When I am working with new students there are few things that every one of them has in common. Things that I can correct right away. The most important hole in their game is also the most common – a lack of understanding of the importance of position. Position, position, position. Acting last is absolutely the most powerful edge you can have in Hold’em.

Sure you have read enough to have heard this before, so why aren’t you following the advice of the best players on earth? Why do you let yourself get into big hands and big pots when you are out of position? Either you hate money and are trying to lose that inheritance as quickly as possible, or you just haven’t thought about position in the right way. I’m going to assume it’s the latter, but if you do in fact hate money I highly recommend playing Keno professionally, I hear it’s a great career.

In order to understand the importance of position, let’s look at a hand from two different perspectives and see how much more money you make when you are in position.

You’re dealt KK in the big blind, and an aggressive and wild player raises from the button. Whether you smooth call to trap him or reraise to build a bigger pot is not important. The hand will play out the same either way. The flop is J-9-3 rainbow. Now what do you do? If you bet out he may fold, and if you check raise he will certainly fold the majority of his hands. The board is fairly safe, but check/calling and then checking the turn is just really asking to get sucked out on, because he may well check behind you once you call his bet on the flop.

If you check raise the turn your opponent is out of there right away. Even wild players these days know how to fold a hand to a big check raise on the turn. A check raise on the flop leaves you with a tough decision to make on the turn if he calls the flop bet, and you are only going to play a big pot if he has a big hand, because you have tipped your hand badly.

Now let’s look at that hand from the other side, where you are in position.

Now the middle position player raises and you must reraise to make sure this isn’t going to be a big multi-way pot with the blinds involved. He calls the raise of course, and the flop is the same J-9-3 rainbow that it was before. He checks to you and you bet 2/3rds of the pot, which looks like a standard continuation bet to an aggressive player like him. He will often raise here. My advice? Smooth call and trap.

When your opponent bets the turn, thinking that you only called his bet on the flop with over cards and that you will fold to a good-sized bet on the turn, you can surprise him with an all-in raise because the pot is large by now. You could also just smooth call if the board is very safe. If the turn was another trey this would be a good time for a smooth call. Notice that at anytime in the hand you could raise or slow play, depending on what you felt would be the most effective.

When you have position, you can control the size of the pot on any round. It gives you the opportunity to define your hand early, keep the pot small and just see a showdown, or build a monster pot with well sized raises. Acting last also allows you the opportunity to check behind when you have a draw that isn’t worth betting and get a free card.

Your decision on whether to bluff will be made based upon what position you are sitting in and your opponents previous actions. Playing your position correctly is how you increase your profit. That applies to bluffing as well as playing in general. Combining bluffing strategy with your position is the secret. You will usually be bluffing closest to the button or on the button itself. Because you are last to act and get the benefit of seeing the action as it comes around after the flop. If rags flop or if the board pairs and no one has it, then in most tight games it will be checked around. This is a bluffing opportunity. In a tight game, when rags hit the flop is it unlikely anyone made a big hand other then the small blind or big blind. Pay attention to these players because they could have been going into the flop with anything, the other players you may be able to assume didn’t hit the flop if you’ve noticed a pattern in their playing style including strong starting hands. You bet out after they check to you in these situations on a rag flop and likely take down 2 out of 5 pots right there. If there are 2 other players in the hand and this happens then you are getting 2 to 1 on the bluff. So as long as you take it down 1 out of 3 times when doing this you will break even. You are taking down 2 out of 5 so it is a profitable proposition. You can further enhance your odds, by reading the other player’s hands and being able to tell if it is one of those 2 in 5 chances you would take it down.

So its now been explained how easy it is to break even by doing this just by winning 1 out of 3 times if there is 3 people in pre-flop. Then on the turn what do you do if some people call and check down to you again? It depends. Put your opponent on a hand, why would he have called the first bet, does he have a draw, a low pocket pair or is he even slowplaying a big hand? If there is two to a suit, you can guess that someone may be looking for a flush. Two connectors, someone may be looking for a straight. Don’t just throw chips in at this point without thinking about what the other players have. Read the table and decide whether or not you should take another stab at it. Alot of the time, the best plan is to slow down on the turn and check-fold. If you sense weakness from the player and it is a good possibility he was drawing to the turn, then you can fire another bullet on the turn, but make it big enough that the player wont have odds to call you.

Don’t bluff against players you have decided are fish or calling stations. These players don’t recognize the significance of a bet or raise and will call out your bluffs with mediocre hands. Don’t bluff them. Wait for good cards and then bet them out, they will still call you, and that’s when you take their chips. You should be bluffing against average or strong players.

So you bet on the turn because you think the other players or players won’t keep calling. One of them folds, and you now are heads up on the river with one guy who keeps calling you down. Has he been and will he call you down with medium pair or high pair and low kicker? Or, maybe he didn’t make the flush or the straight. If you check now he will certainly bet or check down and have the better hand, either way you lose. Should you put a stab at it again ? You already have enough invested in the pot that you don’t want to let go. The river can be a hard place to decide whether or not to bluff. Usually if they called you out that far they will call to the river again, so unless you are increasing your bet substantially expect them to call.

If your up against a solid player you have to weigh your options, checking might be the best option because he’s already on to you and will call you out, on the other hand if it is a super-tight player you may be able to make them lay down on the river with a big bet even if they hold a solid hand.