No Limit Holdem 101: Position (Defined)

This is intended to be a series of articles about playing on-line no limit holdem cash games. There will be times where I venture into live poker and times where I venture into SNGs, MTTs, Satellites, and games other than no limit holdem, but for the most part this will target no limit holdem cash games.

For the 8th installment of this series, I’ll talk about position in poker - what is it?

Position in poker is stated as a relative reference. You will hear a poker player say “I was in position” or “I was in late position.” Position refers to where you are seated relative to the dealer button or relative to another player.

All players at the table can be given a label based on there position relative to the blinds and/or relative to the dealer button.

The first player to the left of the big blind will be first to act pre-flop and as such is referred to as being “Under the Gun”. This is written as UTG in poker nomenclature.

As you progress around the table moving to the left, you can refer to each player by adding one to the position. For instance the player to the immediate left of the UTG is referred to as UTG +2. You can proceed around the table and refer to every player in the manner (UTG+3, UTG+4, UTG +5, UTG +6, UTG +7).

The player seated to the right of the small blind will have the dealer button in front of them as is referred to as the “button” or BUT. The player to his immediate right is called the “cut-off” or CU. Recently I have heard the player to the immediate right of the cut-off being referred to as “hijack” or HJ.

At a 9-handed table you would have the following players starting with the button and proceeding to the right:

1. Button
2. Cut-Off
3. Hijack (UTG +4)
4. UTG +3
5. UTG +2
6. UTG +1
7. UTG
8. Big Blind
9. Small Blind

A lot of charts you will see will refer to the positions in the opposite direction. I prefer to think of them in the manner above as I find it easier to “ignore the higher numbers” and “act” when in the lower numbers. We’ll get to those concepts later. For now is enough to know that you will frequently see these organized is this manner:

1. Small Blind
2. Big Blind
3. UTG
4. UTG +1
5. UTG +2
6. UTG +3
7. Hijack (UTG +4)
8. Cut-Off
9. Button

As you read poker articles and books, you will see a lot of references to “early position”, “middle position”, and “late position”. For the purposes of my thoughts and this series of articles, I will divide the table into four parts:

1. The Blinds – Big Blind and Small Blind. A lot of writers will lump these in with “early position” but I prefer to separate them as these positions do have some characteristic that differ from the other early positions. The most important distinction is that they are last to act pre-flop but would be first to act post-flop should they see the flop.
2. Early Position (EP) – UTG, UTG+1, UTG +2 – These players will be acting early pre-flop and will therefore have been able to collect a minimum amount of information prior to acting.
3. Middle Position (MP) – UTG +3, UTG +4 (also called Hijack) – These players will have seen several players act in front of them, but still have several players to act after them.
4. Late Position (LP) – Cut-off and Button – These players will be the last players to act after the flop should they see the flop.

The above defines your position at the table and gives you a reference that you can discuss with other players and use in conversation so that most involved will be able to determine where you where seated.

The other concept here is that of being “in position”. When used in this manner it really just means that you will be acting after your opponent(s) after the flop. When player says “the donkey bet out with 27 and I called him in position” what they are really saying by saying “in position” is that the other player was acting before them on that round of betting.

Well that’s it for definitions of position.

In the next installment we will talk about position in poker –how should it affect your play and how to take advantage of it.