Playing In Late Poker Position Part2
3. A play that wins you the blinds, when successful, adds significantly to your hourly rate, which is what all of this is really about. If you can successfully steal the blinds only twice an hour, you will be winning almost three small bets per hour, which is almost 1.5 big bets per hour. Remember how I said that the average professional hold 'em player considers himself successful if he can earn 1-2 big bets per hour? I know a few players whose overall skill at the game I would consider to be mediocre-to-average, but they're professional late position players and blind stealers. There's no reason you can't be, too.
4. When you raise in late position, your opponents won't know for sure which one of the five reasons to raise it is that you have in mind, although they will often correctly suspect that it's primarily a move based on position and very small pot odds. In other words, they will believe that most of the time you raise in late position, you're raising mainly to eliminate players. They won't be certain, though, and it's always good to keep your opponents guessing.
5. By making this type of play regularly (don't overdo it, or your opponents will just start calling you all the time), you're setting your opponents up for a future play. You won't always have a second-rate hand when you raise in late position. Sometimes you'll have that AA, KK or AKs when you raise, and you'll make a lot of money from the players who call you all the way down, just because they think you have K9 or QIO, which they can beat.
6. If you buy the button and one (or both) of the blinds calls your preflop raise, you'll have position on him (them) throughout the hand.
7. If you have an ace, and you raise in late position as the first one in, you may find yourself against just one opponent on the river. In that case, your ace is a big card. You might win with just ace-high against that one player, where king-high and queen-high won t win. With an ace, your raise was a fairly safe play.
You have an entirely different situation if you're in late position and a lot of players have entered the pot ahead of you. Now you have to consider a few things:
1. The players in early position probably have very good cards.
2. The players in middle position have good drawing hands, otherwise one of them would have raised before the flop.
3. Because of their position and the pot odds they were getting when they called, other players (besides you) in late position might have longshot draws, such as small pairs and medium suited connectors (7^64, 6V5V, or even 5*4*).
4. One of the players in early position might have limped in with a Group 1 hand (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs) and is waiting to reraise if you raise.
5. If such a reraise happens, one of the other players might want to make it three or four bets to go just for the sake of building the pot.
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Playing In Late Poker Position
For purposes of this discussion, late position is defined as being on the button or one or two seats to the right of the button. Don't forget the one major inherent advantage of being in late position: you have more information than your opponents had when deciding what to bet on each round. You're in a good position throughout the hand, so you also have a lesser chance of being raised when you call a bet.
Before the Flop
When you are in late position and the action comes around to you, other players may or may not have already called the big blind. Whether you're first in the pot or not, there's one thing that you must do every time you make a decision regarding whether to play your hand: look at the players between you and the big blind and determine their player profiles.
I'm not saying you have to know everything about your opponents. You're mainly interested in knowing if they are the type of players that will defend their blinds if you raise. Are they passive or aggressive? Are they tight or loose? Does the player on the button always play his button? Some low limit players see the flop with any two cards when they are on the button.
When you're in late position, no one else has entered the pot, and you have what would ordinarily be a calling hand, you should strongly consider raising, especially if you have an ace in your hand. There are many good reasons for this play:
1. If you are one or two seats to the right of the button, this raise might force the player(s) between you and the button to fold, thereby making you the last player (by position) to have a hand. This is called buying the button.
2. You might force everyone to fold and you'll win the blinds. Don't make the common beginner's mistake of thinking that it's not worth winning a very small pot made up of only the blinds. It's a very valuable win for you, because that small pot will give you the chips you need to post the blinds yourself and play another round.
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