Does my bum look big in this

Hyzepher

I have talked about the importance of position in poker and how your playing style should reflect where you are in any hand. But position is not a game prevailing advantage - you cycle through the various poitions as the game progresses around.

However, there is another form of position that does last the entire game - physical position or seating position. Before we take our seats at a game we have a choice to make - which seat? Some players will argue that where you sit has no real advantage as poker is a cyclicar game - played in the round. Well they are wrong - there is a great advantage in deciding where you are going to sit.

Remember, for the most part everyone to your immediate right will act before you and everyone on you immediate left will act after you - the position of the dealer will determine this but only to a very small degree. In fact the only time that you will act before the player to your right is when he is dealer. This gives you an advantage over this player for most of the game.

So how do we maximise this advantage. Well it isn't easy to do. To truely maximise your seating position you need to have some experience playing with the other players. If this is the case then you will need to try and position yourself so that loose players are to your right and tight players are to your left.

With the loose players to your right you can 'encourage' them to call your raise simply because they have already bet before you and loose players like to remain in the pot - therefore you have got 2 bets off them. If they were on your left they might not call your raise as it is 2 bets at once.

With tight players to your left, your raise has no real effect as to whether they would have bet or not. Tight players tend to play less cards and this means that your actions have less of an effect on them.

In a recent game (online) I was playing for about 30 minutes and getting no-where. I was being bashed by a very loose agressive player to my left. This effected my game as I was unable to predict how he was going to bet after me. After the 30 minutes the seat to his left opened up and I changed seats. I was now acting after him. In the next 30 minutes I won every hand! To the extent that the other players were commenting on it. Not only had I achieved an advantage over an opponent who was causing me trouble but I also managed to lay the BIG tilt on them.

Remember, where possible give yourself a good starting advantage and choose your seat wisely. At least online people can't see how big your butt looks in the seat!!

HyZepher

mewso

Good advice but remember if tournaments are your game you won't have a choice where you sit.