A little thing about position

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I had a friend tell me that the books they have read say to play high level the same way you would low level if you want to make money consistently. Whatever book they read didn’t make the point very clear, as he thought that meant you should play the same hands in the same positions, and fold to raises the same way just because there’s a chance they have a hand that’s representative of the appropriate strength. This view is wrong.

Playing the same in high level as low level SHOULD mean that you play the game with odds in mind. It should mean that you aren’t intimidated by a $1000 bet, or that you call because you don’t care that it’s only $5.

Scenario One: Very Little Information

He then asked me, “So you play the players, not the cards?” No. No, that’s not it either. Really it means you play your cards against those players. If I’m playing a 15-30 limit or higher and I know the guy under the gun is tight, and he calls or raises I’m not thinking twice about folding my AQ(especially against the raise). What hands can he have under the gun? AA, KK, QQ, AK, maybe AQ, maybe JJ. Ok AQ and JJ are ok match-ups there… but JJ won’t pay you off when the board comes A or Q. And AQ is a push… Well that sucks. FOLD. Now what if you’re at the 2-4 and the guy is likely to play pretty much ANY ace, or ANY pair, or as weak as suited connectors? He could have: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT ,99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, AK, AQ, AJ, AT, A9, A8, A7, A6, A5, A4, A3, A2 and if he’s weak enough to play those probably TJ, TQ, TK, JQ, JK, JQ… Now what are the odds that your AJ are good against him? Not so bad now. Your variance will be higher, but against weak players position matters a lot less.

Now the good news with this information is that it varies greatly depending on who’s in the hand with you, how they play, and where you’re sitting in relation to them and the dealer. Most of your lower level opponents don’t know how to react to a call in front of them, but the more you study your opponents, the easier it will be to figure out these plays. Remember in later positions, they can call correctly with more hands, so calls from later positions should have a weaker list. Raises are information too. Players calling raises are information.

Now that you can narrow the hands your opponent has you have a better chance of winning, but what if you have an opportunity to get more information? Very often if your opponent raises and you have a hand worth playing against a raise, a re-raise is correct. Again, information is the key here. If they come back over you, you have an even better idea of what that list of hands might be. When the flop comes and they act, you get more information. It won’t take long to where you’re accurately putting good players on hands, and weak players on a range of hands. Weak player are tougher to guess, but the good news is they’re easier to beat if played against correctly.

Scenario 2: No Information

Play with no information is perhaps the most interesting part of limit hold’em. I have read a few books where they tell me that its right to fold AQ under the gun and some where they tell me its right to play TJs under the gun in a small game. (AQ is obviously the stronger hand between the two) Why do pros agree that the limit you’re playing shouldn’t matter and yet disagree so drastically on what to play where? What the books that explain hold’em on an upper middle limit or high limit level don’t explain is that the strength of your hand changes in every position including with no information by how big the pots are likely to be, how easily players pay each other off, how often players draw without odds, how often players try to steal the pot, and how often players will cap bets with second best.

You have no information if no one has called in front of you and AQ doesn’t want to run into AK, QQ, KK, AA on any game and be that far behind, so why would you consider playing it even if you’re only playing 5-10? The reason is that on these lower tables players will not give you credit for a stronger hand and lay it down. If an opponent catches AT, AJ, KQ, he will pay you off in these smaller games, but even better is that many opponents will play as much as any ace, any pair, or as weak as suited connectors without odds. So you give up your tight play in early position, and get less information in later positions. Sounds like the game should actually be tougher, but obviously beating players with random cards is a lot easier than beating players that will not pay you off under unreasonable circumstances.

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