Where’s Waldo ?

Where Is Waldo ?

Probably the most prevalent mistake I see other players make is to undervalue the importance of position.

Position is important in two ways. The most commonly understood is the importance of using position as a major factor in your hand selection and decision as to play a given hand in a particular situation. Less widely understood is the importance of using an opponents position in making your estimate of the strength of his hand.

For example, suppose you have KJo on the button and are faced with a decision whether or not to cold-call an opening raise.

If the raise came from a tight player under-the-gun you’re about a 2-1 dog against his probable range, but if the raise came from the same player, but sitting in the seat immediately to your right, you’re a small favorite against his probable range.

If a tight player opens under the gun it’s very unlikely that he has a hand that KJ has much of a chance against. But, if that same player is late in the lineup, he’ll widen his opening range quite a bit – enough so that your KJ does pretty well against most of the hands he might have.