The Power of Position - A New Experiment.

I knew when I started a poker blog that sooner or later I would have to address the issue of position. According to every poker book I've ever read, position - where you are sitting at the table in relation to the blinds - is vital. Some players even say its just as important as the cards themselves.

While I wish I could write with authority on the subject of position, I'm afraid I don't really understand why position is all that important. Sometimes when I'm playing poker and I've just won a big hand in a showdown, another player will say something like, "You must have been so happy to get pocket kings in the big blind! That's an awesome hand to play out of the big blind." I smile and nod sagely, but I'm thinking pocket kings are great in any position you dipshit, what does the big blind have to do with it?

I've never quite seen what all the fuss is about with position. As you may have guessed from the fact that I devoted four straight posts to the subject of continuation betting, I'm fairly comfortable with the notion of acting first - that is out of position. I believe in the old poker saying that it takes a better hand to call than to raise, and I'm happy to act first (provided I'm facing only one opponent after the flop) and force my opponents to make difficult decisions.

The time I like to act later than every one else is before the flop. Then if I'm dealt a drawing hand ( A5 suited say, or 55) I can better judge by the number of players who have already entered the pot the likelihood of a big payoff should I hit. But the gurus all say that position matters most after the flop - and that's just where I don't care too much about it.

I'm enough of a realist to know that it is likely I'm wrong and everybody else is right. So I'm going to embark on a new experiment to teach myself the power of position. In this experiment I will play the same range of starting hands I did in my Tight is Right experiment, only this time I am going to play these hands without restriction to where my position is. I will then measure how much I made or lost from early position, middle position, late position, and the blinds. I will also allow myself to play good drawing hands like suited aces, and even small pocket pairs. The point is to see how I do playing from each position. Again I'll play 1,000 hands of play-money ring games.

Results should be ready in about three weeks.