Importance of position

Currently I have difficulty after the flop. If I am out of position, and I play aggressively and then get hit with a raise from a later position, I become confused. In theory the villains hand range should be weaker than mine, but I then feel the need to fold just in case. When in position, and I try the same approach against a villains range, I am often called when I have nothing more than a semi bluff, thereby only increasing my loss. In the majority of cases where I have called the bet, whether in position or out of position, I have been wrong. It leads me to the conclusion that I should only play the top 20% of hands and forget about position. What am I missing here? What is the difference between being in position, and checking when out of position to get the option to act last?

Badday94 said:

Currently I have difficulty after the flop. If I am out of position, and I play aggressively and then get hit with a raise from a later position, I become confused. In theory the villains hand range should be weaker than mine, but I then feel the need to fold just in case. When in position, and I try the same approach against a villains range, I am often called when I have nothing more than a semi bluff, thereby only increasing my loss. In the majority of cases where I have called the bet, whether in position or out of position, I have been wrong. It leads me to the conclusion that I should only play the top 20% of hands and forget about position. What am I missing here? What is the difference between being in position, and checking when out of position to get the option to act last?

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Thank U 4 Posting

We all struggle with this. We think in terms of hand strength yes but also player tendencies.

1 OOP being raised leading to confusion.
It may be that you are trying to put a V-illain on specific hands not a range of hands. If so learning about strategies related to hand ranges is key.
Also board composition ie: wet dry high low etc is more important than our hand strength ie KK on 456 versus KK on Q72 - KK is much weaker holding when raised on the first board.

2 V are calling bluffs and betting value hands most often.
This is a standard player pool tendency at lower stakes- We reduce our bluffing frequency and hero call far less often.
We compensate by betting larger with the nuts and playing more nut making hands like 87s. We only make large bets with the nuts so we do not max bet 2 small pair before the river but we do build pair plus draw pots. Variance will increase but so should ROI if you work on your 7 card NL strategies not your your preflop 2 card NL strategies.

3 What is the difference between being in position, and checking when out of position to get the option to act last?

So the second part of this statement is not correct- when we are OOP we can only act last by calling a bet on one street but the hand continues to the next street so we are not acting last as we have to make the first action on the next street.

In position we always act last on every street.

Hope this helps

The flop changes the situation radically. The player can already calculate the potential of his hand, form an opinion about the strength of the combination that this or that opponent may have. And how correct the decision of the poker player on the flop depends on his success in the distribution. To make the most accurate flop decisions, you need to consider the following:
Analyze the board. In other words, evaluate the three cards that appear on the table. This means that the player must correlate the potential of his combination and the combination of opponents that can form on a particular flop. Think about which combination "shines" for you with this set, and which - for your rivals.
Consider the activity of your opponents preflop. Always remember all the information you received from your opponents before the flop. How active or passive they are after the flop appears, how much the size of bets has increased, etc. Compare all the data and take it into account when making a decision. Not always, but already here another opponent can give you the strength of his hand by his behavior. And knowing that this will either increase your bankroll or decrease it - it all depends on which combination you enter into the hand.
Watch out for the bank (pot). The size of the pot on the flop can tell you if it's worth fighting for, not to mention the increase on subsequent streets. Correlate all the information received with your own hand.
The flop is the most aggressive part of the game, but also the most important. It is with the appearance of the first three community cards that the decision to bluff or semi-bluff is made.
Consider your position. The later you arrive, the more data you will get about your opponents. In addition, late position gives you an advantage in some poker techniques.