Poker: Location, Location, Location

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

One of the best basic rules of Texas Hold'em No Limit poker you can learn is the principle of location. Essentially, he who acts last profits from the most amount of information. Information, you will find, is critical to your decision making in Texas Hold'em No Limit poker. As such it is advantageous indeed to be 'on the button' as they say, or to have the dealer button positioned on you as this means you are the last to act.

This rule applies whether you are playing Texas Hold'em No Limit poker live or online at one of the many online poker rooms available on the internet.

Oftentimes, examples are the best way to illustrate the prinicple of location in Texas Hold'em No Limit poker.

Here are just 3 of the best available examples we can provide to consider the benefits of location in Texas Hold'em No Limit poker:

a. there are say, 3 players in the hand and the board comes J-10-3 rainbow. You are on the button and everyone checks to you. If your hole cards are 10-Ace this may be a suitable time to bet knowing that neither player looks to have an J pair, and you may well have the best hand amongst all the players at the moment.

b. in the same situation as a., if you have K-Q and are one card short of a straight, you can call any raises down to see if you hit a straight by the time you get to the river. Compare this to acting first - you may choose not to bet out any chips (representing you have a pair from the board) as someone may re-raise you, costing you more chips to see if you will hit a straight. Because you always act first, are unkeen to raise yet call his raises, it may become apparent to your opponent that you are waiting for the straight. Knowing this, your opponent can then bet against you on the flop, turn and the river, and, if he thinks you are drawing for your straight, put in all his chips to chase you off the round.

c. in the same situation as b., if you get to the river and still have not hit a straight, if your opponent(s) have never bet all the way to the turn or the river, neither your opponents may have hit any cards. You may want to bet, suggesting you have a pair or better, getting everybody to fold and thus winning the pot with nothing but a King-high.

These are just 3 examples to illustrate the value of position in Texas Hold'em No Limit poker. Whether you are a live or online poker player, these are one of the best poker principles you can learn in playing the game. The later you act the more information you have, and information, you will find, is one of the most important aspects of Texas Hold'em No Limit poker.