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Position in poker is the order in which players are seated around the table and the related poker strategy implications. Players who act first are in "early position"; players who act later are in "late position"; players who act in between are in "middle position".[1] A player "has position" on opponents acting before them and is "out of position" to opponents acting after them.[2] Because players act in clockwise order, a player "has position" on opponents seated to his right, except when the opponent has the button and certain cases in the first betting round of games with blinds.
The primary advantage held by a player in late position is that they will have more information with which to make better decisions than players in early position, who will have to act first, without the benefit of this extra information. This advantage has led to many players in heads-up play raising on the button with an extremely wide range of hands because of this positional advantage.[3] Also, as earlier opponents fold, the probability of a hand being the best goes up as the number of opponents goes down.
The blinds are the least desirable position because a player is forced to contribute to the pot and they must act first on all betting rounds after the flop. Although the big blind has a big advantage on the first round of betting, it is on average the biggest money long term losing position.[4]
There are 10 players playing $4/$8 fixed limit. Alice pays the $2 small blind. Bob pays the $4 big blind. Carol is under the gun (first to act). If Carol has a hand like K♥ J♠, she may choose to fold. With nine opponents remaining to act, there is approximately a 40% chance that at least one of them will have a better hand than Carol's like A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K, A-Q, A-J or K-Q. Even if no one does, seven of them (all but the two players in the blind) will have position on Carol in the next three betting rounds.
今度は、カットオフポジション（ボタンの右）にいるデイビッドが同じK♥ J♠ を持っていて、すべてのプレイヤーがフォールドしたとしましょう。この状況では、アクションを起こす相手は 3 人しか残っていないため、そのうちの 1 人がより良いハンドを持っている確率はかなり低くなります（約 16% 程度）。次に、その 3 人のうち 2 人（アリスとボブ）は、後のベッティング ラウンドでデイビッドに対してポジションが悪くなります。一般的なプレイとしては、デイビッドがレイズして、ボタン（デイビッドに対してポジションがある唯一のプレイヤー）がフォールドすることを期待するというものがあります。デイビッドのレイズは、プレイ可能なハンドを持っていなければブラインドを奪うだけかもしれませんが、プレイすれば、デイビッドは後のベッティング ラウンドでポジションを有利に活用できるでしょう。