Winning @ Low Stakes Poker

You’ve heard it 1000 times, one of the most important aspects of winning poker is position. Having position on other players (i.e. being the last player to act in a round of betting) can dictate how you play virtually every starting poker hand and should be factored in to your decision to play a hand or fold it. So, how many hands should you expect to play? Let’s break it down by position.

Small Blind (3%) – This is the worst position at the table. You are going to be first to act on every round of betting. You should be folding pre-flop with weak hands that have little chance of making a 5 card hand (flush/straight) even in an unraised pot. Consider re-raising with big hands to avoid playing out of position.

Big Blind (3%) – Your position hasn’t improved much. Again, try re-raising with big hands or calling only with hands like A/Q, A/J or medium sized pocket pairs. Also, based on the position of the pre-flop raiser, you can elect to play a wider range of starting hands, but not by much.

First position (5%) – You have 9 player to get past, your hand better be strong. Also, you should be coming in for a raise 95% of the time when you plan to play from first position. If you get re-raised from a player in later position, before you call, remember that you are going to be out of position the rest of the hand.

Second position (10%) – Your position is still pretty poor. This is another raise or fold position. By limping in you are inviting players in later position to punish you and raise you out of the pot pre-flop.

Third position (15%) – You should still be playing pretty close to the vest from here. Don’t play unless you plan to come in for a raise.

Fourth position (20%) – At a full table, you are now in middle position. Your starting hand range can start to open up. It may sound redundant, but you should be coming in for a raise from here.

Fifth position (25%) – Time to start getting more active. You are going to have position on most of the table. By coming in for a raise you are going to most likely isolate yourself against a single opponent giving you the best chance to win the hand.

Sixth position (30%) – One spot away from the cut-off position. Time to start thinking about stealing the blinds. Starting hand range opens up even further and calling a pre-flop raise from here should yield you position for the rest of the hand (with only 2 players left to have better position than you)

The Cut-off (40%) – I consider the cut-off position to be the sweet spot. Time to start raising with a much wider variety of hands. If you are going to be the first to enter the pot from the cut-off position, suited connectors, any pair, any two face cards all become raising hands.

The Button (50%) – Having the button in front of you is like a license to steal. If all players have folded to me while I’m on the button, I’m going to raise to put pressure on the blinds about half the time. Most any two cards will work in this position. If you are called by one of the blinds, you can continue to apply pressure by betting the flop no matter if you hit or not. Remember, your opponent is only going to improve his hand on the flop 1/3 of the time. So you should win 2/3rds of these pots.

Avoid playing marginal hands from early position and apply pressure from late position. These two simple tips will improve your winning percentage immediately.