Poker is a table game where each seat has its own name or “position”. The position is not linked to a specific seat, instead, it 🕒 moves clockwise with each hand dealt.

In general, positions can be divided into 4 main groups:

• 🔵 Blinds (Small Blind, Big Blind);
• 🟢 Late positions (Button, Cutoff);
• 🟠 Middle positions (Hi-Jack, Lo-Jack);
• 🔴 Early positions (UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2).

Two of the most common table types in Texas Hold’em poker are the full-ring table (9 positions) and the short-handed table (6 positions). All the positions’ names for those formats are shown in the pictures below:

In Position / Out Of Position Concept In Poker

Before going further into the description of poker positions, it is crucial to understand the meaning of being “in position” in poker. If player A is in position on player B, the following can be assumed:

• Player A is seated right to the player B;
• Player A will make his decision after player B both pre-flop and postflop.

A player in position receives more information about the strength of the hands of players seated before them, based on the actions they take. Player A, having received information from opponents, can easily adjust their strategy.

Early Position (EP)

People sitting on Under The Gun (UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2) start the action pre-flop. That’s why these positions can be grouped into Early Positions (EP). Early positions usually are hard to play at, because they have no information about other players and what they will do. Taking this into account, the open-raise range from EP should be very narrow.

Middle Position (MP)

Early positions are followed by LoJack (LJ) and HiJack (HJ), the Middle Positions (MP). They act in between early and late positions. A player sitting on LJ still has to be careful about his VPIP range, as there are still 5 players to act after. A player on HJ, having received information about players on EP, can start to add some tricky hands to his opening range to steal blinds.

Late Position

Cutoff (CO)

Cutoff acts late on preflop. From this position, a player should start to steal blinds aggressively as there is only one opponent left in position. And If you can get BTN to fold you will be in position against the blinds for the entire hand.

Button (BU or BTN)

Button is the best possible position in poker for both allowing a player to collect information from his opponents and being the last one to act post-flop. As a consequence, BTN has the widest range of cards to enter the game with.

In home games, the player in the Button position is also responsible for dealing the cards in the current hand.

The Blinds

Small and Big blinds are already disadvantageous positions because they are forced to make a mandatory bet on preflop before even seeing any cards.

Small Blind (SB)

The Small Blind is seated first to the left of the dealer button. Having received some information about opponents on the preflop, he always starts the action on the postflop, which is always harder than being in position.

Big Blind (BB)

The Big Blind is the worst and 😣 the most difficult position at the poker table. Because of posting a whole blind before seeing the cards, the BB must play a wide range of hands out of position on every street.

Another special feature of playing on the BB is that you get improved pot odds to enter the game pre-flop. So hands that are not playable in other positions, even on the button, are often played from the big blind.

Conclusion

To conclude, the concept of ‘position’ is very important in poker. Knowing all poker positions at the table giving you not only the opportunity to describe a poker hand to your friend properly but also increases your EV at the table by accomplishing the advantage of being in position.