During tournament breaks, players walk up to me all the time wanting to talk through a hand they just played. It happens so often I’ve stopped being surprised by it.
The conversation always goes the same way. They tell me about the hand — the cards they had, the bet they faced, the decision they made. And then they wait to hear what I think.
Before I say anything, I ask one question.
What was your position?
Most of the time I get a vague answer. “I was like two seats from the dealer.” Sometimes just a shrug, like the question wasn’t important.
It is important. It might be the most important piece of information in the entire hand.
There’s a saying in real estate — location, location, location. The same house in two different neighbourhoods can have completely different values. Poker is no different. The same hand, played from two different positions, can be a completely different situation.
I want to walk you through every position at the table — what it means, how it affects the way you should play, and exactly which hands are worth raising when the action is folded to you.
First — How to Use the Charts
Before we go through the positions, let me explain what these charts are actually showing you.
Each chart shows the hands you should open with a raise when everyone before you has folded and it’s your turn to act. That’s the key detail — these are opening charts. They’re for the specific moment when the table has folded around to you and you’re deciding whether to start the action.
If someone has already raised before it gets to you, that’s a completely different decision and we’ll cover that another time.
For now — green means raise. Grey means fold. Everything else comes later.
UTG — Under the Gun
UTG is where poker gets uncomfortable fast.
You’re the first player to act before the flop. Every single person at the table is still to act behind you. You have zero information — you don’t know if the player two seats to your left is sitting on pocket Aces. You don’t know if the player on the button is about to wake up with Kings. You know nothing.
That’s why the UTG chart is the tightest of all. You’re only raising hands strong enough to play a big pot against anyone at the table — because anyone at the table could still be in this hand.
When I’m in UTG and I look down at a hand that’s not on the chart, I don’t think twice. I fold and I wait. The button will come around to me eventually.
UTG+1
One seat to the left of UTG. One player has already folded ahead of you — that’s the only difference. The situation is still almost identical.
You’re still in early position. You’re still acting before most of the table. The range opens up by a small amount but the discipline stays exactly the same. Tight and patient
UTG+2
The last of the early position seats. Two players have folded ahead of you now and you can feel the table thinning slightly. The chart reflects a small expansion in range but the mindset doesn’t change.
Think of UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2 as one zone — the danger zone. In this zone, you play only what you’re genuinely happy to play a big pot with.
Lojack
This is where things start to shift.
The Lojack is the beginning of middle position. More players have already folded, fewer are left to act behind you, and the chart starts to show it. Hands that were folds from UTG become raises from here.
It’s not a dramatic change but it’s a real one. You’re starting to get information and your range can reflect that.
Hijack
Two seats from the button and the game is opening up properly now.
From the Hijack you have real options. The table has thinned, you have a clearer picture of who’s still in the hand, and you can start to apply pressure in a way that simply wasn’t available from early position.
Look at the chart compared to UTG. Notice how much more green there is. That’s not luck — that’s position doing its work.
Cutoff
One seat from the button and this is where poker starts to get fun.
From the Cutoff only three players act after you — the Button, the Small Blind and the Big Blind. You can raise a wide range of hands here, put real pressure on the blinds, and steal pots that nobody else wanted. Experienced players love the Cutoff for exactly this reason.
When I’m in the Cutoff and the action folds to me, I’m not just looking at my cards — I’m thinking about what the players behind me are likely to do. Most of the time, they fold. And that knowledge alone makes a lot of hands worth raising.
The Button
This is the best seat at the table. No debate.
When you’re on the button you act last in every single betting round after the flop. Every player has shown you what they want to do before you make a single decision. That information advantage is massive — and the chart for the button is the widest of all as a result.
From the button you can raise a huge range of hands. You can play pots you’d never play from early position. You can pressure the blinds, control the pot size, and make decisions with full information.
The button moves one seat clockwise every hand. When it lands on you — use it. Don’t waste it by playing timidly.
Small Blind
The Small Blind is a strange position and it trips up a lot of players.
Before the flop you act second to last — only the Big Blind is behind you, which feels like an advantage. But the moment the flop comes down, that all flips. From the flop onwards you act first in every single betting round. That’s a disadvantage that follows you through the entire hand.
That said — when the action folds all the way to the Small Blind, you’re only up against one player. The Big Blind. That’s a good situation and the range opens up a lot to reflect it. Just go in with your eyes open — you’re going to be out of position for the rest of the hand whatever you do.
Big Blind — Why There’s No Chart Here
You might have noticed there’s no preflop opening chart for the Big Blind. Here’s why.
These charts are for situations where the action is folded to you and you’re deciding whether to open the pot. If every player folds before it reaches the Big Blind — the hand is over. You win the pot without doing anything. There’s no decision to make and no chart needed.
When players do enter the pot before it gets to you in the Big Blind, you’re no longer opening — you’re responding. That’s a different kind of decision that depends on who raised, from where, how many players are in, and a dozen other things. We’ll get into that in a future post.
For now, one thing I’ll say about playing the Big Blind — don’t fall into the trap of calling bets just because you’ve already put money in. That money is in the pot. It’s gone. Make each decision based on whether calling makes sense right now, not because you feel like you own that pot.
What to Take From All of This
If you look at the charts together, from UTG all the way to the Small Blind, you’ll see something clear. The further right you are — the closer to the button — the more hands are worth playing. The green gets bigger. The range expands.
That’s not random. That’s position doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. More information means more opportunity.
The single most practical thing you can do with what you’ve just read — next time you sit down at the table, before you even look at your cards, know where you are in relation to the button. Then find the chart for that position. Then look at your cards.
That order matters. Position first. Cards second.
When players come up to me during breaks to talk through a hand, this is always where the conversation starts. Not the cards. Not the bet size. Position.
Because without that, nothing else makes sense.
In real estate it’s location, location, location.
In poker it’s position, position, position.
