Poker News

George Epstein

Experienced poker players know that seat position at the table can make a big difference - whether you win or lose. Most important is how aggressive are the players to your left, those who bet after you.

Starting Off With a Bang! Seated at a $4-$8 hold’em table at the Hustler Casino the other night, I found myself with a monster hand the second hand dealt to me. I took a huge pot and I was “off to the races!” Then I took the very next hand, and I felt invulnerable. I had more than doubled my starting stake. From here on, I thought, I would play cautiously so I was bound to go home a winner. . . Then Reality Struck. But then the cards turned against me. I was in seat No. 9. There were two very aggressive players in seat Nos. 3 and 4. They raised and reraised almost every other hand. If one didn’t, then the other did. In that position, more than half the time, I had to declare before they did. When I went in with a marginal hand, they made it awful expensive, often capping the betting. Once I was committed with a strong drawing hand, I generally called their raises to see the flop. Most of the time, of course, the flop didn’t help me so I usually folded on the next round of betting. That was steadily eating away at my chips.

Then there were also hands where the flop was favorable - like the hand I flopped a king-high diamond flush. Wow! I decided to slow-play it until the river to build the pot. The problem is there was a pair of treys on the board on the turn. So I raised to try to force out some of the opponents; but the aggressive player in seat No. 3 reraised. I figured him for two-pair, perhaps trip treys. Then the rivercard was a second queen on the board.

And, yes, I was in trouble. The aggressive player in seat No. 3 had filled up and I was “dead in the water.” I was still ahead for the evening but my stack was shrinking fast. Because of the two aggressive players in seat Nos. 3 and 4, I was hesitant about going in with anything but strong starting hands - high pairs, high suited cards, or high connectors. Anything less could be too costly to investigate.

Changing My Seat Helped. Opportunity came when seat No. 5 was vacated. I quickly claimed it; now I was seated just to the left of the two aggressors. One was very selective; the other bet and raised almost on a whim - and often. In one hand, I saw him turn over a Q- 7 unsuited on which he had been raising all the way. (He took that hand when a third seven fell on the river.)

Now I could go in on drawing hands without making an investment before the aggressors got to work. If neither raised pre-flop in front of me, I could see the flop for the price of a single bet. I didn’t have to invest in marginal hands if one or the other had raised it. My fortunes soon turned bright again. Changing seats made the difference! Of course it helped that I caught my share of favorable flops and my hands improved -helping me to go home a winner.

So readers, what’s YOUR opinion?

Filed under: Poker News