Why You Don’t Play Many Hands Out Of Early Position

January 19, 2008 | Posted by admin

Almost every pro, semi-pro, and amateur will tell you that position matters, that you should fold almost all hands from early position because you don’t have enough information about what everyone is holding at the table. It’s hard to face a big raise without great cards out of early position because you are forced to bet first for the rest of the hand with a total lack of information on what your opponent is planning on doing. They get to see what you are going to do before they have to invest a chip. But I thought of another reason.

Pot Odds. It’s not cost effective to play a lot of hands out of early position because you have no idea how much money will be in the pot later. Opponents can force you to make a “non cost effective” play with a late position raise. Remember that poker is all about odds. You can make cost effective plays or non cost effective plays. When you are chasing a straight draw there should be enough cash in the pot to make it a good call. Announcers of poker shows talk about how the pot odds tell them they should make a call. Players make livings off of the slight edge they hold based on the odds of the game. You become a winning poker player by playing the right odds. You become a losing player by not playing with the odds. Granted people go on streaks, sometimes good, sometimes bad but in the end the odds don’t lie. If you are making plays that are statistically correct then in the long run you’ll be a winning player. Maybe not that day, maybe not even that year, but eventually the odds catch up with everyone. You can run good for a little bit playing against the odds but the only way to guarantee success is by understanding the odds.

Yes acting first for the rest of the hand puts you at a great disadvantage. Then again playing rags occasionally from early position can pay off if your table image puts you playing mostly quality hands from early position but then you have to raise from early position when its your turn to act and well thats a whole other topic. My point is being at the disadvantage of having to act first is not as big a deal as the pot odds concept.

Lack of information from early position also makes it difficult to determine the implied odds with the hand. A player using implied odds determines how much money they will have to invest into a pot to win the entire pot. All the numbers are predicted based on what the player thinks will happen by the end of the hand. Being that you don’t know how many players will be involved in the hand when you are in early position nor do you know how much it will end up costing to even see a flop it makes it incredibly difficult to figure out if its worth playing the hand or not based on the implied odds.

How To Play Out Of Early Position Pre Flop

Pre flop strategy from Early Position is probably the most straight forward and easy to play out of position in hold em. Basically if you don’t have an excellent hand (examples include AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ) then you fold. AJ is even a questionable hand in early position, at least at full tables, because someone may have you beaten in late position with something along the lines of AA, AK, or AQ. If you’re playing at a tight table then you definately want to raise pre flop with any of the hands above to ensure that no one sees a cheap flop to out draw you. If the table is looser then you can add a few hands to the list such as AJ or A Ten to, hopefully, eliminate a few of the players from seeing the flop.

Your biggest disadvantage in Early Position comes on the flop when you once again have to act first. If you raised pre flop and didn’t hit its typically safe to bet unless you have a lot of loose players at the table who will call with just about anything. Your pre flop raise and bet at the flop will leave opponents believing you had a big pair pre flop and are continuing to bet at it. Of course if you wind up reraised and didn’t make a pair on the flop its safe to fold your hand.

Before betting or folding out of any position always remember what kind of opponent you are up against. Loose players may be calling you all the way to the river with something along the lines of A7 offsuit thinking their ace is good. Others may be making a play at you after they pick up on a betting pattern or body tell.

As long as you don’t play many hands out of Early Position you should be able to pick up a good amount of pots on the Button (in late position) or from free flops in the blinds. Early Position is always a difficult spot to be in unless you have an incredibly strong hand that can stand being raised or reraised throughout the flop, turn, and river. If you start playing weak hands out of Early Position opponents will constantly raise the pot in later positions just to steal the chips you put in the pot hoping to see something cheap and after a few hands that will start to destroy your bankroll. Avoid anything that (at worst) isn’t AT suited or above. AT suited, AJ, AJ suited, AQ, AQ suited, AK, AK suited, JJ (which can land you in a world of trouble if the flop has a Q, K, and / or A on it), QQ, KK, AA or even KQ suited. Even hands like QJ suited can be trouble in early position when faced with a large raise from an opponent in late position if the flop doesn’t hit for you (or worse you make a pair but are up against KQ or AQ if the Q hit.)

Fold, fold, and fold again in Early Position unless you have one of the best starting hands in Hold ‘Em otherwise your bankroll will start to shrink and your head will hurt from all the “bad beats” you took.

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