Relative position is probably the most under-rated of what I call “pre-deal conditions.” These are conditions to consider prior to your first hand being dealt and prior to each hand.
Pre-deal conditions also include bankroll, stakes, stack sizes, table selection, position table image, and information. Each of those conditions is discussed at some length in its own chapter in my book, Keep Calm and Re-buy, Volume I. Relative position is not mentioned in that book. Not even in the glossary.
Why?
Because that is how under-rated this condition is! I did not think of relative position, though I had heard of it. But it can be a key to determining whether to play a particular hand or not. So, what is relative position?
Position, as you likely know, means having the option to act last in a hand. A player on the Button who calls a pre-flop raise by any other player will have position post flop. If the player Under the Gun raises and UTG+1 3bets and is only called by UTG, then UTG+1 will have position. He will be in position (IP). UTG will be out of position (OOP).
Pre-deal, we do not know whether we will end up in position, but we know how likely it is. In the first scenario, Button knows he will be in position, so long as he sees the flop. The second scenario is much less likely. UTG+1 rarely takes position post-flop. But it happens. Especially in that spot, in which UTG+1 3bet rather than flatting. He pushed other players off the pot and got heads up with UTG.
Being last to act on the flop, turn and river has many advantages. You can learn about the importance of being in-position in my book or in many other articles and videos throughout the internet. This article is about relative position.
Relative position means not being last to act, but being the last to act before the player with position and initiative. Initiative meaning that this player was the last aggressor on the previous street and therefore the other players will typically check to the raiser. Having relative position can be a big advantage in multi-way pots over other players who must act before you.
In fact, they will often act before you twice, once when everyone checks to the raiser and then again when the raiser bets and the action goes back around the table.
Typically, when the pre-flop aggressor has position, the other players will check to the raiser as a default. If you are last to act before the pre-flop raiser, you will also be last to respond to the pre-flop raiser’s action.
How does that help?
Suppose you are to the immediate right of a player you know to be aggressive pre-flop and post-flop with a wide range. You could limp with some of your strongest hands, confident that he will raise. When he does there are one or more callers before it gets to you, you call also and now you have relative position.
Suppose when the flop comes, all other players check to you. You check to the aggressor also and he bets. Now it goes around the table again and you get to see how all the other players respond before you make your decision.
Suppose there are two callers. Do you have a top pair hand and see some draws on the board? You may want to raise in order to squeeze those callers as well as the raiser. If one of the callers is on a straight draw and one is on a flush draw, and one folds, your chances of being draw out on are reduced and dead money is now in the pot.
Suppose the pre-flop aggressor bets and the next player calls and the next player raises. You would have to strongly consider folding barring a hand stronger than a single pair. Folding is never fun, but at least you had a chance to see that action and make the correct decision. If you had been next to act after the pre-flop raiser, you might have called and been forced to decide whether to also call the raise.
Suppose you are on a draw to the nut flush and the cards on the board suggest that the other players either have strong pair hands or are also on the same flush draw. If the pre-flop raiser bets, you have to consider whether the bet he made, plus a bet he may make on the turn will make mathematical sense to call. If there are one or more callers, it is more likely that you have the correct pot odds and implied odd to get sticky with your draw.
Yet another possibility is that the flop comes unconnected, low and rainbow. Chances are good that this flop hit no one’s hand particularly hard. If it checks to the pre-flop raiser, and all other players fold, you may perceive this to be a bluff cbet.
In that case, you have an opportunity to bluff raise and take down the pot. The only likely pre-flop raising hand to have hit such a low-action flop would be a middle or small pair that made a set. If Villain has that set, he will call or re-raise in which case, you can safely fold to any further aggression.
Relative position is one way to over-come the disadvantage of having a bluffy and/or aggressive player to your immediate left. But it is not the most important condition and it does have some downsides.
The Downside of Relative Position
Relative position is nice to have, especially against an aggro-fish that you would prefer to have on your right. But it is not nearly as easy to predict that you will have relative position as that you will have position. It is a pretty narrow range of hands that you would play when you anticipate having relative position that you would not play if you anticipated being out of position to more than one player.
You might play a hand like queen-jack offsuit in middle position, anticipating making money from either a straight draw, a weak top pair, or middle pair. You can make money with a hand like that by filling your draw or by calling a bluff cbet that folds around to you. With an eight out draw, you can keep the math on your side by either calling if there are multiple callers or min-raising if it folds to you.
To see what I mean about the min-raise, check out my post, “the Limit Poker Free Card Play Revisited” here:
https://pokerwinner.proboards.com/thread/9/limit-poker-free-card-revisited
Main image by: Drm0hrRemake: Hazmat2 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20337835