Playing from late position in 6 MAX NLHE games

Carl Sampson : June 9th, 2008

We all know and appreciate just how important position is in poker but let us take a look at a few of those reasons for why position is so critical in a game like NLHE. Of course there are different types of position in poker and many novices really only understand fixed position but there is position relative to the action as well.

But in this article, we will only be looking at fixed position which obviously cannot change during the course of any one particular hand. But there are numerous reasons for why you must pay very special attention to your position before entering into the pot. Having good fixed position affords you the following advantages.

1. It allows you to raise weak limpers and take control of the pot. This could possibly drive out the blinds and create dead money in the pot.
2. It allows you to assess what has happened in front of you and to adjust your range based on what you have seen.
3. Good position can increase the amount of profit that you extract from your good hands simply because you have more information in which to base your betting decisions.
4. It can also work in reverse as well and save you money on your bad hands.
5. Having good position can help you to win entire pots when you check after your opponents and take free cards.
6. It can also help you bluff better as you will have more information to go on by the time the action reaches you.
7. You also have more information to go on with regards deciding whether or not to fire that all important second barrel.

I could literally go on all day quoting examples of why having good fixed position in NLHE is not only important, it is critical. You have so many advantages when you have good position and many more disadvantages when you don’t. The flip side to point number three is that you will extract less money from your winning hands when you have bad position as well and this is purely and simply because you have less information in which to base your decisions – whether you’re playing live poker on online poker.

Unlike games you might play in an online casino, poker is a game of incomplete information and it is this factor that can make the game very frustrating at times. There is a large amount of information that we either miss during the play of an actual hand or cannot get access to like our opponents actual holding for instance. So it is hardly surprising then that we really can do without making this situation any worse by denying ourselves of even more information by continually playing hands from early position in NLHE.

I would rather play a hand like 8-6 with good position than play something like A-10 from under the gun in a 6 max game. Although the overall range of hands that you can play from late position is affected greatly by the game and player dynamics of your opposition.

But I will attack from late position with a far wider range of hands in lower stakes games at say $1-$2 than I would in higher games at the $25-$50 level for instance. Lower stakes players will commit far more post flop errors than many of their higher stakes counterparts. Errors like calling raises from out of position for instance, and then check folding the flop to a continuation bet when heads up.

Failing to attack weak blinds with the proper frequency is as good as leaving money on the table. Do not let weak small stakes players off the hook by folding hands like J-9 for instance on the button. Out of the 1326 possible two card starting hands in hold’em, I will open raise or raise a limper with a very wide range of those hands in low stakes games when the blinds are either weak or tight or both.

But as you begin to move up through the levels then your extra positional aggression simply will not be tolerated and you will find yourself getting played back at far more often. When it has been folded around to you in late position and you make an opening raise, you have made what I call a “first phase” play.

What this means is that even though you have raised, because of the dynamics of the situation…..number of players…..position….previous action…..your likely range etc then your play is merely standard and that you will be raising with a much wider range of possible hands because of this.

Better players understand this and re-raise more often than weaker players and this is what I call “phase two”. Because “phase one” is a bog standard play then in the bigger games, “phase two” has also become a standard play as well. What this means is that if I open raise from the cut-off in a game like $25-$50 NLHE for instance and get re-raised by a strong big blind player, depending on my data on that player then I will likely raise again and make what I call a “phase three” play.

Either that or I may just call and then look to take the pot away from them from the flop onwards by using my position as a weapon on the subsequent betting streets. This alternative line is what I called a “delayed phase three”. What I suppose that I am trying to say here is that your level of aggression in late position in all NLHE 6 max games must be structured to meet the dynamics and the playing styles of the players who are on your table.

Very strong players will know (especially players who use tracking software) who is stepping out of line and will adjust their play accordingly. But remember that the point of this article was to underline the importance of position. Although most players in poker these days understand position and the importance of it to a certain extent, it is still a problem for many players to put into practice what they know to be correct. But if you become aware of the problems that are created by having bad position and you are determined enough to not fall into those traps then you could easily become a far more successful poker player literally overnight.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Pokerheaven and can be seen at www.pokerheaven.com/thedean