ADVANTAGES OF LAST POSITION
To suggest how important it is to be last, let's take a
situation from seven-card razz. Suppose you started off
with a good three-card low, and you think your opponent
did, too. Now you catch a king or even a queen, and your
opponent pairs up on board. Without a pair, you clearly
have the best low hand if play were to stop immediately,
yet you should not bet. The open pair makes it likely that
your opponent will be last to act on every betting round,
and that fact more than makes up for your slightly better
first four cards.
Why is it so much better to be last? For a variety of reasons.
If you are in last position with only a fair-to-.good hand
and the first player bets, you can call without having to
fear a raise behind you. Players in early or middle position
have no such comfort. If they call with a fair hand, they
risk having to throw it away or pay a big price to continue
when there's a raise behind them.
If you have a big hand in last position, your advantage
is even greater. To see how much so, compare it to being
first. In first position with a big hand, you might try
to check-raise. But if no one bets behind you, you have
lost a few bets from players who would have called a bet
from you, while you have given a free card to players who
wouldn't have called.
On the other hand, if you come right out betting in first
position, you cost yourself money when a check-raise would
have worked. Even in middle position with a big hand, you
have difficult tactical decisions. If no one has yet bet
and it's up to you, you must decide whether to bet or risk
sandbagging. If someone has bet in front of you, you must
decide whether it is more profitable and tactically correct
to raise, inevitably driving out some players behind you,
or to call in the hope of some overcalls behind you. In
last position, you have no such problems. If no one has
bet, you can, and if someone has bet ahead of you, you are
at liberty to raise or to slow play after knowing how many
players are likely to remain in the pot.
If your hand is mediocre, it is still advantageous to be
last. On the first round you can call the small opening
bet without fear of a raise. On later rounds players ahead
of you may check better hands than yours, which allows you
to check behind them and get a free card. However, if you
checked that same mediocre hand in an early position, an
opponent might bet a fair hand behind you, denying you a
free card and probably forcing you to fold.
When the pot is down to two players, positional considerations
still apply, perhaps more than when there are several players
in the pot. In last position you can bet a big hand when
your opponent doesn't and raise when he does. With the same
hand in first position, you'd have to decide whether to
try a check-raise or bet; when you check with the intention
of raising and your opponent checks behind you, you cost
yourself a bet; if you bet when a check-raise would have
worked, you also cost yourself a bet.
With a mediocre hand against one player, it's also advantageous
to be last. If you can't call a bet, you still may get a
free card when your opponent checks. In first position,
you are not at liberty to give yourself a free card. Finally,
if your hand is somewhere in the middle good but not great
- it is better to be last. It's true you will bet in either
position, but in last position you have the edge of being
able to call when your opponent bets. In first position
you might bet what is a calling hand and find yourself raised
by your opponent in last position.
The only real threat to a player in last position is the
possibility of a check-raise. Consequently, in games where
check raising is not allowed, being last is even more advantageous.
Once players ahead of you have checked, you can feel reasonably
confident they are not sandbagging with a big hand.
