Early vs Late position

[blue eyes]

I have a question about position. It is assumed you can play wotrse starting hands in late position and this makes little sense to me. Being in late position surely is an advantage, no question, but if everyone calls before the flop, or at least a few do ( or even rasie ) can you really say that you would stay in with not so great cards. Maybe I misunderstood the rule but I can't see why a bad hand is playable in late position, I hope someone can clarify this

[Dave B]

I may shock you....if you are in late postion and everyone has already limped in you are a fool to flop any hand!

With each additional caller, the pot increases, so the pot odds for you increase. This makes each hand more valuable pre flop.

So you have 7 3. What if the flop is 4 5 6 or 77 4. You are a huge favorite to win 8 times your initial bet. If the flop is A K 7, maybe you call a small bet hoping for trips or 2 pair. If the flop is A J 8, get the heck out.

Remember, even if you have a terrible hand, it isnt that much of an disadvantage to Ak AQ KQ or other big hands. Less than 50% of the time, no one will have a pocket pair, so it just comes down to how flops better cards.

Reason #2-you are on the button w/ 8 callers. In a 3/6 game the pot is $24. Flop comes rags and everyone checks to you. If you bet, most of the time 1/3 to 1/2 of players will fold. If people check again after the turn, a 2nd bet can often take the pot. So even w/ junk, the botton puts you in a good position to control the hand.

That leads me to this move that works far more often than it probably should. Lets say the above scenario works out and you are in the big or small blind w/ junk. If I see someone on the botton or just before it be the 1st to bet and I sense a bluff, I will check raise w/ nothing. It is a cheap way to weed out weak hands and see how strong the callers are. If I am re-raised, I may call to keep table respect or fold. If only one or two call, a bet on the turn will win a lot of hands uncontested. This works very well if you have established some table respect, if a straight or flush draw is out, or if you are on a roll and people dont want to mess w/ you. For a big pot preflop, a $6 check raise on a 3/6 table is a pretty cheap way to steal a nice pot.

[Poker_Vendetta]

Late position big time. I see what you are trying to do, and I respect you for trying to have a new outlook on the game but somethings do not change. Unless you loooove to check-raise, late position will always be superior. Now, preflop in first position if you were to raise, against intelligent opponents they would respect you evenmore...considering that all raises in first position are reckless if you bet with nothing, since we all know that you will have a couple of opponents with HUGE hands behind you. Now, let's say you have position on two tight players, they limp and you call with 23s...The flop comes 45J, rainbow. If those players check fast as heck, you could semibluff and take the pot right there. But in first position you never know, they could have flopped two-pair, and your semibluff would be useless.

[blue eyes]

ok thanks Dave, so I did understand to some degree, even if you are in late position, if preflop is raised and even reraised, bad cards are just that, bad cards, early or late position, thanks for clarifying when bad cards could work in late position though