Poker Table Position

Position Overview

Position in poker refers to where you are sitting in relation to the dealer button and your opponents, the dealer button moves clockwise after every hand so that each player gets the chance to play all the different positions an equal amount, thereby ensuring nobody has an unfair positional advantage/disadvantage in the context of the whole game, it is possible, however, to gain a positional advantage over an opponent in the context of one hand.

In online cardrooms, the moving of the dealer button aswell as the posting of the small blind and big blind is done automatically by the poker software, the user has very little to do with the process. In bricks & mortar cardrooms it's more important to keep your eyes on the action and be ready to respond to it quickly, especially at amateur level cardrooms which don't have dealers and require the players to take turns in shuffling, cutting the deck and dealing. It's not at all uncommon for online players to struggle with position the first few times they try playing in a live game, typically forgetting to post the blinds and acting out of turn.


The best position to have in community card variants of poker such as Texas Holdem and Omaha Poker is the dealer button, this means you get to act last on every round after the pre flop betting. It is referred to as being 'on the button' and allows you to play a higher proportion of marginal poker hands than any other position because of your positional advantage.

The three seats to the left of the button are the small blind, big blind and under the gun, they are considered to be in early position because they are the first to act on every round of betting; before the flop action starts with the player who is under the gun and moves clockwise around to end at the big blind, on every subsequent betting round the action begins with the small blind and ends at the button; another disadvantage is the small blind and big blind must invest half a big bet and a whole big bet respectively. It is advisable to play only the best Poker Hands in this position.

The four seats to the left of the player under the gun are considered to be in middle position, they act after the players in early position and before the players in late position, normally the action is looser here than early position because there's less players still to act behind them.

The remaining three seats are considered to be in late position, these are the most favourable in terms of positional advantage, most if not all the field has already acted so you have much more information to work with regarding the strength of your opponents hands.

Positional Plays

Below are a list of positional plays and concepts that are worthy of consideration, both for using and looking out for instances where they may be being used against you.

Pot Opening

When nobody has entered the pot before you, you have the chance to open the pot for a raise. The advantage of this play is that it eliminates any 'first in vigorish' that your opponents might have benefited from had you folded instead of opening for a raise. First in vigorish is the value that lies in the possibility of your opponents folding to an opening raise, had you folded your opponents could have enjoyed the first in vigorsih advantage, but because you have already raised, your opponents have lost any first in vigorish they would have had. Opening the pot is likely to significantly reduce the number of players in the hand and improve your chances of obtaining information about the strength of your opponents hands, typically weaker hands that may have limped had you not raised will fold, leaving you facing opponents with stronger holdings.

Stealing Blinds

Two good examples of blinds stealing occur pre flop and on the flop. Pre flop, you are in late position and the action has been folded around to you, you open the pot with a raise with the intention of stealing the blinds; a more advanced spin on this play would be to raise from mid position with the intent of bullying a specific player who is in the big blind, this is more risky though. Post flop, there are 4 players in the pot and you are on the button, everybody checks and you make a positional bet with the intent of stealing the pot there and then because of the weakness that your oppoents have shown on the flop; overuse of this play will be easily spotted by observant opponents but it's well worth having in your arsenal as part of a balanced strategy.

Check Raising

Check raising becomes more of a positional move at an aggressive table because the likelyhood of another player raising is greater. If an opponent has shown strength before the flop and is likely to bet on the flop, consider checking initially with the intent of raising them afterwards. This move indicates a strong hand.

Limp Raising

This move is useful at a loose and aggressive table where a lot of players limp into the pot pre flop to try and see a cheap flop, but there are also pre flop aggressors at the table. For example, if you hold a very strong hand in early position and you know the opponent in the big blind aggressively defends their big blind from limpers by raising pre flop, then limp pre flop with the intention of reraising and isolating the player in the big blind, at the same time forcing the opponents that limped in between to fold. The downside to this play is significant; the worst case scenario is that many other opponents limp into the pot and the aggressive player that you had hoped would raise does'nt bother raising and you go to the flop with a strong hand that does'nt do as well against multiple opponents as it would against a single opponent.

Squeeze Play

When facing an aggressive opponent who you believe has raised with a marginal hand and one other opponent has called in between you and the raiser, making a sizeable reraise is considered a squeeze play. The original raiser is trapped between you and the caller, not knowing what the caller will do is forced into folding, the remaining player who called the original small raise folds too believing their hand is no longer strong enough to warrant calling a reraise.

Sandwich Effect

When facing an aggressor in a pot with many opponents, betting into the agressor can cause a sandwich effect whereby the aggressor is positioned infront of many active players still to act, the agressor would need a stronger hand than normal to continue because there are multiple players behind that are still to act.

The Gap Concept

A concept devised by noted poker author David Sklansky which states it takes a stronger hand to call a raise than to make one. Against a table of tight opponents it is possible to lower your raising requirements slightly in order to take advantage of this concept, knowing that your opponents will consider their hands too weak to call an overwhelming majority of the time.