Your position at the poker table should affect the way you bet a hand. If you’re one of the first players to bet, you’re in an early position or if you’re one of the last, you’re in a late position at the table. In some poker variants your position shifts from one betting round to another (Seven Card Stud), in others it remains the same throughout the hand (Texas Hold’em).

In poker, information is money. When you have less information than your opponents, you need a better hand to make up for it. In early position, play stronger hands.

This Cheat Sheet is a great starting point for Texas Hold’em newbies. It shows some hands are playable in all positions, and some in late position only. Why? Without getting into the mathematics, imagine it this way. When you are in first position (under the gun ot utg), this means that before the flop, you are acting first. You have no idea what the people behind you were dealt, so your hand needs to be strong enough to be able to play against what will effectively be the best hand/hands out of the remaining players.

Compare this to being “on the button”. When it is your turn to act, and everybody before you has folded, you only have to play pots against the two blinds. Effectively it will be your hand vs two random hands from the blinds. A much better proposition. This is why the relative hand strength varies so much from position to position at the poker table.

This Cheat Sheet shows possible Hold’em starting hands and gives you an idea of how it should be played according to your position at the table. Your position is defined as “Early, “Middle”, or “Late” relative to the Dealers Position or “The Button” and the hands are in different colors to indicate the different playing style recommended.

Playing Styles for No Limit Holdem
Aggressive:
Raise before the flop, and re-raise if players in previous positions have bet. Using AA as an example, you have the best hand possible before the flop… and want to take every opportunity possible to get your opponent(s) chips into the pot. With these hands, you are unconcerned about the action that has taken place before you.

Moderate:
These hands need to be treated with a little bit more caution then the RED zone hands. If there is a raise before you, you should be calling here with about the same frequency as which you are re-raising. In poker there is a term called the Gap Concept, which dictates that it takes a stronger hand to call a raise, then it does to raise with… so in pots that have already been opened, calling here is normally recommended. If the pot is unopened by the time it gets to you, go ahead and raise with these hands. One additional point that needs to be made, is that there are three positions as depicted on the chart. Early, Middle and late. If a raise comes from early position, and you are in late position with a hand like 7,7… then it becomes a PASSIVE hand, and you should not be re-raising.

Passive:
These are hands that will make most of their money from seeing pots with a few people in the pot, because they are generally considered POTENTIAL hands. They have the potential to make a very strong hand. You should not be re-raising with these hands very often, your main goal is to call raises, and try to attract players behind you to call. Lets see an example: Someone raises from utg, and you are in middle position with J/9s. If the flop comes down J9x, you have a very good opportunity to bust the EP raiser who has AA or KK. One word of caution though, if there is a raise, and then a re-raise before the action gets to you, then its recommended that you fold these hands.

NOTE: The problem with any hand chart is that it is one dimensional. It doesn’t take into account table dynamics, reads on players, and the various playing styles that you are coming up against. It is useful as a starting point, however, and if you use it as a part of your overall strategy, we are confident that the information you have learned here will be a great start to your poker career.

Having played at bet365 Poker for years we really enjoy and recommend them highly. bet365 is the lead member of the Playtech iPoker Network.