Co Poker Position

1. Co Position In Poker
2. Co Poker Positions

Position is one of the most important concepts in poker and is something that a lot of new players get completely wrong.

1. The first concept that we are going to show you is the Poker Position Concept. This is one of the most fundamental concepts of Poker, and it’s very important that you understand this before you move on. What is Poker Position? Position refers to where you are seated on the table in relation to the dealer button.
2. CO is short for the cutoff position. In poker the person with the button in front of them is considered the 'dealer'. This person will always be last to act post flop when they are in a hand. This gives them a position advantage.

In this video BBZ analyzes BTN vs CO optimal flop plays through aggregated PioSolver data and recent hand histories. This comprehensive breakdown specifically targets a commonly misplayed spot in tournament poker (53mins).

To put it simply:

Position in poker refers to the order which players are allowed to act. A player who acts first is “out of position” while a player who acts last is “in position”. Playing in position gives a distinct advantage due to the extra information gained and the ability to more effectively control the size of the pot.

There are two scenarios to discuss regarding position: preflop and postflop.

During the preflop round of betting, you can either be playing from early, middle, late position or the blinds with further breakdowns depending on your exact seat (which we will get into in a moment).

While postflop, your actual seat doesn’t matter and it becomes much simpler because you are either “in position” if you act last, “out of position” if you act first or somewhere in between if there are more than two players in the pot.

The important thing to remember is that these two aspects are related. When you play from an early position preflop, you are more likely to have to play out of position postflop. Whereas if you play a hand from late position you are fairly likely (or in some cases guaranteed) to be playing in position for the rest of the hand.

The fact that your starting seat determines whether you are more or less likely to be playing in position postflop is a very important factor that drives our opening strategy quite significantly.

Let’s dig deeper into this and find out what the positions are on the table and why understanding position is so important to playing winning poker.

Table Of Contents

• What are the starting positions in poker?

What are the starting positions in poker?

Each seat at the table is given a unique name which allows poker players to easily identify what hands they should be playing (more on that later) and how they might expect their opponents to play.

These seats are grouped into one of four categories:

• Early position
• Middle position
• Late position
• The blinds

The naming of the positions differs slightly depending on how many players are seated at your table, but let’s first take full-ring (9 handed) which is the most common casino format.

The image below shows the four categories we mentioned but also broken down further with the names of each seat.

In case you aren’t familiar with the acronyms, here’s what they stand for:

• UTG: Under the gun
• MP: Middle position
• HJ: Hijack
• CO: Cutoff
• BTN: Button
• SB: Small blind
• BB: Big blind

Early position

The first seat to act is referred to as under the gun and is located in early position. “Under the gun” is a term that means to be “under pressure to act” as in you are “being held at gunpoint”.

This translates to the analogy of the first seat at the poker table who is under pressure to make the opening decision of the freshly dealt hand.

On a full ring table with nine players in total, there are eight players waiting to act after UTG. So there is a strong likelihood that if you decide to play your hand, another player at the table will wake up with a premium hand.

Even if someone is dealt a mediocre hand and decides to play, you will be playing out of position on postflop unless they happen to be in the blinds.

Because of this, you must carefully select what hands you wish to play.

To illustrate this a little further, let’s imagine we would like to open 66 from UTG. To some, this may be a fairly standard open.

But consider the probability of that any one of these players has a strong or premium hand of 77+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+, KQo

This range represents 7.5% off all hands, and the probability of a player having one of these hands is shown below:

So there is almost 50% chance some has a hand that is at least flipping with 66 and in many cases dominating. Pocket 66s only has 37% chance of winning if you were to go all-in versus that range, however, you will realise a lot less of that equity due to the likelihood of high card to your pair making it very difficult to play.

Equity realisation is a complicated subject which I won’t go into detail here on but PokerNerve has a great article on the topic which you can read here.

So the key takeaway:

Moving clockwise around the table, the next player to act is referred to as “under the gun plus one” or UTG+1. This seat plays very similarly to the UTG and hence these two positions are grouped into early position poker strategy.

Since there are only seven players left to act when opening from UTG+1, you can play slightly more hands. A typical opening range on a full ring table will be approximately 9% from UTG and 10% from UTG +1 which looks something like this:

These images are from a piece of software called Equilab which you can download for free here. This software allows you to save your ranges for later, turn percentage opens into actual hand ranges and calculate your equity versus another hand or range.

Middle position

The next position category is middle position. From here you should still be playing fairly conservatively, however, you can open a few more combos of hands when compared to UTG since two players have already folded meaning it is less likely:

• That you will come up against a strong hand
• That you will be forced to play out of position postflop

MP+1 should also be played in a similar manner to MP, albeit with slightly looser starting hand requirements.

A typical opening range will be approximately 12% from MP and 16% for MP +1 as shown below:

Late position

Following MP is late position which represents the three seats of hijack, cutoff and button.

We use individual names for each of these positions since they play quite differently and as a result, there is quite a large difference in strategy needed.

Although this might seem like a lot to take in at the moment, with all the different seat names and acronyms, you will have no problem remembering once you get in some practice. It completely automatic to me now and I don’t even have to think about it.

Hijack will play more hands than MP with a 19% opening range but it’s not until the cutoff and the button where we really start to open our range up. For example, in the cutoff we will like to open 26% or so of hands whereas on the button (OTB), we will open closer to 45% of hands if you are facing suitable players in the blinds.

Here is what the button opening rang might look like:

The reason for the stark adjustment in starting hands is because there are so few players left to act (either 3 for the cutoff, or 2 for the button) and if we do get action, we will be in position against the blinds.

Due to the fact that you will always act last on the button when playing postflop, it is considered the best and is almost always the most profitable seat on a poker table.

The blinds

The blinds are a slightly different kettle of fish. Firstly, players in the blind have to put in a small “fee” before seeing their cards i.e. there are putting in money blind into the pot, hence the name.

Secondly, when playing from the blinds, you will mostly be reacting to other player’s raises as opposed to make them yourself. This forces you to use a different strategy than we have been using up until now – you must now start calling much more often, particularly from the big blind.

The Small Blind is the worst seat (as you will always act out of position and act with the least amount of information) and the Big Blind is the least profitable seat on the table as you have to put a whole big blind into the pot without even seeing your cards.

The two redeeming qualities of the big blind are that we already have 1 bb invested into the pot which means despite our positional disadvantage versus all seats except the SB, we will usually have the opportunity to “close the action” by calling and seeing the flop.

Closing the action means that we are guaranteed to realise some of our equity (potentially allowing us to hit a piece of the flop). The same can’t be said for the SB where if we call a raise, the Big Blind has the opportunity to reraise us with a squeeze and put us in a tough spot.

6-max tables generally play much more aggressively and in many ways can be thought of by just simply removing the first three seats from a full ring table.

However, the naming convention also changes somewhat i.e. the first player to act in a 6max table is still called under the gun (and not MP+1 as would be the case in a full ring table).

The naming convention for a 6max table is shown below.

Co Position In Poker

For the difference between a fullring and 6max table strategy, see my article here on this topic.

Note that in a 10 handed table there is also an UTG+2 added before MP starts. In this case, UTG should play slightly tighter and on a 9-handed table.

Poker Position Hand Chart:

Here is an example of how we would play pairs in a 6max game:

As shown, we should almost always play pairs since they are one of the best starting hand types. But with the other hand types, it is less cut and dry.

To receive your full free 6max & full ring starting hand chart, Click here for 6max and here for fullring.

Check out the Common Poker Mistakesto keep learning.

Or return to poker 101?

Regardless of whether playing tournament poker or grinding it out on the cash tables, understanding the importance of position is an essential concept that every poker player should know. The later we are to act in a hand, the more we know about the other players holdings. The more we know about what the other players hold, the more likely we will be able to make profitable poker decisions. Utilizing relative and absolute position in poker is imperative to the long-term success of a winning poker player. Failing to understand position properly can be the difference between being a winning and losing player as even someone as skilled as Phil Ivey would find it hard to win if he had to play every hand out of position.

Absolute Position In Poker

When I speak of absolute position in poker, I am referring to where one is sitting at the poker table, relative to the button or the dealer. In a poker hand, absolute position remains unchanged. If we are on the button, we remain on the button. The blinds are the blinds throughout the hold em hand and so on…

The poker table works in a clockwise manner. The person to the immediate left of the dealer is the first to receive cards while the person to the right of the dealer is the last to receives cards. The two individuals to the immediate left of the dealer are known as the blinds. They are forced to place bets, with the small blind typically placing a half bet, and the big blind placing one big bet on the table. As As they have essentially both made forced bets, they are the last to act in a betting round before the flop comes.

They benefit in a sense, as they get to observe how everyone else views their hand before making their own decision. For weaker players however, this benefit works against them, as they already have money on the table and therefore, often feel compelled to call a raise. This logic is of course flawed. In poker, we prefer to make informed decisions, leaving the guesswork to the rookies. The blinds are the first to act after the flop. They will act before everyone else for the remainder of the hand and will not have the luxury of first seeing everyone else’s actions once the flop comes. Over time, calling too much from the small blind or indeed from the big blind will show a big loss even for the best players in the world.

First To Act In Poker

The earlier position we are at the table, the better our hand should be and the higher our standards must be. With that in mind, when we are under the gun or under the gun+1 (first and second positions respectively), we should be raising a much stronger range of hands, generally pairs and AQ/AK. As we get into later position, we can relax our raising standards, as there are less players left to act behind us, thus the chances of a strong hand being out are much lower.

For example, imagine we are playing .25/.50 no limit Texas Hold em online. We are second to act preflop and are dealt 8-7 of hearts. While I love this hand from later position, when employing a tight aggressive strategy, we should generally fold the hand, as there are too many players left to act behind us. These players have absolute position on us, acting later than we do. They can make it really expensive if we limp into the hand. Additionally, should we choose to raise, we face the chance of being 3bet and if reraised we would have to bin our hand. Because we do not have any information on the strength of several hands at the table, we are best off folding the hand.

Playing From Late Position

When playing from the cutoff or on the button (referred to as late position), we have the luxury of seeing everyone play before us. In a sense, we have been granted the opportunity to watch the game play out from an outsider’s perspective before we are asked to join the game in progress. We are able to process the information before acting. As a result, we make better, more informed and thus more profitable decisions when acting last in a hand. For these reasons and more, playing from the button is the most profitable position in poker.

When playing poker, we want to play far more hands in late position than we do in early position. This gives us the opportunity to act last on every street and also enables us to manipulate the size of the pot as we like. Conversely, playing out of position forces us to act first on every street, often leaving us with tough decisions and not being able to control the size of the pot. Thus, it is alway recommended to play extremely tight when in the blinds and early position. This is because by playing a tighter (stronger) range out of position, we can somewhat counteract our positional disadvantage.

Let’s take the same 8-7 suited that we played from early position at and play it from the button. We can now watch most everyone else act first. We observe two weaker players limping into the pot. These players typically raise with quality hands and often try to limp for cheap flops with their lesser holdings. They are not terribly tricky in their play. We interpret their limping into the pot as weakness. Remember, we have absolute position on them, which is a massive advantage in this poker hand. Putting in a standard raise here is completely fine, as we can isolate the bad players and play the rest of the hand in position. What will happen in the majority of cases is the blinds fold, one of the two limpers call. The flop is dealt and the limper checks because the flop missed him. We put out a continuation bet, causing the player to fold. This is a very simple example of using position to your advantage in poker.

Relative Position in Poker

In poker, relative position is expressed as where you sit, in relation to the preflop raiser player. If the big blind bets out on the flop, when sitting under the gun, I am first to act in relation to the player taking the lead.

Co Poker Positions

Just like with players holding early position from an absolute standpoint, one must proceed with caution when in early position from a relative standpoint. If the cutoff bets out, even though I am on the button I know there are four people left to act. I cannot always call with the confidence I would like. There are four other people who may put in a costly raise behind me yet to act.

To demonstrate this concept, let’s play this hand from the button at a standard $1-$2 no limit table. We have pocket fives. 4 players limp into the pot, and the player acting immediately before us (the player before the button is in the cutoff position) raises to $10. If you remember from a minute ago, we have the best absolute position, because we are on the button. However, the player acting right before us raised. He is the “player with the lead.” We act; then the four players who limped into the pot are left to act – as are the blinds. Because there’s so many players left to act behind us, we are concerned that they might either reraise when we call, or too many of the players may fold, thus not really giving us the most ideal of pot odds or conditions to play (we like playing small pocket pairs in multi-way pots). Because of this uncertainty, we fold.

This concept is known as poor realtive position as although we have position on the raising player, our positional advantage is lost due to the fact that there are so many players left to act after us.

Relative Position When Playing From Late Position

If the raiser is to my immediate left, I hold the most favorable position, relative to the acting player. As a result, I can benefit from everyone else acting before me, and thus I am able to make the most informed decision of all. Let’s replay the same hand from a $1-2 NL game. This time, imagine the small blind raises preflop.

We have pocket fives on the button, 3 players limp into the pot, as does the cutoff player. We also limp, in hopes of seeing a cheap flop. The small blind raises to $10. 4 players call the small blinds preflop raise. It is our turn to act. The price, in relation to the pot is right, so we decide we can play. In this instance, we will obviously call and take the cheap flop as playing a small pair in position in a multiway single raised pot is exactly what you want with small pairs. We also have the have the luxury of both relative and absolute position in this hand getting to see everyone else’s action before we decide what to do.

Using Relative Position to your Advantage

Often, one can use relative position to their advantage. If there is a player who likes to take the lead when he is checked to, it makes sense to check to him so that he will bet and you can act accordingly (raise, fold, or call). At an aggressive table, the check is useful in gaining relative position. By checking, you are coaxing the later acting aggressor to take the lead presenting you with the opportunity to check raise or check call depending on the situation.

Using Absolute and Relative Position

Over time, properly embracing the concept of relative position can ice a live table, as players acting later than you (absolutely speaking) will begin fearing a check raise. As a result, they are playing scared and forfeiting their advantage of late position play. In turn, this allows you to come in with weaker hands than you would normally play. Additionally, you will establish control of the table when you use relative position to your advantage.

Putting It All Together

When holding absolute position, play aggressively. This is the position at the table at which every poker player makes the most money, so we should be calling and raising with a much higher frequency when playing in later positions. Call with more suited connectors, 3bet lighter and steal the blinds more often. Learning to use position correctly is a crucial skill. if you can master the art of position, there’s no doubt you will be well on your way to becoming a successful player!