There’s a maxim that says in HoldEm Position is everything.  It holds true though for all forms of poker.  As a new player I remember not paying nearly enough attention to the difference position made in poker…I was too interested in the cards I held in my hand.  But eventually, if you’re going to make a go of hold em you’re going to want to understand poker table position.  For the moment, let’s take a brief look at how a poker table is set up, where you are in the action, and why it makes a difference.

HoldEm Position

HoldEm Position

Most poker tables are played with 9 or 10 players.  In the image above we’ve used a 9 player example.  The important things to note at the moment are as follows:

1.  The person with the white dealer button is, remarkably, the dealer.  The importance of being the dealer is that you get to act last in each betting round and so can see the other players actions before you make your decision.

2.  The player marked ‘SB’ is the small blind.  They are required to put out a blind bet before the cards are dealt. 

3.  The player marked ‘BB’ is the big blind.  They are required to put out a blind bet double the size of the small blind before the cards are dealt. 

4.  The player directly left of the big blind is called ‘Under the Gun’.  They have to act first in the first round of betting, and are in early position. 

We’ll look at HoldEm position in greater detail later, but for the moment the above diagram will help you understand the flow of play when we look at How To Play Hold Em Poker Part 2 – The Game.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Live
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • TwitThis

Tagged with: • •

Filed under: How To Play HoldEm Poker

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!