Texas Holdem - Seat Position in Texas Holdem

I know this has happened to you - it's happened to everybody who has ever played Texas Holdem: You're sitting in an early position, preflop and holding a marginal hand, but you figure your hand is good enough to call and see the flop. Much to your dismay, a player in a later position makes a bet and now it's going to cost you double your initial investment to stay in. You know your hand isn't worth it, so you fold.

That is disadvantage of playing in an early position - you don't have enough information to play marginal hands with any certainty of success.

The most advantageous position at a Texas Holdem Table is the last position. Why? Because you act last, and by the time your turn comes you have a wealth more information with which to base your move on. Playing in last position, you will see more flops than you would otherwise, simply because you have had a chance to assess your oponents' actions and the cost of staying in. Knowing what your opponents are going to do makes a huge difference. You won't get caught calling on a marginal hand that you should have folded in the first place, only to be raised and forced to fold before the flop.

Probably the nicest advantage of late position is that, when acting last, you'll know how much it will cost you to be in the pot. Based on your hole cards and the actions of the other players, you can easily assess whether or not it is worth it to call and stay in the hand, or whether to fold. You can't know this in an earlier position, as any following player may bet, thus raising the price of seeing the flop.

I will never forget when I was sitting the blind with hole cards of offsuit 7 and 2. The worst starting hand in Texas Holdem. Since no other player bet or raised, I simply called to see the flop - and much to my amazement the flop gave me a full house. This incredible stroke of luck has happened to me twice to date. This would never have happened in any earlier position, since those cards would have been folded without a second thought. On both instances, other players were playing strong hands, so the pot grew and grew. I could see by the board cards that I had the nuts, so the winnings were great. The other players were confident, since they would never have considered anyone would be in with 7-2 offsuit, and thus be holding a full house. Sometimes playing late position is incredible. And lucky.