The Worst Poker Position

In Texas Holdem poker at online poker sites it is no exaggeration to emphasize over and over again to both new and experienced players that poker position is everything. The worst poker position to deal with is playing “under the gun.” This is where a Texas Holdem player sitting at a poker table is in the position of first to act before the flop.

A poker game that has several players makes it extremely difficult for the player that is first to act before the flop, as he still will be out of position if he makes it to the flop. Marginal poker hands such as queen-jack, which may be playable from a late poker position, are often tossed away if playing from under the gun. How do you deal with this position? It is an important question to answer.

What should we do when under the gun? Folding is never a bad option. If a player holding marginal poker hands tries to limp in, (making a minimum call bet), he is first demonstrating and indicating weakness but he is also likely wasting his chips as the other players that have the same type of marginal poker hands, or superior poker hands for that matter, and good late position will call the limper’s bet or, in many cases, raise the bet forcing the under the gun player to either have to throw such marginal poker hands into the muck or to become pot committed by calling the raise.

Neither of those options is very appealing.

Let’s say though that the under the gun player with a queen-jack makes a pair of queens on the flop after he had to call a raise of another player at the poker table. This could be very bad news because that other player may already have the under the gun player crushed.

Texas Holdem poker players playing marginal poker hands out of position at the poker table are going to lose money, period. The only time you really want to do much in the way of betting (you should really never call) is when you have power hands like aces, kings, queens or perhaps ace-king. Anything else is trouble. People will say that small pocket pairs are okay to play, but how do you play them? If you limp in it is weak, if you raise you are in danger of losing to a better hand. Raising is the best option, but it is still dangerous because small pocket pairs need improvement to win.

Remember earlier we said that it is never a bad option to fold from under the gun? Unless you have aces, kings, queens or ace-king then folding when under the gun is a pretty good choice.