How to Play the Middle and Late Positions in No Limit Holdem

Hey losers, I’m glad you’re back to check out my advice on basic positional strategy. Without knowing how to make the right plays depending on your position, you will continue to lose over and over like the loser you are. Follow my advice however, and you may surprize yourself with how often you start winning. My first article talked about the overall strategy and how positions work in No Limit Holdem. It also covered basic pre-flop strategy for everyone. My second article focused more on early play, including the Blinds and the tricky Under The Gun position. Today I am going to discuss the Middle and Late positions. Once again I’ll post a screenshot showing all the positions, so you can keep up. If you don’t know what any of this means, you NEED TO LEARN NOW.

Purple is the Late Position, Orange is Early, and Blue is the Middle Position. This is a screenshot from PKR, the best looking real money poker game out there. Use code JERK1000 when you make a big deposit, and they will match you 100% up to $1000. If you are making a smaller deposit, use JERK100 instead to get 100% bonus up to $600. The middle position is tricky in that it has some of the disadvantages of the early positions, and some of the advantages of the later positions. Middle players get to see the actions of the early players, but there are still a few players acting behind them. In the pre-Flop round, middle position players have a few more hands they can open raise with, since there is a smaller chance someone in a later position will have a better hand (for instance in my position in the picture above, if the first 3 people before me fold, there are still 6 more players that may have a better hand than I do). Overall though, the list of raisable hands is not much longer than that of early position players. After the flop, the relative position is most prone to change for the middle players. As an example, using the same example as above: if the first 3 players fold, I call, and nobody but the blinds call, I am now in the Late Position, and have advantage over the other players (because they have to act before me for the Flop, Turn, and River).

Late Position Strategy: Cut-Off and The Button

With the exception of the pre-flop round, the Button is the last player to act on all rounds. Therefore, he has the greatest positional advantage of all, since he can see how everyone has acted before he has to act. The player to the right of the Button is the Cut-Off, and as you can imagine this is a good place to be as well, especially when the Button folds. Late Position players with a drawing hand will have more chances to raise for free cards, since they are able to check on the Turn when acting last. If an Early Position player attempted that strategy, it wouldn’t work since they have to act first on the next round. Another strategy Late Position players have access to is being able to get a free showdown by doing a semi-bluff. To do this, they would raise on the Turn with the intention of checking on the River for free if their hand didn’t improve, or betting if it did. I’ll be talking more about particular strategies every day, so be sure to check back often. To stay up to date, be sure to subscribe to my RSS, or to my Newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.

No Limit Holdem Poker Strategy: Free Card

Free Card play is a strategy in No-Limit Holdem that Late Position players can employ to show strength while attemping to complete a good hand on the draw.

Here is an example of raising for a free card on the Flop, going for a Flush draw:

Your hand is 4♥ 3♥
Your opponent has 10♦ 9♦

The Flop: K♥ 9♥ 5♠

Since there are only two players left on the Flop and your opponent acts first, he is likely to bet with his pair of 9′s. You raise, and he will likely call.

Then comes the Turn: 8♣

Your opponent will likely check, because he will be cautious of your raise at the Flop which may have him thinking you have a K. Still, you have nothing yet and still need to catch the flush to have the winning hand.

If you have been observing your opponents throughout the game, and think he is weak enough to fold the middle pair, you should bet again as a semi-bluff. Otherwise, check and try for to complete your Flush on the River. That is why this is called a Free Card - you did not have to bet to see the River! And if you catch it on the Turn, you can bet after he checks.

This is especailly effective against passive players, but be sure to watch out for counter strategies used by aggressive players! I’ll be talking about such strategies in the next few days. So be sure to subscribe to my feed, newsletter, or Twitter!

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.

Tired of people calling you FISH? Learn your POSITIONS then!

This is the first in a series about positional play in No Limit Holdem. Once you are finished reading this intro article, make sure to read about specific strategies relating to playing in the Early Position and Middle to Late positions.

If you just started playing Texas Holdem online, and just continue to lose hand after hand, and tournament after tournament, that is fine by me. But if you don’t want to keep giving me all your money, you better learn something fast!

The first thing that you need to wrap your head around that might seem confusing at first is your position at the table, and how it affects how you should play. If you’ve been making your plays based solely on your draw, then it’s no wonder you lose all the time, you shmuck!

So let’s go over positions, using PKR’s awesome 3D interface. If you are new to real poker tables, this should help you too. PKR is my favorite place to play, just because it has the most interesting look for a real money poker game. It’s also great fun to use the animation and voices to put players on tilt when you win their money :) (use deposit code JERK1000 if you deposit at least $1000, to get a 100% bonus on that, or use JERK100 to get a good 100% on up to $600).

So this is what a table looks like. Me, and 9 losers ready to lose all their money to me. I am sitting out here, so I can take screenshots.

To make things simple, I named that geek who keeps checking his hole cards Loser 1, since he is on the button. He and the two losers to his right have late positions. He has the latest position, which means he is the last one to decide if he wants to take action. The guy on his right has what’s known as the cut-off position.

The two “girls” (yeah right) in this screenshot are the blinds. Those two, along with Loser 4, have the early positions. This means that they are the first ones to take action at the beginning of a round. This is a major disadvantage, because they have no idea of the players who act after them are going to call, raise, or fold.

Here’s a good example; let’s say Loser 4 above has Q♥ 10♠ . Automatic call, right? Not so fast. There is a high chance that at least one of the other players will have a better hand. And even if nobody does, seven of them will have position on him in the later rounds.

Now let’s say that Loser 9 has that same hand, and everyone folds before him. That means that there are only three players left who may have a dominating hand. In this case, he will probably want to raise, so Loser 1 (the only player who acts after him) folds. If they call, he still has great position in the next betting rounds.

That is why, if you are in the early position (either one of the Blinds, or Under The Gun) then you should be playing fewer hands overall. As a new player, you must keep your position in mind at all times. This is the one thing that new Texas Holdem players can learn that will significantly improve their play.

Finally, we have the middle positions. Middle position players have some of the same disadvantages of the early positions – they can see what the early position players do, but still have to keep in mind the late position players. Generally, they can open raise with a few more hands than earlier players, because there is less of a chance of someone in the later positions having a better hand.

Here’s another screenshot, to make things simple for you. I have a feeling that’s the only way you’re ever going to learn anything. Remember: Purple have the Late Positions, Orange have the Early Positions, and Blue have the Middle Positions. I should note now that late position before the cut-off (Loser 8 in this picture) can sometimes be considered a middle position, depending on how aggressive and loose the next two players are. Same goes for Loser 7 – that can sometimes work like a late position seat.

By now, I hope you have a basic understanding of positions. That basic info should help you at least with your pre-flop plays. I have taken much money from losers like you in the Small Blind, thinking that posting half a blind is worth it for your J♥ 3♠ and other similar cards.

It gets much more complicated after the flop though, as positional advantage can change from round to round. Let’s say there are three players left after the Flop, and you are the first person to act on the Turn. You have a mediocre hand, so you check. The next player bets, and the third guy calls. This means that you now have good position, and knowledge about the other players as there can’t be a raise after your call. At least, it’s better than the third player’s position, who must act without knowing what the fourth player (or you, when the action comes back) will do. Of course, you’ll end up being the first to act again on the next round, but you can play the same way, with a better idea of where everyone is at.

Also keep in mind that position is always relative to the other players. For instance, if you raised Under The Gun and everyone except the Big Blind folded, you are now in last position after the Flop. You would now have the same positional advantage as though you were on the Button. If you raised in Middle Position, and two players in late position called your raise while everyone else folded, you would suddenly find yourself in early position, with everyone else getting to act after you in the coming rounds.

That’s it for now. In my next strategy article, I am going to go into more advanced strategies which you can use with positional advantage in mind. Be sure to sign up to my RSS feed, or subscribe to my newsletter (to the right of this page) to stay up to date! It’ll surely be the smartest thing you do all day.