Poker Position - How To Play From Early Position

By Bill Kernow

When you choose to play more repeatedly from early position in no limit holdem, it can present more obstacles to your opponents in distinguishing the nature of player you really are. However, it is frequently more pricey to do so, because of the intrinsic risks with having the maximum amount of players to act after you.

Let's assume you are NOT raising with a quality hand from early position in order trick your opponents. Some players do this with straight cards, small pairs and suited aces or kings. That adds considerable variety from early position and is absolutely going to increase your hand choice in the eyes of your opponents, but you must also be agreeable to play just as many precarious pots, because the more you play, the more you will be played back at.

That means your opponents will be reraising you with quality hands, or even their own bluffs and justifiably so. In addition, at a full table you have eight or nine opponents to act following you, and that's as many as 18 other cards that can blend for something better than yours. More often than not that will be the case and you will be creating many multi-player pots if they permit you to stay in. So why do poker players raise from early position then?

There is a reason skilled players do this, at least now and then, and its not just to mix up their play - that's a given. The real purpose is to hit a flop in such an innocent way, that other poker players will make pricey mistakes against you because they utterly misjudged your hand and over-dedicated chips or money to the hand. Usually it's a huge pot.

You see, even though the majority of early position hands will cost you money, the scheme is to keep all those losing hands in small pots, not big ones. The professionals comprehend that in any given session their winnings often come from just a a tiny number of of the hands played. But when you do hit, those few wins can be so significant they make up for all the other hands and more.

If you are going to play hands from early position use your reading and pot control skills until that one perfect hand comes up and you pick up a massive pot. - 31897

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