Passing Poker Strange

Playing from the early position is, unfortunately, something that every poker player on Full Tilt has to do. Even more depressing still is the fact that it happens every time the button goes around the table to knowing how to play from an early position is vital to your success as a poker player. Perhaps the most important thing to remember about playing from an early position is the fact that there are many other players who are waiting to act behind you.

Poker is a game about information and when you are in an early position, you lack information that you can use to make an educated decision on whether you should keep or fold your hand. That is why good poker players play more conservatively in an early position as opposed to a later position. When you are playing in an early position, nine times out of then, you want to play a smaller range of hands than you would consider playing in a mid to late position. A good rule of thumb to use when playing from an early position is if you would not be willing to raise with it in a later position, do not bother calling because you will probably get raised anyway. There is nothing worse than calling from an early position only to be raised and not have a hand that is good enough to call the raise. It wastes chips and makes you both look and feel like a novice.

There are some occasions when you can make a move from an early position on PokerStars.com purely to increase your hourly returns. When you have established a solid table image with the rest of the players, you can make a substantial raise from an early position with a weak hand and most players will respect this show of aggression by folding. You may get a caller or two but you can usually push them out with a sizeable continuation bet depending on what the flop is. It is important to remember that you should not get into a habit of doing this with regularity, as being trapped in a hand like this can be costly. Having someone call and not fold and you either have to commit to the bluff and lose chips that way or fold and that will weaken your image with the other players at the table in addition to costing you chips. One of the positives to the early position is the fact that you can mask the strength of your hand so if you are sitting on a monster hand you can smooth call and have a decent chance to be raised.

Overall, playing from the early position is something that all poker players have to get used to and get good at in order to be successful. While it has many downsides, there are situations where you can use the position of weakness to your advantage.