To Be Very Clear, The Large & Small Blinds Are Considered Early Positions!!!
Even though they bet last when the hand starts, the rest of the hand they bet 1st & 2nd…
The Very Best Position Seat Is, To The Right of the Small Blind, It is when the Button is Directly on you, next is the 2nd spot right of small blind, known as the "Hijack & Cutoff "
Why is table position in Texas Hold’ em important?
Table position is important because it is going to be incredibly useful to be able to act after our opponents.
The actions of your opponents is going to help you a lot, as it gives you a strong indication of the strength of their hand.
Lets say you are up against one opponent after the flop and you have not managed to improve your hand. If your opponent checks to you, you stand a good chance of being able to run a successful bluff, because you can infer from their check that they are weak by not wanting to bet out. However, If You were the first to act you would have no idea of whether they are strong or weak, because you have not had the opportunity to see what action they are going to take.
You really want to try and avoid playing hands from early position, that is unless your hand really is too good to fold.
As a general rule:
You need a stronger hand to play out of position than you do when you are playing in position.
So basically, if you are going to be one of the first to act on each betting round, you will want to stick to playing premium hands like:
•AA
•KK
•QQ
•AK
•AQ
•JJ
However, if you have good table position and you are going to be one of the last to act on each round, you can comfortably open up your starting hand range to include the following hands (along with the hands listed above, and assuming that there hasn’t been too much action before you):
•AJ
•KQ
•AT
•KJ
•TT
•99
This is all because of the fact that being out of position is going to be quite a big problem, and it is going to make the hand a lot more difficult to play. Therefore you will want to give yourself a much better opportunity to win the hand by only the playing better cards, and avoiding the ones that are likely to get you into trouble.
The Juicee Summary:
-Before the flop the weakest seat position is the person directly left of the Big Blind (under the gun)
-After the flop the weakest seat position is the Small Blind
This all Changes closer to the bubble about 10-15 players and also at the final table.
But that will be a different topic. ENJOY THE GAME
Position is extremely important, and being in position allows you to play a wider range of hands because you are last to act and have more information. I think the range of hands listed is good for a beginner because it can be hard to play bad hands after the flop.
However, as you gain experience and confidence at the table, it is important to learn to play other types of hands to become a well-rounded poker player. I would open raise almost all of the hands listed here and some others from under the gun (1st to act) at a 9-handed table. Without giving away too many specifics, at some point you want to become comfortable open raising from middle and late position with hands like QJ suited, 76 suited, A5 suited, or 22 (and similar types of hands). At some point, you want to have broadways (hands with 2 cards ten or higher), suited connectors (consecutive cards of the same suit), suited aces, all pocket pairs, and suited gappers and double gappers (hands like T8 suited or T7 suited) in your open range depending on your position.
I do agree with the range that you posted as a good starting point. Many players raise or call with bad hands and then do not know what to do after the flop. It helps to start learning by playing a very tight and strong range, but eventually you need to play a lot of different types of hands or your play becomes extremely predictable.
This is a good summary for beginners on why position matters. Personally, I find the best thing about being in position is the ability to see how many others want in on the hand, before I have to decide. I also find the position of your opponent helps you determine what cards they may have. For example, say the board shows A248K, you have AK, and your opponent goes all in. Do you call? Depends on what hand they are likely to have. If your opponent is in early or middle position, you likely have the best hand, but if they were in the big or small blind, they may very well have limped into the hand with a 35, especially if they were suited and nobody raised preflop. So I would say, not only is your position important, it is also important to recognize your opponents position and how it affects the hands they play.
Nice primer - you can add that drawing hands (JTs, 5/4s …) are better to play in position. It is nearly impossible to play something like 5/4s from the SB profitably in raised pots. Also, dynamic (wet) boards favor the in position player.
In any decent poker game, position is king. It doesn’t matter so much when people are just gambling and taking any old rags to showdown but with decent players its the #1 thing to consider. @JoeDirk has it right - a good player can play something like 40% of hands profitably opening from the BTN but that same player can’t make money flatting a 15% range from the SB. @JuiceeLoot is also right though because over time, 80%+ of any players winnings come from the top 5-8% of hands.
I was skeptical on 5/4s from position so I decided to investigate. I was surprised most by how few times I was dealt 5&4 while at button. I counted 18 times in the last 30 days. Of those 18, - 5 times I folded due to players going all in pre flop, 2 times I was short chipped and didn’t want to risk my tourney on them, and 1 time the flop was all face cards & nothing felt right… So the 10 times I did play them from button, my results were very good, I played them all aggressively with a 2x or 3x the BB… 4 times everyone folded, 3 times I hit well on flop & my 2nd bet folded the field, 2 times I folded at river with a pair or less, and 1 time I hit a straight 3-7 at turn & slow played it. Summery 8 of10 80% I won playing 54 from button. I thank you for making me want to prove you wrong Mr. Comic