How To Play Poker For Beginners Lesson On Using Poker Table Position To Maximum Effect

Position is your seat at the poker table, real life or poker online "virtual" relative to your opponents. Be it free poker games or a money event, it shows when you will make your move in the current poker hand. In a full ring game (9-12 players), in any given round of betting:

(1) Early position involves the initial three or four players to act.

(2) Middle position features the following player after early position to the player before late position.

(3) Late position is the last three or four players to move. Preflop, the dealer, the small blind, and the big blind are last to act, in that order.

Postflop, the small blind and the big blind are first to act, and the dealer is last to act.

Why does position matter?

Depending on your position there are certain advantages and disadvantages. The majority of players prefer playing late position. Briefly, it is because you are given more information to work with in late position.

If you are in late position, the actions of the players in early position are added information to you. But the player in early position do not have the benefit of information derived from your actions.

This is why most players (especially good players) don't like giving up their button (dealer button) unless they've got absolute trash. They call a small raise with any decent hand like 9-7 or A-5 (but not extraordinarily big raises, of course).

In early position, in a nine-handed game, suppose you have got Q-J, a marginal hand, under the gun (the first person to act preflop).

Do you raise? There are still eight players once you to act, and there will be a higher chance that they'll have better hands than you. (A-x will have you beat). So fold.

In middle position, you can call one raise, or you can raise; you are indifferent.

From the button, you raise if nobody has acted prior to you (you can steal the blinds this way). Or call if someone raised small (since you have position).

From the blinds, you call (since it is discounted) but you have to be careful with postflop play since you are out of position postflop. Or you may also reraise a raise if you believe the raiser was weak (raising with junk is prevalent in good players in late position who would like to steal the blinds habitually).

Position also matters a lot when playing with players who have a fixed style.

- It is a good idea to act before a rock in order to bluff him easier.

- It is better to act after a loose-aggressive chip flinger so you can raise him if you hit the Flop hard or if you have A-A, then expect a rereaise and then you can move all-in.

- Against a calling station, it doesn't matter where you sit - just bet when you have a hand and then expect a call.

As for the really good players, your ideal position should be outside the poker table. Don't get involved in games with them. If you can't avoid it, then play in an unpredictable fashion, and take advantage of the times you are acting after him.

This point moves us away from table position in to a more strategic level so I won't expand on it here except to say, choose your games wisely. Suffice it to say, be honest with yourself and do not play over your skill level when playing in games you'd really like to win! Yes, get into hard challenges with better players but only as part of a deliberate training plan with money you can afford to lose (invest) or play such sharks on free poker online tables such as at NoPayPOKER where you will find some very good players who are there for fun.

Have a look at the free poker games tools series from D M Vadnais for far more depth on the areas such as choosing your battles and climbing skill levels. If you are a beginner get started with the how to play poker for beginners 101 course and if ready to move on check out Building a Bankroll which aims to propel to to advanced intermediate level (where you will start to win a lot of cash should you wish)

Learn How To Play Poker And Learn What To Do When you Get A Get A Big Hand Preflop

What do you do with a big hand preflop when you have a big stack, like K-K? And how does everyone else react? Whether you play free poker for pennies or high stakes in Monaco this is a critically important situatio and you need to know how to play it best.

For our example we will look at an example from the World Series of Poker:
BLINDS 40,000/80,000

A has As-10c moves all-in (Pot 1.296m)
B has K-K reraises to 5m (Pot 6.296m)

B has two options here. He can call and wait for an opponent to go all-in, though that would make him think...

Could it be A-A? Or Q-Q? If it was Q-Q there is a slight chance he might fold K-K, and regret it. But a big reraise can drive Q-Q or lower out, like what happened to another player:
C has Jd-Jc
(C’s comments on B’s hand were: “Why did you make it so much? ... You like your hand that much?”) If C calls, it’s for all of his chips.
C may think that B has A-K, but there are two all-ins in front of him, and one of them might be A-X (and with A-X he is still not safe) or a pair, but a suspiciously heavy raise to about 60 times the big blind is almost always a signal for A-A or K-K. So C could wait for a better opportunity than now.

C folds (Pot 2.39m)

C’s fold was brilliant, after the reraise, but it will still be brilliant even if B did not reraise. B might bet again on the Flop and C may not continue and just let go of the chips.



B’s reraise will work if he has A-A or K-K, but I doubt it if he will do the same with A-K or Q-Q, but it may have the same effect of making C fold. As for A, let us wish for his good health. B won the hand later.
In summary - Big Hand Preflop

It takes time to learn how to play poker online or offline at a level above the unthinking, uneducated "chip flinging" seen at many tables.

Ironically the fact that so many players inhabit this dumb donk zone is great news for you. That's because once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the "all-in-all the time" maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you free poker sites that pays real cash such as that found at http://www.nopaypoker.com/.

To make this work first, learn to play poker for free on free poker sites tables where you can learn while you lose but without losing real money, then once ready to can move up to low stakes and start to get rich!

Play Free Poker Guide To Specializing In Poker Tournaments Or Cash Games

It is a sad fact, it is not possible to be great at everything. In the world of poker from the entry levels of penny play free poker or big stakes players become experts or specialists in their particular games.

It is the same as in any profession, field of study or in the workplace where people find their unique niche for the company that they work for and devote their efforts to becoming as good as they can in order to be promoted and earn more.

So how does this relate specifically to the world of poker games?

Like this, some poker players are brilliant cash game players, while others are expert tournament players. Of course, there are players that are great at both cash games and tournaments though they are few and far between.

The majority focus on one or the other because they find they are more successful in that sort of poker.

So how can you figure what type of poker you are best at? Well, it's not always clear. You obviously need to try your hand at both, but here are a few suggestions that may help you to figure it out.

Should You Focus On Cash Games?
If you're a patient player who looks to play only in clear +EV situations, then you may prefer cash games. Full-ring games are all about waiting for premium starting hands and extracting the most value from them in the most favourable situation possible. Thus, cash games are good for players who don't deal with variance very well.

The biggest mistake a beginning cash game player can make is playing too many hands. You don't want to commit too many chips in marginal situations.

The opposite can seem to be true in the late to middle stages of a tournament.

Should You Focus On Poker Tournaments
It is correct to play tight in the early stages of a tournament, but once the blinds start to escalate you'll need to loosen up your starting requirements. Once you're low on chips, you'll need to look to move all-in to survive. You may also need to put yourself in situations that may –EV in certain occasions. If you're one of the big stacks, it's also correct to start playing looser to bully the other players. It's all about accumulating chips to either survive or thrive in tournaments. It's not for the faint of heart or those who can't deal with variance.

The biggest mistake a beginning tournament player can make is not pushing all-in enough when they get low on chips. Because the price of blinds increase as the tournament goes on, your chip stack can easily get whittled away.

Tight players can't win tournaments.

Poker Game Specialization Conclusion
If tight is right for you, you would be best served to focus on playing cash games. But if you like action then tournaments are going to be your thing. That being said, a tight style can work for tournaments with a few adjustments and a loose style in cash games can be profitable under certain circumstances.

Ideally do your testing in free online poker that way you can learn to play poker for free and find your style while not losing lots of money in the process!

This article is by NoPayPOKER, the perfect learn to play hold em site for beginners to play free poker without risking any cash. For more experienced poker players the draw is in the ability to fine tune game play and techniques in a totally no risk zone while collecting free online poker cash at the same time.