No Mercy Monday: Table Positions and Poker Strategy

In this strategy series, CoinPoker’s Chief Community Manager and pro poker player Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier walks you through the basics of the game. Each No Mercy Monday comes with expert advice on how to play,  and it all starts with starting hands and positions.

***

Knowing how to play your starting hands is part of the very basic strategies in No Limit Hold’em Poker. We covered that in the first chapter of this series of tips.

We are now going to look at the second most important concept in poker: position. 

Familiarize Yourself with Positions

Let’s start by making sure that we all speak the same language.

The round disc that is going around the table clockwise is called the button. The first player to the left of the button has to post the small blind (SB). The second player to the left of the button has to post the big blind (BB).

The player sitting right after those two is in a spot that we call “Under the Gun” (UTG). An image that clearly shows that this is one of the worst position at a poker table. 

These three players will act first after the flop and so they are sitting in “early position”. The players acting after them are playing from “middle position” and the players that will act last are in “late position”.

Best Positions

The very best spot at the table is when you are sitting on the button, as you are the last player to act. Just before this player, you will find the “cut-off” seat, which is the second best place to be sitting in a poker hand.

And finally, the player sitting on the right of the cut-off – or two spots right from the button – is called the “hijack” seat.

In regular full nine handed games, you will be sitting in turn at every single one of these positions. Therefore you will have to adjust your game accordingly.

However, at Coin Poker, the focus is on action tables and you’ll find mostly six-handed games. Therefore, the “middle position” seats are non-existent, and the positions you will be acting from will be SB, BB, UTG, Hijack, Cut-off and Button. 

Discovering the importance of position has been a huge eye-opener in my early days of poker… Stay tuned over the next tips to learn how to adjust your game according to your position.

– Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier

Participate in our referral program and earn 50% of the rake collected by each of your referrals. The more referrals, the more CHP gets transferred to your CoinPoker wallet!

Have a question? Feel free to ask us anything in the comment section below or join our growing community on Telegram.

For all the latest news, follow us on social media, through Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Coinpoker – best place to be!