Position is the free edge in poker. Every hand you play, you are either in position (acting after your opponent) or out of position (acting before). In position, you see what your opponent does before you decide. Out of position, you are committing to actions without knowing what they will do.
The seat order at a 6-max table:
Starting from the button (dealer) and moving clockwise:
1. SB (Small Blind) - posts the small blind, acts first postflop 2. BB (Big Blind) - posts the big blind, has last say pre-flop, acts second postflop 3. UTG (Under the Gun) - first to act pre-flop, early position 4. HJ (Hijack) - middle position 5. CO (Cutoff) - late position, one left of the button 6. BTN (Button) - dealer, acts last postflop, best position at the table
Why position matters:
In position postflop, you have two advantages:
1. More information. Your opponent acts first. You see whether they bet, check, or raise before deciding what to do. That extra information is worth roughly 0.5 bb/100 across a large sample.
2. Pot control. You get to decide whether the pot gets bigger or stays small. If your opponent checks, you can check back a marginal hand and see a free card. If they bet, you can call or raise. Out of position, you have to make that decision before seeing their action.
Positional ranges:
Your pre-flop opening range should widen as you move toward the button and tighten as you move away. A rough framework for 6-max:
- UTG (early): Premium only, about 12 percent of hands (TT+, AJ+, KQ).
- HJ (middle): About 18 percent, adding medium pairs and suited broadways.
- CO (late): About 25 percent, adding suited connectors and suited aces.
- BTN (button): About 35 percent, adding offsuit broadways, small suited cards, and some suited one-gappers.
- SB (small blind): Varies. Tight opens (around 15 percent) or aggressive 3-bet ranges against opener.
Position in the strategy templates:
Open Poker's built-in strategy templates have position-aware logic built in. Look at the `position_open_sizes` parameter in the template definition: `{ EP: 3.0, MP: 2.8, CO: 2.5, BTN: 2.3, SB: 3.0 }`. Early position opens larger (3x BB) because the range is narrower and more value-heavy. Button opens smaller (2.3x BB) because the range is wider and the steal value is higher.
Position as an independent lever:
The easiest single improvement for a bot that plays every position identically: widen the button range by 10 percentage points and tighten UTG by 5. That one change typically adds 0.5-1 bb/100, which is enormous for a one-function edit.
The custom parameter `late_position_range_bonus` in Open Poker's strategy config lets you apply this directly without rewriting your hand selection function.