Poker Tidbits #1 and #2: Position, Starting Hands, The Gap Concept

So here we go, my first attempt to shed some light on a bit of poker advice for the average player. I'm sure my scattered advice will make all the experienced tutors out there quiver, if they ever happen to stumble upon it. I decided to combine #1 and #2 since they are closely linked. It's actually difficult to talk about many concepts in poker without talking about (or understanding) the importance of position. So what is position? Well, it's simply where you are at the table relative to the dealer. Since the dealer button shifts clockwise one seat after each hand, your position is changing each hand.  Below is a screen shot of a PokerStars table I snagged from the web illustrating what is considered early position, mid position, and late position.

Theoretically, you need stronger starting hands when you're in early position than in late position. Under the Gun (UTG) is the first to act pre-flop. On the flop, turn, and river the first person to the left of the dealer button who is still in the hand is first to act. When somebody has to act before you, you have position on them which is desirable. Having position on your opponents is extremely important to gain information in a hand. Since poker is a game of gathering information from your opponents through a series of betting, the more information you have the better off you will be to make wise decisions. The disadvantage to being UTG is that you do not have any information from your opponents yet, since you are first to act before the flop. You will also be out of position on later streets against any opponent that plays against you, with the exception of the small blind and big blind if they get involved in the hand. Typically, stronger hands should be played from UTG (big pairs such as 10-10+, A-K, A-Q). Hands like A-10 thru A-2, K-J, K-10, Q-J, Q-10, etc can be potentially dangerous playing from this position.  These are typical "trap" hands. As you move into mid and late position, your starting hand requirements go down since there are less people to act behind you. When you're raising UTG or even UTG +1 with one of the "trap" hands, the likelihood of somebody calling you with a weaker hand becomes highly unlikely since they will tend to respect a raise from that position more than a raise from later position. This leads to the Gap Concept which basically states: It takes a stronger hand to call a raise then it does to make a raise.

Example 1: You're dealt K-J off suit in the cutoff position. The UTG player raises pre-flop. What do you do? Fold. The likelihood of them raising with a weaker hand is unlikely. Think of all the hands they could easily be raising with that you are behind: A-J, A-Q, A-K, K-Q, 10-10, J-J, Q-Q, K-K, A-A. Even all smaller pairs such as 9-9 thru 2-2 you are slightly behind (although it's nearly 50/50 if you were to see all 5 community cards)

Example 2: You're dealt K-J off suit in the cutoff position. Everyone folds to you. What do you do? Raise. Same hand, same position, but now we're raising instead of folding? Yes. Now you have more information. The 5 people to act before you all folded, and there are only 3 left to act behind you. Now K-J appears to be a stronger hand. The less players left to act, the smaller chance there is of them having a stronger hand. I don't like limping (just calling the big blind) there, seems like a weak play, plus you're giving the big blind a free look at the flop with 2 random cards if nobody else raises. If I open a pot preflop, I tend to raise. I will limp in on occasion, but it's generally a unique situation with other variables at play (such as trapping a very aggressive player, for example).

It's very typical for weak poker players to look down, see any 2 face cards or any Ace and just throw chips in the middle with complete disregard for all other factors. These players are just giving away their chips, and will eventually have a huge target on their head. It's important to keep in mind that the type of opponents you're up against are also a determing factor in your starting hand selection. If players are playing tight, loosen up your game and play aggressively against them since you're likely to pick up some easy and uncontested pots. If they're loose and aggressive, tighten up your game and punish their aggressive play with the strong hands you're dealt. Sometimes I will play weaker hands when in position against weak opponents just because I know I can outplay them easily post-flop and pick up some easy pots. I will talk more about labeling your opponents later, however.

As the number of players dwindles at a table (at a final table where people are being eliminated, for example) your starting hand requirements go down. The less players at the table, the less cards being dealt, therefore the likelihood of a good hand being dealt decreases. Say you're 4-handed, now a hand like K-J, or any 2 face cards and any ace are playable from all positions.

Now, all the above information is fine and dandy in theory, but what you have to keep in mind is that many of the players you play against also have this information. There are a lot of resources out there to learn how to play poker well, and I find that this causes trends in poker. When the online poker craze hit, people starting writing books on poker theory, started tutorial websites, etc. Now everyone you play against "knows" that you're only supposed to raise UTG with very strong hands. So a trend started of people raising hands like suited connectors UTG such as 6-7s thru 9-10s (The "s" just means it's suited). This in an effort to be deceptive, and have a well disguised hand if you happen to hit the flop hard. So now the UTG raise has lost some credibility because of this. So it's important to stay ahead of the curve and observe these trends, especially if you're a regular player. The most important thing is to mix up your game so you aren't predictable. Don't always raise suited connectors UTG, for example, but do it once in a while to keep them guessing. Then next time you pick up A-A and raise you're more likely to get paid than if you always play by the book. I'd be far more willing to raise UTG with a hand like 7-8s than I would, say, A-7 off suit. The thing about doing it with 7-8s is that you're looking to flop a big hand like a straight or flush, or a big draw. If you do, it will be well disguised since they won't suspect you of holding 7-8. If you hit top pair, it's easier to get away from if you have to. Playing A-7 you're more likely to be dominated by people playing stronger Aces. So if you hit a flop like A-6-3, which initially might seem good, it might actually wind you up in a lot of trouble since you're really only going to get action from hands that dominate you. 

This was a pretty quick overview of position and starting hands to give the casual player a bit of a better grasp on what you should be playing from what position pre-flop. I'll leave it up to you to dig deeper if you so desire. The best way to learn is from experience as well. I'll talk more about position when we get into post-flop play.

Hopefully you enjoyed this little tidbit of information and it helps you crush some souls next time you find yourself in the middle of a poker game. I've barely scratched the surface (I think my car has more scratches than I just made), but it's important info to know about when tossing the chips around.

Cheers
Josh