Texas Hold'em poker - Position

The difference in the amount of information you will receive is what makes your position at the table important. The person to the left of the dealer is always at a disadvantage as they must bet first. He doesn’t know whether these bets will be raised or called.

Thus he will be confused about the cost of seeing the flop and the amount of money that will be in the pot at the end of the betting round – the key ingredients for calculating the implied pot odds.

If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in this position, it is usually wise to assume the worst and therefore, before you venture to put money in the pot, to have a holding robust enough to make you willing to call a raise if it should occur. (If you bet on average hands and are raised, you are likely to be sucked into calling the raise.)

By contrast, the person playing last will have the information you lack, and be able to call with an average hand, as it is relatively cheap for him to do so, especially if others have also stayed in and contributed to the pot. In a late position, you may well stay in on hands that you would readily fold in early or mid positions.