This is the most important poker strategy

7 min readNov 20, 2021

How playing ‘in-position’ makes all the difference

You may have assumed that the avatar you chose for your PokerStars account wouldn’t impact your poker win-rate.

I wasn’t sure, so I played it safe and went for this image of Mr Bean. I thought it would be the last thing an opponent would want to look at while making a difficult decision against me.

Hence for the last 10 years, Mr Beans glaring eyes and awkward smile has been my avatar.

I write about strategy

If you have no interest in poker, I still think this blog post is for you.

I will move on to other topics after this post. Today, I want to breakdown a simple concept, but first I will introduce you to the game that I love.

Poker strategy

The game I play is Texas hold’em.

Poker is a game of incomplete information. You do not know your opponents’ cards or which cards will be dealt next.

People think it is a card game that involves betting, but it is really a betting game that involves cards. I am paraphrasing that last line from Ed Miller. (I think.)

The rules of Texas hold’em

Each player has “chips” (money to bet with).

Each player is dealt two cards (sometimes referred to as your “hand”), then there are five community cards.

Each player aims to make the best 5 card “hand” using a combination of your own 2 cards, and the 5 community cards.

If you bet and all of your opponents’ fold, you can win the “pot” (all of the Chips bet so far), without showing your cards.

The fun bit is that you can bet after:

Each player has their 2 cards
3 cards are dealt (“Flop”)
A 4th card is dealt (“Turn”)
A 5th card is dealt (“River”).

Each of these bets is an opportunity to win the pot.

If you bet and get called after the river, you show your cards and the best hand wins.

So the rules above are the essence of the game.

Playing in-position

It is important that I point out, that the order of play changes every hand.

During each hand, one player has the “dealer” position, shown by the dealer chip in the image.

This means that they get to play last at every stage of betting.

The person to their left acts first, and the order of play is clockwise from there.

The further to the right of the dealer you are, the more likely you are to have to act first in this hand.

Having the final decision, or the dealer position, is know as playing “In position” (Spoiler — this bit is really important).

Winning at poker

In my opinion, the most crucial strategy to understand in poker is playing in position.

By playing in more situations when act last, that extra information about your opponents actions can be used against them. You can:

Bluff them if they show weakness
Make well-timed bets when you think you have the best “hand” and want to get paid.
Control the pot size by seeing an extra card

Poker hand example

Below is a link to footage of a poker hand that I played online a few years ago. Click the link below and press play to watch:

https://www.boomplayer.com/10767596_EC128A96A1

$56 of my real money on the table for myself and $36 for my opponent who I will refer to as “Player6”. You will see how I played the two cards “King of Clubs” & “Ten of Clubs”. In this hand, I am in the dealer position, shown by the little white chip below with the red diamond on it.

This post is from the Strategy Time blog. My blog about strategy. If you would like to see other strategy related articles and get more of my insights, please join my mailing list (the link is below every article on the Strategy Time site).

Poker hand summary:

Player6 bet $1.50, “pre-flop” (the term for betting before we saw any community cards).

I had good but not great cards but I am in Position, so I “call” (the term for putting the minimum chips required into the “pot” to continue).

I was hoping to use my positional advantage if I get a flop that I like.

Player6 bet big on the flop ($3.58 into a pot of $3.58), and now I have a good enough hand, to put it in all the chips.

I raise to $11.50 but they just called the “raise” (the term for putting a second bet after your opponent has just bet).

Player6 could have gone “All-In” on the flop, (Going all-in means betting all your chips. It’s a lot of fun), but they didn’t.

I interpreted that as a sign of weakness because if they have a very strong hand (i.e. AA, KK, 88, 77 or 55), they would surely want to get all the money in now?

Playing the turn

The picture above shows that we are on the 4th community card, the turn. We both have an opportunity to bet.

Player6 showed weakness on the “flop” by not going “All-In”. Now Player6 acts first on this “turn” (Six of Clubs) and decides not to bet.

Player6 “checks” (He did not bet).

Maximising your positional advantage

What to do now?

There is $25 in the “pot”.

Player6 has $22 left. I have more, meaning that $22 is all there is left to play for.

If I “check” (meaning that I do not bet), I can see another card for free.

I don’t really need to see any more cards though.

I have a, “flush” (five cards with Clubs).

This will be the best hand in this situation, nearly every time.

If I bet $22 now on this turn, I could try and get my opponents remaining chips.

However, I have seen two signs of weakness from the opponent, so I don’t think they are likely to pay off my huge bet.

It is extremely unlikely they would play a weaker flush, a “straight”, or even “two pairs” this way (all of which I beat).

Player6 hand looks to me like one weak pair.

I check the turn.

Letting your opponent make mistakes

The 5th card, the river, is the Queen of Spades.

This changes nothing.

As you can see from the image below, Player6 shoves all of their remaining $22 into the pot of $48.

I call this big bet and they have “Ace of Spades, Six of Hearts” for a weak one pair.

My flush is the best hand, and I win $70.

The check on the turn

If I had bet all of my chips on the turn, Player6 would nearly certainly have “folded” this weak pair (folding means to give up and lose the pot).

I was able to disguise the strength of my cards, and use the positional advantage by Checking, hoping to bait them into making a mistake later.

It seems that my check on the turn was interpreted by Player6 as a sign of weakness.

Player6 bet the river, probably hoping to represent that he had a flush and that I would fold a weak hand (like TT or JJ).

Alternative 1: If they had checked the river

I decided to check on the turn and see how they played on the the river (5th card).

If Player6 was to check again on the river, I could have bet very small ($10), hoping to get called by a weaker hand.

Alternative 2: If I had a bluff, not a flush

Think of how this hand plays out if I was bluffing on the turn (i.e. If I had a flush draw with Ace of Clubs and the Ten of Spades).

I could have used my positional advantage to shove $22 into the pot on the turn, putting their weak pair under so much pressure, that I may have won the pot without seeing any more cards.

Why “position” is everything

As shown in the hand above and in the “Alternative 2” and “Alternative 3” scenarios, by playing in position, there are a variety of profitable opportunities that present themselves to the player that acts last.

Playing in position makes it easier to:

Get the most value from your strongest hands.
Bluff opponents off of their weak hands.
Control the pot size.
Control how many cards you and your opponent see.

Poker is a decision-making game based on incomplete information.

Play in position, by playing more hands when you will act last, and learn how to maximise your positional advantage, and it will be easier to make better decisions.

If you were to take one piece of poker strategy advice to the tables, that would be it.

Can this strategy be applied to any everyday situations outside of poker? I think it can. Follow this strategy blog to learn more.