Early Position in Poker
Tips for Playing No Limit Hold 'Em Tournaments in Early Position.
In a nine or ten handed tournament, playing in early position can be one of the easiest leaks to plug for a beginning player. The first key is simply hand selection: the starting requirements to enter the pot in early position are much higher than in late position. While ace-ten suited is a very playable hand on the button or in the cut-off, it is a dangerous one to open the pot with in early position. By early position, I mean first, second, or third to act before the flop.
In first or second to act, even ace-queen is ambitious to raise. Of course, everything depends on the blinds and a player’s effective stack. If the blinds and antes are worth winning, then raising ace-queen is fine, but if not, it is likely you will be playing past the flop, out of position, with one or two of the people to act behind you. In a tournament one you should anticipate action on later streets – playing out of position is something you want to avoid. Ace-queen is a drawing hand, unlike a high pocket pair, and therefore difficult to play after the flop out of position when you don’t hit top pair.
Let’s say you have a small pocket pair, deuces through sevens. One criterion for playing these in early position should be how much money you can make if you flop a set. If the blinds are 20/40 and you have 3000 behind, with every stack between 2000 and 6000 behind, you can limp and even call the standard raise of 120 or 160. Why is this the case? If you flop the set, which will happen one time for every eight and a half flops you see, you will be winning about 90% of those hands, and could be playing for your opponent’s whole stack.
If you think your opponent is strong and will potentially have top pair top kicker or an over-pair, you can make a general rule for getting involved pre-flop. If the bet you have to call is less than one tenth of your stack behind, and his stack behind, or less, you can play with a positive expectation of felting him.
When the blinds are higher or calling the pre-flop raise is more of an investment relative to your stack, getting involved with small pairs in early position is certainly negative expectation. If you’re calling 20% of your stack hoping to flop a set that’s only going to happen less than 12% of the time, your stack is going to be dwindling. To make up for the equity lost pre-flop you’ll have to outplay your opponents after the flop often with two overs on the board. And remember, you’re out of position.
One exception of course, is when you are in push-fold mode, which comes at various points for different players. If you only have eight big blinds, and the bubble has already burst, and you look down at two sevens third to act, you can think about putting all your money in the pot. Similarly if play is short handed and you are facing four opponents behind instead of eight or nine, you must loosen your starting requirements.
Playing in early position requires discipline. If you are a very big stack, you can open up your range if you are sure you can outplay your opponents with suited aces and connectors. But this is a position you will seldom find yourself in. Most often you should stick to nines or better and ace-king. If you pick up a smaller pair, take a look at the various stack sizes in front of you, and ask yourself if getting involved pre-flop is going to make you money in the long run.
