Poker Table Positions Explained – Know What You Need to Win!
Poker Table Positions Explained by W88you Poker Experts! Read a Beginner-friendly Guide to understand Poker positions & know to increase your winning chances!
Playing casino games at sites like W88 is fun but it is given that besides having fun, you must be smart about the way you play especially when playing against other players on the table because they too are there to win. This especially is true if you are playing a casino game like Poker since it is one of the most fun group casino games which requires you to genuinely be smart and quick with your next move. However, where you sit on the poker table is a smart move as well, let’s find out how.
Do Poker Table Positions Really Matter?
First, let us address the question of whether poker table positions really matter or not because in the end, it is the best card hand that decides the winner of the round, right? Well, yes, but knowing the poker positions on the table is necessary so that you can come up with your own strategy.
Besides, depending on where you are seated at the poker online table, you will get a chance to know your opponent’s way of playing the game.
You would also be able to tell whether they are bluffing or not by observing the way they place bets or raise the stakes.
The more later your turn comes in the game to play the higher chance of other players folding their cards before you and thus, you can end up winning by luck alone!
Early Positions in Poker
In Poker, think of the table being divided into 3 sections, the first of these sections is called the Early Positions, which means the people sitting on this side of the table are responsible for starting the game.
The Small Blind and Big Blind
What makes poker fun, is that not everybody can place their wager together on the table. Instead, there is a person assigned for each new game round, to place a small blind bet.
Small Blind (SB): The Small Blind bet is the first bet on the poker table, this means that the person placing the blind bet but place a wager to kickstart the game. This wager placed will be the minimum wagering amount for the round.
Big Blind (BB): The Big Blind bet is the bet that follows the small blind bet placed, only difference is that the amount must be double or more than the small blind bet.
Blind bets are literally “blind bets” in the sense that you place a wager without even seeing the hand dealt to you. Additionally, the small blind bet starts clockwise from the person with the dealer button.
Under the Gun (UTG) Position
As pressurizing the name sounds, this is the worse position to sit at because now you will have to act under pressure of continuing the betting round.
The people sitting to the left of the big blind bet are the ones sitting in the under the gun early position.
The reason this is pressurizing is because depending on whether or not you raise the big blind stake or continue with the same one, people can read and tell whether the hand you got it strong or not.
With the seat directly to the left side of the big blind, is the first seat under the gun and the seat after it clockwise is known as the UTG +1, so in total there are two under the gun positions on the poker table.
Middle Positions in Poker
Also referred to as MP, Middle Positions are considered to be somewhat the best place to be seated at when playing the game of poker online but this does not mean that you should take the game lightly if you get a seat on this table.
The middle positions do not really have special names except for just “Middle Position Seat” or “MP” since they are usually the seat at the center of the table.
These middle seats are usually the next one, two, or three seats after the UTG+1 seat on the table.
So, yes, depending on the poker table, there can be 1 or 3 poker MP seats. Playing from any of the middle seat, especially the last one if there are 3, is a slightly better option to go with.
Late Positions in Poker
Last but not least, we have the Late Positions seats, and they are the seats that wrap up a single betting round in the gameplay. The late positions seats in poker are also considered to be the best place to sit at as you can use your poker strategies more freely. This section on the table usually have 3 seats, Hijack, Cutoff, Button.
Hijack (HJ)
First on the list is the hijack seat position which is the seat directly besides the last middle position seat.
This seat is a fairly great position on the poker table to start with.
However, in games like the six card poker came, the Hijack seat is removed and there is only one middle seat which directly moves on to the Cutoff seat.
Cutoff (CO)
The Cutoff seat falls directly to the left of the Hijack seat but in cases where there are 6 poker players, this seat falls directly to the left of the Middle Position seat.
This positions is considered to be one of the most profitable positions on the table simply because if you sit here, you will have already been introduced to how the other players on the table are playing the game.
Other than this, if you are good at playing the poker game online then you also have a good chance of knowing who is bluffing with their hand or not.
Speaking of bluffing, you also have the advantage to bluff well by increasing the stakes because chances are that the hands prior to your CO seat will fold in their cards before your turn.
Button (BTN)
The last seat on the table is called the Button seat or the Dealer Button seat, where you will be given a button that is rotated around the table to each seat in order to determine the position of the players on the table for the next game.
However, the purpose of the dealer button position is to determine which player will be at what position in different game rounds because as mentioned above, the dealer buttons keeps rotating around the table clockwise, and whoever is seated at the left of the dealer button becomes the UTG, and so on.
This position can be the best since it is the player who plays last after knowing everyone’s gameplay. But if the Cutoff position decides to increase the stakes then it would be risky.
The Worst and Best Position in Poker Explained
We have now spoken about all the poker table position and explained all the details about them which could also be taken as some poker tips to play the game online. But the question remains, which table position is the best to be seated at when playing the poker game. Although you must have got the hint from above, here is a conclusion of which positions you should be careful of and which ones you should take advantage of.
Worse Position: Any early position in the poker table including the small and big blinds are considered to be the worse poker table position to sit at. This is because here you are not really aware or in other words have lack of knowledge of your own cards for the blinds and regarding the other player’s gameplay or whether they are bluffing or not.
Best Position: The late positions on the poker table are considered to be a good place to start with because here you have prior knowledge of the other players gameplay and can also change the course of the game by raising the stakes or bluffing. Additionally, early positions are more likely to fold in their cards before the late positions get a chance to place bets, which is something you can take advantage of.
Conclusion
We hope that with all the poker table positions explained above, you have been able to get an idea of how you can select your seat in the initial rounds to play the poker game to increase your chances of winning. That being said, using an online betting site like W88 is also essential to help you increase the winning rate. That being said, the positions in the poker table is something that keeps changing and thus, it is important that you place stakes according to the assigned position on the poker table for every game round.
