How to Play the Early Position in No Limit Holdem

Okay losers, looks like you came back for some more advice. You probably already subscribed to my feed or signed up to my newsletter. That was uncharacteristically smart of you! I already introduced knowing your positions in Texas Holdem, and how it can help beginners with their pre-flop play. If you haven’t read that yet, make sure you do, because I think it’s the first important thing that new players must learn before they begin to get any good at poker.

That article covered the basics, but eventually you will have to learn how positional advantage can change throughout a hand. Today I’ll be talking about what you can do in the early position. This includes the Small Blind, Big Blind, and Under The Gun.

First I’ll repost the PKR screenshot I used in that article. I’m assuming that you are a little on the slow side, and still don’t get what I mean when I say “UTG” and stuff like that, so refer to this picture again. And yes, that is a real money poker room in full 3D with avatars, emotes, and the works. If you’d rather be playing in a room that looks like this, then join PKR.

Purple = Late Position
Blue = Middle Position
Orange = Early Position

The orange players have a positional disadvantage in No Limit Holdem, and are likely to remain that way during the entire hand. They have to be much more selective with their starting hands than the players in the later positions. For example, a K♥ 10♠ on the button might look like a good hand to raise with if everyone before you has folded. But in the early position, there is a good chance someone will call or raise it, leaving you to have to either fold and lose your raise, or commit to it and potentially lose even more.

I know you hate reading these poker advice columns and books that use a lot of math, but bear with me. I’ll go through it as simply and plainly as possible, so you can comprehend just how risky it is to play shitty hands in an early position:

• Using A♥ 10♠ as an example
• 91% of all hands are worse than this example
• If you’re on the button, there is an 82.8% chance that that it beats what the BB and SB are holding
• Not only that, the Button player has positional advantage over those two in the Turn and River
• If you have the same hand Under The Gun in a 10 handed game, there are 9 other players who could have a better hand.
• That means there is only a 42.8% chance that you have the best hand here.
• And again, UTG is at a positional disadvantage at the Flop, Turn, and River.

I hope that was simple enough for your puny little brain to comprehend! If not, there’s no helping you. You will always lose at poker. I hope I see you in PKR some time!

The blinds do have one benefit, and that’s being able to see everyone act before they do before the flop. However, they have the disadvantage of having to act first in the later rounds, and of course having to put money into the pot before cards are even dealt. Many new players will call a min-raise from the blind with a semi decent hand, because they feel that they are already invested in the pot. This is STUPID and if you are doing it, STOP NOW! The chips you already put in should be thought of as nothing more than part of the pot! As always, you should make your decisions based on the chips going from your stack into the pot, not the chips that are already there.

The Small Blind has the worst position of all, because he’s always at a disadvantage to someone else. If everyone folds to the blinds, the SB is still at a disadvantage to the Big Blind. There are often times when the BB can call a raise with mediocre cards, but the SB can’t because they will have to put in more money than the BB, and the BB is getting better odds.

Get ready for some math again, stupid. When I talk about betting odds here, I’m referring to how much money you can potentially win in comparison to your bet. In other words, if you need to bet $100 to win a $1000 pot, then the odds are 10:1. Higher odds are better, of course. Read more about pot odds here.

Since the BB is already in for a small bet, when there is a min-raise he will get at least 3.5:1 odds to call (1 small bet being the blind, 2 small bets from the call-raiser, and a minimum half-bet from the small blind even if he folds). If others call the raise, then the BB has even greater odds to call.

The SB, on the other hand, has to act before the BB. He would have to put in 1.5 small bets to see a min-raise, and would have to do so without knowing what the BB will do. If the BB folds, the odds end up being 3.5:1.5 (or 2.33:1), worse than the BB. If the BB does call, the SB’s betting odds end up being 3:1, which is still worse than the BB’s odds. And if the SB calls, then the BB’s odds just shot up to 5:1 to call and see the flop. This scenario applies when there are few raises; if more people raise, the SB and BB get closer to even. However this is something to keep in mind, especially in a shorthanded game (I’ll be talking more about shorthanded strategy later on, so again I’ll remind you to subscribe to my RSS or Newsletter).

The Big Blind can call raises more often than the Small Blind can. As I mentioned, if there is only one raise, the BB will at worst have 3.5:1 odds to see the flop, and usually it’s better than that. This means you can play suited connectors for instance, that you may not bother with in other positions. Of course, as soon as the Flop comes, you will have the worst position of the table, having to act first.

Early Position Strategies (finally)

Being in the early position allows some strategies that other positions can’t use. One of those strategies is to use the Check-Raise; if an early position player holds a premium hand, he can check-raise to get more money into the pot, or try to knock out late position players who made a bet on the Flop. Since this is one of the few advantages you have in the early position, you should use it often when you think you have the best hand, and there it looks like a player in the late position will bet when it is checked to them.

Another strategy when you’re the first player to act is the fact that you have the first chance to bluff. If there is a hand where all the other players have shown weakness, you have the first chance to bluff in later rounds.

For example, say you’re the Big Blind and have 10♣ 3♦ :

• Two players limp-in and the Small Blind folds
• You get your “free” check
• Flop is Q♥ 2♠ 7♥
• Everyone checks on the Flop
• Turn: 5♠

You now have the first chance to bluff into the pot. Unless someone was slow playing you on the pre-Flop and Flop, this is a very easy pot to steal with a bluff. If you were to check it, I can almost guarantee that someone after you will take advantage of your gutless play and bluff you, taking your blind and everyone else’s weak ass calls.

Later I’ll be talking about the Middle Position, and what kind of strategy you can use in that position. You know the drill by now. Either come back, subscribe to my RSS, or subscribe to my newsletter.