Position is more important in Hold'em than any other form of poker.
The later you are to act, the better. The value you gain from watching
all your opponents act before you can greatly influence your decisions.
Let's say you hold suited connectors, 7-8 suited, and the player under
the gun raises the pot pre-flop only to be re-raised by the player to his left.
The next three players fold and now your eighth to act with your suited connectors.
They sure don't look as attractive as they did 30 seconds ago. In a regular nine-handed
game the blinds, player under the gun and the fourth player to act are in early position,
players 5-7 are in middle position and the eighth player and button are in late position.
Hands you would fold in early position become hands you can raise with in late position.
The power of position is only compounded by the fact that there are four betting rounds
in hold'em. In last position you get the advantage of information exposed by your
opponent's actions on every round of betting. Drawing hands become profitable if
enough players have limped in, you can give yourself a free card, you can raise with
out the fear of being check-raised. When in doubt about a starting hand make sure you
factor in all the advantages of late position and the disadvantages of early position
into your decision.
