What are poker positions and how do you play poker in position?
You’ve come to the right place.

I’ll tell you exactly what the different poker positions are and how to play each position.
And by the end of this breakdown, you’ll find a complete visual chart for you to save and look at whenever you need a reminder.

If you prefer watching over reading, here’s a video explaining the basics of poker table positions.
Beneath the video, you’ll find further explanation and in depth charts.

What are poker positions?

Poker positions refers to the way players are seated around a poker table and in what order players get to act in a round. Being one of the last players to act is obviously a huge advantage, since you get to see all other players act before you need to make a decision.

All rounds of course have a dealer.
To the left of the dealer is the small blind, and left of the small bind is the big blind.
Since the small- and big blind are forced to place a bet, the first player to act pre-flop is the person sitting after the big blind.

After that, we continue clockwise around the table, ending with the small and big blind.

After the flop however, the small blind will be first to act for the rest of the rounds. 

We usually divide the different positions into 3 groups; early, middle and late position.

Poker Positions

EARLY POSITION

The first couple of players to act in a round are in what we call early position.
This includes both the small- and big blind – but also the players sitting after the big blind.
This person is usually referred to as ‘Under the Gun’ (UTG), since you have to act without any clue from the other players. If you are playing at a table with nine or more players, the person sitting after the player ‘under the gun’ is often considered early position as well, and referred to as ‘UTG+1’.

Early positions are the hardest positions to be in, with Under the Gun being the absolute worst position. 

How to play under the gun

If you’re sitting under the gun, you need to be careful. The only thing you have to go on is the two cards in your hand – and that’s not a lot.
We recommend staying within the top 10 starting hands – that’s high pairs and aces with a suited face card kicker.

Poker positions

Middle Position

The players sitting between early and late positions are in what we call ‘middle position’.
Since early position is usually 3-4 players, and late position is 3 players, the size and number of players who fall into middle position of course varies depending on the total number of players at the table. 

The later your positions, the more hands you should consider playing.
Sitting in middle position, you have seen the actions of some of the earlier players, which is a huge advantage. You still need to keep a level head though, and know your chances. 

How to play middle position

If everyone before you have folded:
Raise with medium pairs or higher, aces with a face card kicker or any two suited cards higher than a 10 – like JQs or 10Js.

Poker position

If someone has already called:
Call with medium high pairs, suited cards of ten or above and any suited connectors.

Poker positions

If someone before you has already raised:
Re-raise with pairs 10 10 and above, ace king or ace queen.

Poker positions

Or call, if you have suited connectors or a pair of up to 9 9.

Poker position

Late Position

Sitting in late position opens up a lot of different hands to play.
You’ve had the advantage of seeing how other players chose to act, and can feel a lot more secure. 

The best poker position to be in is the dealer, since you get to act third last before the flop, and lastly for the rest of the rounds. The dealer is often referred to as ‘The Button’ since this position is usually show by a physical or digital button with the letter ‘D’ on it.
The player sitting just before the button is often referred to as ‘Cutoff’.
And the player before that is called ‘Hijack’ – because players often “hijack” late position advantage from the cutoff and button with an opening raise.

How to play late position

If all players before you have folded:
Raise with any pair, any suited ace, any ace with a kicker of 7 or higher, any two cards of ten or higher and any suited connectors. 

Poker position

If someone has called before you:
Raise with a high pair, or an ace with a face card kicker.

Poker positions

Feel free to call with any pair, suited high cards, a suited ace and suited connectors.

Poker positions

If a player has raised before you:
Re-raise with high pairs or aces with a king or queen kicker.

Poker positions

You can call with medium pairs or suited connectors.

Poker positions

Mix up your play in poker positions

So there you go. Now you know what positions are, and how to play them.

All of this being said, you should of course mix up your play from time to time in order to stay unpredictable.
And keep in mind that your position in a round depends on the location of the button.
Since the dealer button changes clockwise after every round, your position changes as well.

Practice playing poker positions

The best way to learn poker positions is to play a lot of poker. I recommend downloading our free EasyPoker app. The app takes care of everything from dealing cards to sorting chips – so you can focus on assessing your hand and poker position.


The app is meant to be played with friends and works as a digital version of your physical poker set. It’s intuitive design and built in voice chat makes it perfect for poker with friends
– whether you guys are playing face to face or online from separate locations.

Poker Rules
Poker positions

More on how to play poker

I’m not a professional poker player. I’m just a guy who fell in love with the game.
So, like all other beginners, I went online to do some research. But everything I found seemed overly complicated and not at all easy to understand.
That’s why I decided to boil it all down into a few YouTube videos called the ‘How to Player Poker’ playlist on YouTube. It will take you from complete beginner to skilled player – in less than an hour.

Now that you know how to play poker positions, you might want to read up on how to sniff out a bluff! We’ve made a great blog post about that as well – and you can find it here

Poker positions