The most common mistake most holdem players make

[goopxx]

Not taking advantage of their position. Which is the smarter move. Raising with Ace-king in the blind or raising with pocket tens one away from the button or on the button. Although the ace-king is a slight favorite, heads up, in the real world the tens will win more money. When the ace-king gets a favorable flop he will win a small pot, but 3/4 of the time he be forced to bluff or check and is really at the mercy of the players following him. The pocket tens on the other hand can bet or bluff depending on the nature of the hand. Even when an over card flops you bet knowing your opposition puts you on a better hand. When the betting makes it is obvious that you are beaten, muck em. Calling that last bet, when you are beaten is futile and expensive. Stay tuned, more tips on the fine art of holdem will be forthcoming..

I play mainly No-Limit tourneys, and even with a full table you'll often get into a position where you're heads up with a showdown pre-flop. In these situations you've got to know the power of a small pair.

If you're getting short stacked and need to double up, a small pair is often the time to take your chances.

If you can get heads up with your small pair then your only fear is a bigger pair, against everything else you're either a small fav or a big fav. You're dream opponent will be a big stack trying to take you out and calling with something like A5s, if you've got 66 in your hand you'll be a 2-1 fav

You're actual point at the start of this thread about AK vs TT and the position of play when your on a full table is a lot more complicated. Is it a tourney or cash game? Is it limit, pot or NL holdem? If it's a tourney then what stage are you at, what's the blinds and what's the stack sizes of the players? Are your opponents tight, aggressive, lose etc?

Even with a lot more info about the hand you'll often still get the answer 'it depends' and that's what makes poker such a great game.

[StrikingEagle]

Player position confuses me. Why is this important? I don't know what the positions are either...have been playing OK without this knowledge.
I understand why a pair of tens may beat out an ace/king; however, what power does position have?
thanks in advance for yur reply.

[nsidestrate]

Position means being last to act for all the betting rounds after the flop. It is a huge advantage because you have a lot more information than the other guy on each street.

If the flop comes down A76 and you have KQ, you usually don't want to bet when you are first to act, because the odds are so good that the other player has an Ace. If he has to act first and he checks to you, you can take advantage of that information to bet and possibly win the pot without a showdown. You can also elect to see the next card for free which can also be an advantage.

The names of the positions are just used to give us a shorthand way to refer to each player.

At a 10 seat table, we call the positions

Small Blind or SB
Big Blind or BB
Under the Gun or UTG
UTG+1
UTG+2
Middle Position 1 or MP1
MP2
MP3 or HiJack
Cut-Off or CO
Button

The three UTG positions are collectively called "Early Position"
The three MP positions are collectively called "Middle Position"
The last two are called "Late Position"

[jeffnc]

In chess, it's considered best to go first. In poker, it's considered best to go last. That's because you can't see your opponent's cards and you'd like to have more information before you have to make a decisions. In chess, all the information you need is in plain sight on the board.

Just to add some spice to the conversation, it's not ALWAYS best to go last. There are miscellaneous times when going first has advantages. If you want to check/raise someone, you can only do that by going first. If you want to keep the initiative and be the first to assert for the pot, you can only do that by going first.

Another aspect of this is that if the pot is multiway and you act first, but you suspect the player immediately to your left is going to bet, then for all practical purposes you'll be acting last if you check to him and see what everyone else does (this is called relative position).

But in general, you have an advantage if you get to act last because you see what everyone else has done. The big blind has the best position before the flop, but the button will have the best position after the flop and the blinds will have the worst position. (This is why better players don't play as many hands from the blinds as weak players do - even though they get a discount to play, that discount is sometimes lost by having to play first after the flop.)

[jeffnc]

[egarevel]

Position, position, position is everything if the stacks are deep enough for the turn and river decisions to still matter. If the effective stacks are short enough that you'll be all in preflop or on the flop, position does not mean much. In fact being first position might help on the flop.