In this online poker free training lesson we’re going to look at the best ways to take advantage of being in late position. Late position is when you are the dealer in a hand, also known as being on the button, it is, for sure, the best position to have in in Texas Hold Em poker.
This is because you act last in all but the opening betting round and everyone else has played their hand before you have to make decision whether to check, call, raise or re-raise.
When you are in late position as there is no raise behind you are able to call with any pocket pair between 2 and 7, and you can raise with 8’s or higher. Any 2 big cards can be called, but keep in mind that if you play hands such as K and J you will need a good flop right away since AK or AJ on the table will trash your hand.
In addition you can play any suited connectors as low as 4. Suited cards with one card gap in them such as 9-club and J-club can be played, but don’t stay in with lower than 7 and 5 suited. Remember, always play cards such as A and 5 suited delicately by realizing if A does flop then the kicker may not be effective.
However, while you’re in last position, and there has been a raise or maybe a re-raise before you, then it’s essential to review your cards correctly; don’t purely stay in due to your position.
A key part of being in late position is that you can try to bully from it, this can be really dangerous but only when used selectively. This is because if the other players begin to notice that you bully with marginal hands, then they will adjust their play accordingly and will set you up for a fall.
Plus, if you button bully all the time it does become a losing strategy in the long run. Players today are sophisticated and will notice if you do the same things over and over. Using the power of late position can be really a valuable tool but only when done wisely.
Remember, above all, in poker be it online poker or casino games playing predictably will see you losing against all but the dumbest opponents. This applies to all parts of your game and is very easy to apply to your positional play.
If you do get into habits in certain positions, especially if you play with a regular group then they will note it and make you pay for what is essentially laziness. So you need to learn about the different postions in detail and what your options are in each one and then focus on varying your play in order to keep the other players guessing.
A wise way to practice playing the different positions in poker is to play free poker games online before you get into games where you have to put real money down.
There are several very good free online poker sites about and I advise you join one of them and have a good play there first, indeed, free sites are great to play at in any stage of your poker career as they’re also great for some fun and to test out new strategies. Plus the better ones have excellent free poker education instruction resources you can use to learn more about aspects of poker and improve your game.