Playing from Early Position
June 1, 2009
Once in a while, you’ll meet a swashbuckling poker player who will claim that they go against the grain and they’d rather play from early position. Take his speech with a grain of salt. Few good poker players ever make money from consistently playing form early position.
Of course, there are a few times when you’ll indeed make money by playing from early position. Let’s say you hit a big pair, or you limp in and no one raises and you hit a monster flop. Still, those situations are not an everyday occurrence and if you compute your wins versus your losses, you’ll lose money in the long run if you keep playing this way.
Remember that Texas Hold’em is a game where position matters—A LOT. So you need to avoid the temptation to limp into the pot when in early position or play average cards just because you want to see the flop. Do this consistently and you will find that you will save yourself a pretty good sum of money over time.
But you like playing from early position and it’s a habit that you can’t break overnight. If you really MUST keep playing from early position, you must remember that you need a lot of courage and discipline. Remember that you are most probably the first to bet and this is your chance to set the mood for the hand. Use this to your advantage. Instead of just calling, put everyone on the spot by raising three to five times the Big Blinds. This way, only players with the strongest hands will call you. This will give you the opportunity to steal the blinds all together.
Since you’re playing early position, however, you should expect at least one caller. If you hit the flop, this isn’t a problem. But what if you don’t? You need the courage to make a continuation bet after the flop and attempt to make a successful bluff. If you get called and this trend continues until the turn, consider making another bet. However, you should also have the discipline to fold if you recognize that your opponent already has a made hand or if he or she won’t back down.
What happens if you bet in early position and someone else raises? You can re-raise and represent a stronger hand to set the mood in your favour again. When playing early position, you are already at a disadvantage. You should try to get the hand back in your favour.
My point of view is that it is one of the worst positions at the table. That’s why most players are very conservative in this position. That’s why i only raise with very strong hands and i only limp in with those hands not as strong as the very strong hands. ;D