Ways of Exploiting Late Position

Why is late position favored over other positions? Being in late position enables us to exploit the advantage of the position various ways.

Being in the blinds may have a play cost cheaper, but often it only means we also lose by cheaper amounts—throughout the game. For instance, we've been noticing game after game that a player, Dave, who's 3 seats after us, only plays initial premium hands dealt him. When he has them his favorite strategy is to raise. If post flop Dave is still playing in the hand, it would be interesting to see if he'd decide to bet. The problem is, we're in first or early position. We won't see what Dave would be up to.

Late position is the optimal position in Holdem. If, for instance, the cards flopped have low values and there are few players at the table in the hand, we may always wager on whatever hand we have, strong or weak. Weak hands in this act could scare players off the pot and leave us with easy pot-taking. However, if an ace or king should be flopped, we need not bluff. Many players would never give up on their monster cards if they come up with one.

It would also be good to let others see how our bluff fails when in late position so that the next time around and we have a real monster hand, they'd think we're bluffing and call our bet, especially if we have the reputation for being a tight player at the table. This is would also keep them from folding too soon before we have built ourselves a nice pot. Keep them in the pot by making them believe we're bluffing with our raises.

Then, with being last to act in the game, we may choose to opt peek at a cheap card. When we need just a few outs to complete a strong hand post flop, and no one yet has made a wager, we may opt to place a bet. Often, players in the hand will decide to check to us post turn notwithstanding their strong hands. If we hit the miraculous card for our hand on the turn, we should place a nice bet. If we opt not to, we may decide to merely check so we can reach the river play. Then we reach the turn and river cheaply with a minimum bet.

It's not enough to just be in late position. We should know how to exploit it.