How to Use Your Position in Poker

It is important to use your position properly so that you can get an advantage over your opponents. If you are in the middle with the shortest stack and raise then that is the correct decision for you. You will get an upper hand you just need to raise and reraise at the proper time. Every one will surely fold to you and you will get a decent hand.

If you want poker on TV then it becomes really entertaining as you come to know about everyone’s cards. But when you watch poker on the table you cannot see everyone’s cards till the end. That is the benefit of watching poker on television. But you can develop your skill to evaluate any card from pre-flop game to even show down. We are going to show you an example so that you can understand it.

If you watch any online poker tournament then you can see eight players sitting and playing at a table. In the table you can find the shortest stack is usually 9000 chips. The blinds usually sit at 100-200. When the card are just dealt at the beginning of the betting the player who has 18000 chips will raise the big blind then.  

Analyze the situation

The one who has the shortest stack that is 9000 chips in the middle, everyone will fold to him. The person down to the middle person can face some other situation. If the middle person reraise then he needs to call but only if the first bettor has A-A, J-J, Q-Q or K-K in his hand. But this is just the middle of the tournament the end is yet to come. Most of the people make stupid bets here and end up losing or getting out of position. The middle position is a tricky position and must have a good hand too. The person needs to have an equal good hand like the first bettor. Even if he has 10-10 or A-Q range then too it will work for him.

If the first player does not act on the flop then it comes to the middle player to react. He may get confused whether they should miss the flop or they need to miss that. Sometimes the middle person checks because he think this was slow played by others and the probable set has surely been hit.  

A helping hand when it comes to poker hand rankings

A website named PokerListings have developed an awesome tool that will help you out with quickly calculating different outcomes. The calculator is called Which Hand Wins and you can find it here.

Middle player

If the first player is betting again that means the game was getting played slowly so that the middle person has to call to leave the river to be shown. In case of 10s, 4d, 2c, As or Jh the river comes up. But it is usually pretty harmless and must not get worried about this.

The middle player can simply play in his own style or can go all in. In that case the first bettor may think that the middle player surely has a pair even he can fold a set of aces. In such cases none of the players really need to reveal their cards. But for your help we will tell you the cards. The player got a good hand and he could have opted for aggressive playing. But the board was revealed and he could not do so. The middle player has J-J and he could hit a set on the turn. Poker is a game of mind and one needs to be calculative to master it.