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Position pre flop

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Thursday November, 12th 2009 by fullhouse

In Texas Hold’em your position at the table becomes very important. Where you act in relation to others can help you decide whether or not to play a hand, and exactly how you should go about playing it. Playing your position correctly pre flop is both an art and a science and it will take some practice before it becomes natural, but it is easy to learn the fundamentals of playing your position with success.

The positions

The positions at a poker table are commonly accepted as Under the Gun (UTG), Early Position (EP), Middle Position (MP), Cutoff (CO), Button (BTN), Small Blind (SB), and Big Bling (BB). The position assignments will be varied depending on how many players are at your table.
At a 6-Max table you will find the UTG (1), MP (2), CO (3), BTN (4), SB (5), and BB (6).
At a Full Ring table (9 or 10 players) you will find UTG (1), EP (2-3), MP (4-5), CO (6), BTN (7), SB (8), and BB (9).
Notice that the only difference between a Full Ring and 6-Max table is the addition of a few players at EP and MP.

How to approach each position pre flop

Each position should be played in a slightly different way pre flop.
UTG means you are first to act and there are many players who will act after you. Since there are many opponents between you and taking the pot down, it is important that you raise with a strong hand. A weak hand will be hard to play when raised from UTG if you get raised or other players call. A general range from UTG would include hands like 22+ and AQ+.
EP allows for a bit looser range when raising, but still forces players to stay a bit on the tight side. You should not be making raises from EP for anything other than value. It will be virtually impossible to become profitable if you attempt to steal the blinds from EP. A loose range of hands to play from EP would be 22+ and AJ+.
MP is where you can begin to play a bit more aggressively. It is acceptable to raise with hands that wouldn’t have too much value from UTG or EP, but will be able to push out other hands on the flop, or can potentially turn into big hands. In MP you can open with hands like 22+, AJ+, QJ, and KJ.
CO and BTN are virtually the same position. The CO is one further away from the BB, but the play as the CO or the BTN is generally to steal the blinds. This allows you to open up your range to include 22+, A9+, QJ, KJ, and other random suited hands that have potential. It is not vital that you have a strong hand pre flop when stealing the blinds, but it is important that you have a moderate chance at really improving your hand’s strength.
SB and BB are the last players to act pre flop. The hands that you play from these positions are largely dependent upon what the action is in front of you. If only the CO or BTN limps in, you can raise to take down the pot, but if there are raises ahead of you it would be a good idea to tighten up.