The Ultimate Guide To TABLE POSITIONS IN POKER

There are various aspects in poker that you have to learn to master the game. And table positions in poker is one of them. When you are playing poker, table positions in poker will play an important role in deciding the winner. In order for you to have a better chance at winning, you need to understand how the table positions in poker affects the odds and probability of winning.

But, you need to understand that not all poker varients depend on poker position. However, Texas Hold’em Poker and Omaha Hold’em plays a huge role in deciding the winner when it comes to position at the poker table.

In this article, I will talk about the various positions at poker table, how poker positions affect the game and which poker position gives you the best chance to win a hand.

First, let us learn what poker position is.  To put it in simple terms, Poker positions are the various seats that the players can occupy when they are playing poker in a table. Players at a poker table sit in a circle. The various seats that the player occupies have different names and meaning. At most ten players can play poker in a table at a time.

Various Table Positions In Poker

Names for the table positions in poker varies as per the number of players playing at a time. The poker positions I am about to mention holds good for Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hold’em poker. Without any delay, lets take a look at the various poker positions on a poker table.

Table Positions In Poker For A Ten Player Table

The table positions in poker matter a lot when ten or nine poker players play at a time. Being at the right poker position gives a huge advantage for players. When you are at a disadvantageous position, you cannot play any hands you want. You have to more picky when the position doesn’t favor you. You’ll understand what I mean as you read further.

Without any delay, let’s take a look at the different table positions in poker when 9-10 players are involved.

Dealer Button

Dealer button or simply “Button” is the position of the player from where the dealer deals the cards. He is also the last player to play the hand for each betting round. Dealer button is technically the best position to be at when we play poker.

The dealer button is moved one position in the clockwise direction after each round is finished. As the dealer button moves, the position of players changes as well. So, dealer button technically acts as an indicator for the player who is going to be playing last. And also the other positions are determined from the dealer button position.

Blinds

When you are playing Texas Hold’em or Omaha Hold’em, you have to bet something called blinds. These bets are called as the fordced bets since the player doesn’t have any option but to pay up. These forced bets have to be made by the players without seeing the hole (Starting cards) cards. There can be atmost three blinds in a game. Usually, there will be two blinds that the player must bet. The two blinds are the small blind and the big blind.

1. Small Blind: Small Blind is the bet you have to make which is the half of the big blind. That is, if the big blind is $2, then the small blind is $1. The position of the small blind is to the left of dealer button. After every round the position swifts one position to the left. Therefore, the player to the left of small blind will be the next small blind player and so on. Once the first betting round is over, the second betting round is started with the small blind player.
2. Big Blind: Big Blind is the bet which is double of the small blind. Big blind is the minimum bet that the other players have to make if they intend to play the hand. If they don’t want to bet, then the other players can fold their hands without betting any amount. The position of the big blind is to the left of the small blind player position. Big blind is the last player to conclude the betting for the first round.

Under The Gun (UTG)

Under the gun is the first player to bet after seeing his hole cards. The position for the UTG is left of the big blind. If the UTG player wishes to play his hand, then he has to make a bet that is equal to that of big blind or more. He cannot play the hand by checking. He has the option to fold his hand if he feels the the hand he has isn’t that good.

The reason the position to the left of big blind is called as UTG is because of the pressure that goes along with having to act before anyone else in the hand. All the other players will have a slight edge over you since they have the option of observing your betting. Hence the position is known as UTG.

Now, the remaining players positions after the UTG is referred to as UTG+1, UTG+2 and so on expect for the last two positions at the poker table.

1. UTG+1: It is the position to the left of UTG. Since it is the first position after the UTG, the position is named as the UTG+1.
2. UTG+2: It is the position to the left of UTG+1. Since it is the second position to UTG , the position is named as the UTG+2.

Similarly, the other positions in poker after the UTG except the last two positions are all UTG positions. All the UTG players have the option to fold their hands without betting in the first round.

Highjack

Highjack is the position to the immediate right of the cut-off player position or to the second right of Dealer button position in a poker table. When you are playing in Highjack position, you are known to be in position and control of the game.

The reason for the name highjack is because of the option for the player to open raise the blind and hijack the advantage that the last two players get from playing late in the round.  It is a really nice position to be in when your playing poker.

Cut-Off

Cut-off position or seat is to the immediate right of dealer button or to the immediate left of Hijack position. The position is called as Cut-off since, if the action folds to the player sitting in that seat he or she has the option to “cut off” the dealer button’s advantageous position with an open raise. Of course, if the player at the cut-off position doesn’t bet or raise, then the advantage for the dealer button still stays. Cut-off positions is one of the best table positions to be at when playing poker.

These are the different table positions in Poker when there are 9 or 10 players playing at a time. Now that you have learnt all the names for different poker positions, you can classify all these positions into three categories. The categories are early position, middle position and late position.

1. Early Position

Early position in poker is the position of poker players from small blind to UTG+1. That is, it is the table positions in poker which consists of first four players to take action in the hand. This holds good for a table with 9 to 10 poker players.

The early positions in poker is considered to be not good poker position to be in. Early positions in poker is considered as disadvantageous since you are always exposed. What I mean by this is that, the players in other positions can act accordingly, to the way you bet.

Also, playing early means, you won’t be aware of other players hand and you always have to take a risk by betting without knowing anything. This is the reason that you shouldn’t bet when you are in the early positions, unless you have an exceptional starting hand. Small Bilnd position is one of the worst position to be at since you always end up playing first in each of the betting round.

Playing only the best starting hands is super important when you are in one of the early positions. If you don’t have a decent hand, then it is better to fold your hand and wait for the next game.  This is extremely important when there are 9 or 10 players involved in the game. As the number of player decreases, the more chance you have at winning in the early positions.

2. Middle position

Middle position in poker is the position of poker players from UTG+2 to UTg+4 when there are 9 or 10 players involved in the poker table. Usually, the middle position consists of 3-4 players in the middle when 9-10 players are involved. When it comes to advantageous, middle positions is better than that of Early poker positions. But, it is not better than the late positions.

When you are positioned in one of the middle positions, you have the opportunity to observe the players who have already played in the early positions, but you won’t know how the late position players are gonna play. So, play only if you are confident with your hand and have a decent chance of winning the game. If not, it is better to fold and wait for your next turn.

3. Late position

Late positons in poker is the position of poker players from hijack seat to the player sitting at the button. That is, the last three players who take in the betting round for a 9 or 10 players table.

Being in the late positions in one of the best possible poker positions to be at. You will have the highest advantage compared to the other players. In late positions, you can observe the players sitting at both the early and the middle position and play accordingly.

Also, if you are in one of the late positions, you will have a higher chance of bluffing players sitting in other positions. Dealer Button position is the best position to be at in a poker table, since you always end up playing last in each of the betting round.

These were the three different positions in poker where you can be positioned at. In short,when there are 9 or 10 players involved, being in early position is disadvantageous compared to be sitting in one of the middle or the late positions. And being in one of the late positions is one of the best possible table positions in poker for a player.

Table Positions In Poker For A Five Player Table

When there are only 5 players involved in poker, the number of table positions in poker becomes less. When only five players are involved, the first player to take action other than the blinds would be the Hijack position. Technically speaking, UTG becomes the Hijack seat in a 5 player poker table.

In a 5-6 player table, Small and Big blind takes the early position and Hijack becomes the middle position. The Cut-off and Button takes the late positions when 5-6 players are involved. Even in 5 player poker table, Dealer button will still have the most advantage compared to other seats.  But, the early positions will not be a bad position to be at compared to a 9 or 10 player poker table.

So, you have the option to play much more freely even if you are in one of the early position. You could say that small blind will still be the worst possible position even in a 5-6 poker player table.

Table Positions In Poker For A Two Player Table

When only two players are involved, the dealer button becomes the small blind and the other player takes the big blind position. When only two players are involved there are no good table positions in poker. Both the players have equal chance of winning.

When only two players are involved then the games being played between them is known as Heads Up. In a heads up game, the dealer button position becomes the small blind as well. And the big blind player will be the first player to play between the two.

Usually, the games between two players is fast paced and most of the games end up not being played. That is, one of the two players end up folding their hands most of the time.

These are the different table positions in poker when different set of players are involved in the game.

Similar: Learn and understand the top 45 poker terms and phrases

How does the table positions in poker affect the game?

As I mentioned earlier, the table positions in poker plays a huge role when 9 or 10 poker players are involved. The players seated in the early positions have a disadvantage compared to players seated in the middle or in the late positions.

Being seated in one of the early position, you have to choose what hand you have to play and bet only those hands which have a high percentage of winning. If not, then it is better to fold your hand. The reason you have to be picky is because the players who are seated after you might have a better hand than you.

You will not know how much the other players will bet. If the other players end up betting more, and you don’t feel you have a winning hand, then you will end up folding your current hand. Therefore, it is better to fold your hands even before betting once if you don’t have a strong hand. Small blind position is the worst possible position for a poker player to be at, since the player at the small blind will always be the first one to act in each of the betting rounds.

Being seated in one of the middle positions is slightly better than that of early positions. But you still need to choose your hand carefully before making a bet.

Being seated in one of the late positions is the best position to be at. It gives the players luxury to bluff as well as have a general idea of other players cards. The dealer button position is the best possible seat for any poker player to be at.

You need to remember that as the number of players playing in a table decreases the position value decreases as well. That is, the lesser the players, the better chance you have at winning even if you are positioned at one of the early position.

I hope that now you guys have a general idea of how the different table positions in poker affect the game. Also have learned the various table positions in poker. If you guys have any queries regarding the table positions in poker, please leave a comment below so that I will be able to address it. Make sure to read the other articles related to poker as well.

Poker Positions FAQ

What is a table position in poker?

Poker positions are the various seats that the players can occupy when they are playing poker in a table.

What is the worst position to be at when playing poker?

For the first round of betting Under The Gun (UTG) is the worst possible position to be at. From the second round of betting, player at the small blind becomes the worst position to be at.

What is the best position to be at when you play poker?

The best postition to be at in a poker table is the Dealer Button position also known as Buck. It is considered as the best position since the player at that position plays last in each of the betting round.