large pot if you hit. The bonus of a semi-bluff is that if you hit your hand there is a large pot in the middle, and your opponents will often be committed to call another bet.
Late position players also have the option to take a free card, whereas a person in early position must check and hope that the late position player does not bet.
For example, if you raise on the flop your opponent will often check the turn with a strong hand to pick off a second continuation bet. However, because of your position you are able to see the river for free, and have another chance to draw for the best hand.
Another option available to late position players is floating. Floating someone is when you use your positional advantage to outplay someone by taking the pot away from them on a later betting round. This advanced technique is used to attack weakness, and enables you to steal the pot from your opponent on the turn or river without necessarily having a strong hand.
In summary, late position players have so many options to work with in playing their hands. These added options are possible because they have more information to work with.

Disadvantages of Playing Out of Position

In addition to the benefits of having position, there are several disadvantages to playing from early position. In early position, your opportunities to bluff are severely reduced because of your position. You are essentially forced to play your hands for value.
While some bluffing is still possible it's far more difficult because you will be out of position on the next betting round if your opponent calls you. Why settle for one way to win, when you have two in position?
Another problem with early position occurs when you check. If you check in early position and your opponent bets, are they betting because they have a hand, or because you checked? It is often expensive to find out the answer. As mentioned above, in position you can make a positional raise, which means you hand that advantage to them when you call from out of
position.
Playing a drawing hand is always more difficult when you are not the last to act. If you check, your opponent's bet will force you to put money in bad.
However, if you bet and get called you may find yourself out of position without improvement on the next round of betting.
Worse yet, if you are reraised you either have to let go of the hand, or chase your draw without proper odds. When you do hit your draw your bad position will often limit how much you can win because betting out could
scare them, and check-raising is a dead give-away that you have a monster.
Probably the biggest problem with being out of position is hitting a weak hand that you believe is best. For example, there are three players in the pot and the flop is 2 7 9. You hold A9 and are first to act. Basically, in this type of situation seeing a turn is dangerous because there are very few turn cards that would allow you to proceed confidently.
When you do see a turn, it is more than likely that your opponents didn't connect. However, your poor position puts you in a very tough spot with little information to work with.

Securing Favorable Position

Despite the many problems inherent in being out of position, and the advantages of having position, many players find themselves justifying plays which leave them out of position. In order to always be in position, you must first acknowledge the importance of position, and to remember this at all times while you are playing.
A great man once said, "The three most important things in poker are: Position, Position, and Position".
When we are playing we make up these excuses to justify going into a hand without position, "Well, he's raised three hands in a row, so I'll call", or "Well, my King Jack is suited, I call". Worse still, you're not only going into the hand without position, you also don't have the lead.
Your opponent has two things going for them, position and the lead, and your only justification for calling is that you can't fold two face cards. Who do you think has the edge in a hand like that? So make some simple changes to your game, and remember that calling out of position is a much
bigger leak than folding too much.
If you refuse to play mediocre hands out of position, you will be guaranteed to face fewer difficult decisions after the flop.

Limping Preflop

When you limp preflop you encourage other players to try to see a flop as well. Worse still, if another player raises from behind you then you will be tempted by pot odds to play out of position.
With some hands it is proper to limp preflop, but with many you either want to take the lead, or wait for a better spot. Basically, you really shouldn't be limp/calling with any hand that you are not willing to raise with. However, if you must limp/call promise yourself before you make the
call that you will not play a big pot with just top pair and a weak kicker.
Break that promise and you just may break your bankroll.
It is therefore favorable to raise from middle position than to simply limp.
You have the chance to buy the blinds, and you also have a chance that you will only be called by players who will act before you. It also defines your hand, which helps you to define your opponent's hands.
So before you limp, ask yourself if you should raise to drive out the players who will act after you.

Buying The Button

You always want to size your preflop raises to ensure that you are buying the button. Buying the button means that all of the players who act after you fold, making you the last player to act on all streets.
For example, you are dealt Ace King, and there are two players who act after you (the cutoff and the button). A player before you limps into the pot. You make your standard raise of three times the big blind to stay
consistent with how you generally raise.
You just made a mistake. Now, the cutoff and button can call you for only three big blinds, and they each know that they have good position for the hand. Worse still, your bet wasn't big enough to represent any sort of real hand. You're about to play a pot against 3-5 opponents, and as far as taking the lead goes you didn't do a great job.
Strong starting hands lose a lot of their value as additional players see the flop. If one or two players check to you on the flop you can make a positional raise, and buy the pot even though you missed. With five players that play isn't going to work very often.
In the example above, you had a limper in early position that is probably going to see a flop with you. You therefore aren't worried about attracting callers because you probably have at least one. Also, the blinds get a discount - so one of them is probably in too. Raise at least 3-4 big blinds plus one big blind for every limper, if not more.
Use your knowledge of your opponents to judge how much you need to bet to narrow it down to one or two callers who you have position on. The button is the most valuable chip on the table. Always buy it when you have the chance.



Summary

To summarize:
1. Make a conscious commitment to play in position
2. Don't call preflop raises out of position
3. Avoid limping where possible, and instead consider trying to buy the button
4. Size your preflop raises to discourage action from players who will act after you
Using these techniques on a regular basis you will find that you are in position more, and that will translate into an edge over players who are often out of position more often.
In general, poker is a game of small edges, but this is a big one. Staying in position is one of the largest edges a poker player can have. However, most players justify not having position far more often than they should.
Practice perfect positional play and you will probably plunder plenty of profitable pots.