STRONG HAND, BETTOR TO THE LEFT

Another significant advantage to last position is that when you make a strong hand, you have more opportunity to win a big pot. You can sit there innocently with your monster hand and let the bettor to your left drive the other players around to you. That opponent bets, two or three players ahead of you call, and now bang, you raise. You get at least a single bet from opponents who fold after you raise, and you get a double bet from those who call. You're also making it more expensive for them to try to draw out on you when there are more cards to come. (Notice, in this situation, the problems faced by players in first and middle positions, those callers in the middle always risk a raise from a player behind them.)

STRONG HAND, BETTOR TO THE RIGHT

If you had the same strong hand but the bettor were to your right, you would not be able to play the hand in the same way. If you raised, you would be requiring players behind you to call a double bet to continue. Thus, you'd get fewer callers (if any) than you would if you raised in last position after they had committed themselves by calling the first bet. On the other hand, by just calling in first position, the best you can hope for is to collect some single bets from players behind you. At the same time, when there are more cards to come, you're making it relatively cheap for the callers to draw out on you. So with more cards to come, you have to decide whether your hand can stand competition or whether you should raise to drive players out.

• Advantages Of Last Position
• Advantages Of First Position
• How Position Affects Play