The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

When you enter a pot, whether you're up against one person or many, the best position to act on each betting round is last.

Why?

Simply put, when you act last, you have the most information to base your decision on. When you have a good but not great hand and you are first to act, you have no idea where you stand with everyone else in the pot. What happens often is that you may decide to check which causes a player to bet at you, and you don't know if he's betting a legitimate hand or if he's trying a bluff. If you bet out first, you might find yourself getting raised in which case you wasted money trying to figure out if you have the best hand.

Suppose you are in late position and you raise with pocket Queens. Both the small and big blinds call you. The flop comes:

A-8-3

If both players check to you, there is a good chance they don't hold an ace and you can bet out to take the pot. If, on the other hand, the first person bets, and then the next person raises, you can probably assume your Queens are no good. After witnessing these bets before you acted (a bet followed by a raise means 99.9% of the time at least ONE if not BOTH players have a strong hand) you can safely fold and not risk any more chips.

Both scenarios give something very important when deciding to continue on with the pot: information. Acting first is very difficult when you do not have a strong hand to carry on with. This is why a lot of players like to raise from the dealer button because they can play marginal hands more aggressively since their strong position negates any shortcomings in their starting hands. Hands like Q-J suited and Ace-Ten, hands that you (strategically) cannot raise from when acting first at a full table of 9 or 10 players become more playable as it gets closer to the button. This is why when you're at a table with players who know what they are doing, if you are last to act and someone in early position raises, you should give them credit for holding a strong starting hand. When the first person raises and there are still eight persons to act, in most cases they are not bluffing but have a hand they don't mind having to act first with.

Of course, it can all be simple reverse psychology and an early position raiser is simply trying to steal, but unless you have reason to think otherwise, a bet or raise is usually what it means. Based on your position at the table and the number of raises, bets, and checks made, you can make better, more profitable choices by acting last.