I believe I understand position, but while reading articles regarding the button I've been forced to re-evaluate that belief. I'm told that understanding position is often the, if not the, most important aspect of the game, and thus far this is my "understanding" of position.

1) When you are directly to the left of the blinds, or Under The Gun, you're range is at its minimum. The reason your range is at its minimum is because you are the first person to act in the pre-flop game, and thusly you have no idea whether or not other people are going to fold, limp, raise, call or re-raise behind you, so you need to play either a strong hand or an unorthodox in order to ensure you either see the flop or take the entire orbit down with a raise.

2) As you move further to the left of the blinds, your range increases, because more players have folded (I'm assuming no raisers or limpers) and you can use that information to better asses the strength of your hand and your options.

3) At the other extreme, the best pre-flop position to be in is the BB, because either every one folds to you, at which point you collect the antes and the blinds, or you can can use the information you've garnered to make the best possible decision, or you can play your hand at a discount, which is useful for pricing low PPs and SCs etc.

Those are the pre-flop dynamics.

After splashing around with the weak tight fish that made the same mistake of buying Phel Hellmuth's books and reading Harrington on Hold'em and David Sklansky's Theory of Poker, I constructed a chart:

Note: You may want to scroll thru' this if you're not a chart kind of guy.

UTG: AKs, AKu, AA-22
EP: + A(Q-T)s, K(Q-T)s, Q(J-T)s, JTs
MP: + A(Q-T)u, T-4sc, J-4sc1
LP: + A(9-2)s, K(Q-T)u, Q(J-T)u, JTu

s=Suited, u=Unsuited, sc=Suited Connector, sc1=Suited Connector 1 Gap
(x-x)=all of the possible combinations in that range, where (x-x)sc or (x-x)sc1 means all of the logical combinations in that range i.e T9, 98, 87, 76, 65, 54 and J9, T8, 97, 86, 75, 64.

Those were my conditions for opening the orbit with a raise of 3/4xBB

EP vs UTG Raise

AKs: Re-raise or Call with a preference towards Re-Raising
AKo: Re-raise or Call
AA-TT: Re-raise
99-22: Call or Fold
A(Q-T)s: Re-raise, Call or Fold
K(Q-T)s, Q(J-T)s, JTs: Call or Fold

MP vs UTG Raise

Same as above, with a preference towards Re-raising A(Q-T)s
A(Q-T)u: Re-raise, Call or Fold
T(9-4)sc, J(T-4)sc1: Fold or Call

LP vs UTG Raise

Same as above, with a preference towards Re-raising A(Q-T)s and folding A(Q-T)u
K(Q-T)u, Q(J-T)u, JTu: Fold
A(9-2)s: Call or Fold

EP vs EP Raise

Same as EP vs UTG Raise, with a preference towards re-raising A(Q-T)s

MP vs EP Raise

Same as MP vs UTG raise, with a preference towards re-raising A(Q-T)s and A(Q-T)u

LP vs EP Raise

Same as LP vs UTG raise, with a preference towards re-raising A(Q-T)s and A(Q-T)o

MP vs MP Raise

Same as MP vs EP Raise

LP vs MP Raise

99-22s: Re-raise, Call or Fold with a preference towards Re-raising
A(9-2)s: Re-raise, Call or Fold
K(Q-T)u, Q(J-T)u, JTu: Re-raise, Call or Fold

What to do when you're re-raised,

AA-QQ: Push
JJ-TT: Push, Call or Fold with a preference towards calling
99-22: Push, Call or Fold with a preference towards folding
AKs, AKu: Push or Call with a preference towards calling
A(Q-T)s: Push, Call or Fold with a preference towards calling
A(Q-T)u: Fold
A(9-2)s: Call or Fold with a preference towards folding unless you are in multi-way
K (Q-T)s, Q(J-T)s, JTs: Call or Fold
K(Q-T)u, Q(J-T)u, JTu: Fold
T(9-4)sc, J(9-4)sc1: Call or Fold with a preference towards folding unless you are in multi-way.

I consider this a TAG chart.

Like any raising, C-Betting, Double Barreling, Block Betting, Value Betting and Over Betting grind monkey, I sent the weak tight fish down stream. Once I was comfortable at the low-limit weak tight tables, I graduated to the mid-limit weak loose tables (I estimate this to be between 5 and 20 dollars, for some reason weak loose players are arrogant and go straight to the limits where they can either make or lose reasonable amounts of money for a High School or College Student). Weak loose tables don't respect raises, have no idea what position is, love to limp into pots, are calling stations and encourage infectious play. JJ-22 were leaking and the drawing hands were accumulating, so I reconstructed the TAG chart into a fishing trip:

Raise: AKs, AKu, A(Q-T)s, K(Q-T)s, Q(J-T)s, J-Ts, AA-QQ
Limp/Call: A(9-2)s, T(9-4)sc, J(9-4)sc1, JJ-22
Bet Pot/Push: AA-QQ
Fold: A(Q-T)u, K(Q-T)u, Q(J-T)u, J-Tu

What do you do when you're re-raised? Call!

This chart made me a ridiculous amount of cash at these tables over time, but I wasn't improving. After bonus whoring and purchasing Poker Tracker I moved on to the 50/100 dollar tables, where I found decent players.

I returned to the TAG chart, C-Betting, Double Barreling, Block Betting, Value Betting and Over Betting and combined it with some Check-Raising, Check-Calling and calling C-Bets to bet at them on the turn or Re-Raise their Double Barrels if I improved, a scare card hit the board or I had at least Middle/Low Pair. I never, ever bluffed The River or slow played anything but a Full House or an Ace High Flush, and once I realized I was turning a small profit on calling C-Bets and re-raising Double Barrels I decided to add in Re-Reraising with Middle/Low Pair to mix things up. I was still making a small profit after this, but the variance was too high, so I calmed down and started respecting C-Bets and Double Barrels more often and/or started showing my Semi-Bluffs to fire up the board.

Showing my Semi-Bluffs started to increase my pay days with sets, because my betting patterns for TPTK and sets were so similar, and that's when I noticed some variance between my online and home game play. In my home game, the rules for showing cards were liberal, we could show both cards, or one card at any time during the hand as long as we had chips in the middle (in other words mucking your cards face up with out a stake in the pot was strictly prohibited, and you would pay a fine if you did it accidentally). IMO, if you play a home game, you should use the "Show 1 Card" trick to your advantage, because even if people are playing by Online or WPT rules, most people don't know that if you show 1 card you have to show both cards. Always be prepared to show both cards, but know that showing an opponent that you have one pair when you have two, showing your opponent that you have one pair when you have a set, showing your opponent that you have a draw instead of a made hand or just showing TPTK with an awful kicker or Middle or Low Pair will drive people bat shit crazy.

I gained, and lost, a lot of respect by showing my cards, but for better or worse I was branded a LAG. "WTF is a LAG?" I thought to myself, and then I continued to play the same game I always did. I considered myself a part time Poker player, and while my friends were wasting away on World of Warcraft and Halo 3, I had built a 4k bank roll thru' TAG play. I got over eager and moved on from the 50 dollars tables to the 200 dollar tables, and that's where I found the other TAGs.

While I didn't take a tremendous step back, I didn't take a tremendous step forward either. TAG vs TAG play is grueling, because while the chips will swing back and forth, TAGs will either break even against each other, make a small profit by being slightly more aggressive/tricky/perceptive and every once and while get payed off when another TAG gets bored and decides to do something stupid. Can you guess which kind of TAG I was ...

After losing half of my bank roll from a combination of bad calls, bad beats and that dreaded, evil Pin Ball monster we all call Tilt, I stepped down to the 100 dollar tables, where I learned to read my opponent's and I recouperated my losses. After I had regained my confidence, and I had "improved" my style, I returned to the 200 dollar tables.

Promptly after returning to the 200 dollar tables, I lost half my bankroll, again, and stepped down to the 100 dollar tables, again. I was furious, because while I felt I had improved my play, I was facing the possibility that I had hit a plateau in my playing abilities. While some people need to except that they'll never be professional poker players, I'm a stubborn son of a bitch. Even tho' I had no desire to play poker full time, I love my "real" job, I was pissed off that I couldn't play poker professionally if I wanted to.

"Did that man just Raise SCs UTG? That guy is a maniac!"

There's a fine line between being brilliant and being insane, but I learned two important lessons here. The first lesson was that being unpredictable is a good thing. Even tho' I played a large number of hands and played a large number of hands well for a TAG, I realized that I was religious when it came down to where, when and for how much I played those hands. My opponent's must be reading me like a book, so I opened up Poker Tracker and started to study myself. My 99-22s were leaking from my UTG Raises and Calls, my Sets weren't getting payed, my T(9-4)sc and J(9-4)sc1 were also leaking from my Raises and Calls, my Straights weren't getting payed but my Flushes were.

All TAGs do is raise, raise this, raise that, raise raise raise. Then I came across Frank Henderson's theory, and I was reminded of all that cash I made at the 5/20NL tables . To paraphrase, he would just limp with 99-22, T(9-4)sc, J(9-4)sc1, A(9-2)s and even A(Q-T)o to get into the pot for as little as possible and then get out of the pot with as much as possible after the flop hit him. It sounded reasonable, and it kept me from getting bored, so ...

Me vs 200NL TAGs Round 3 "Bye Bye Hand Chart"

I didn't expect limping vs TAGs to work, but it did work. I was getting payed, I was getting payed because the TAGs saw me as some weak loose fish that was going to blow his entire bank roll in one sitting, and all of a sudden I was involved in multi-way pots with the sharks swimming around me, value betting those TPTK all the way to The River, where I had the Sets, Straights and Flushes waiting for them. I'd get payed, and then I would get up and go to another table to find another TAG sucker that over valued TPTK and start all over again.

"We're Going to Need a Bigger Boat!"

Eventually, you run out of suckers, especially when you're at a home game or in a casino, so you're forced to play poker. I felted some one with a set of deuces after I limped into the pot with them UTG, and then I felted some one with a baby back door flush after I limped into the pot from the same position. I kept trying, but the jig was up, so I had to start playing real poker.

Note: I quickly earned the nick name of "Limp Dick" from the players I felted IRL, but those same people, and the people they warned, kept on taking the bait. IRL, people are much more stubborn than online, because they can't necessarily find another game or something to distract themselves with while Tilt wears off. They have to deal with you, and when they have to deal with you, they usually don't do it well. People had grown so accustomed to me limping in with "garbage" that I started to limp AA-KK after a horrendous bad beat losing streak with these hands. My opponents didn't get the joke, and when I turned over a set of Aces or Kings on the turn "Limp Dick" got a lot harder to play against. On occasion, people would even forget I was in the pot, make a move on one another and then I could come over the top of them with the best hand.

When I got back to playing real poker, I had a problem. When I raised UTG, I was raising with a range of AKs, AKo, AA-TT and that was it. When I raised, people realized that they needed to get out of the way, when I limped, people realized they needed to be cautious. Even when I combined my reduced UTG and EP range, it was still easy for my opponent's to at least recognize my range and play accordingly. I bought a car with the cash I made limping against TAGs, but even tho' I had learned a cute trick, I hadn't improved. I was still a TAG, I was just a tricky TAG, and then I remembered that maniac ...

Misplaying position? Blasphemy!

I understood the correlation between position and hand strength, but what I didn't fully understand was the correlation between betting and the button. I had read strategy articles, but the authors only referred to the button as the button, and never mentioned which side of the button you were suppose to be on. I thought it was obvious that you wanted to be to the right of button, since you were guaranteed to act last in the hand, which allowed you to collect information and steal the pot. When I first started to playing poker, multi-way was very common, and when you were in a multi-way pot, you always wanted to be the last to act, because there were just too many hands in the cookie jar to deal with.

I needed to raise with more hands, and different hands, UTG, so I started raising with 99-22 again and added raising T(9-4)sc and J(T-4)sc1 as often as I limped with them in order to catch people off guard. I had become a UTG and EP LAG with no respect for the button. I would raise, some one in EP or MP would call or re-raise and the blinds wouldn't defend their stake in the pot, nothing unusual there. But I was finding myself to the left of the button, and once people realized my range was ridiculously large, I was getting cold called a lot. I didn't know what to do, and usually when I don't know what to do, I bet. I started taking down pot after pot, I took down so many pots by being the first to bet into a pot with ATC it was sickening. My set and drawing game was shelved, and I started playing small pot poker. I would terrorize the other players from the left of the button, Raising, C-Betting and Double Barreling them into bankruptcy, and it made absolutely no sense to me. Either I was doing something right or I was doing something terribly wrong and getting away with it.

To this day, I don't know what the "right" answer to that question is. But I came up with a theory that I like to call "The Initiative." The Initiative is based on my personal observations and limited understanding of game theory, but the theory states that in anticipation of being Heads Up the value of acting first pre-flop and the value of acting first post-flop are inverse. So while you want to play cards that will hold up to the raises and re-raises of the pre-flop game in early position, you also want to be the first person to bet the flop, because the first person to bet the flop, more often than not, takes the pot down. As a consequence of this theory, the strongest position on the board is the SB, because it's the second to last player to act in the pre-flop game and the first person to bet the flop. You can torture the BB by always raising and C-Betting him, or you can torture the UTG, EP, MP players by re-raising, forcing out the BB and isolating the other players to bet first into.

It may not phase the pros, but the shock value seems to work unilaterally against the weak tight fish and TAGs. By betting first you have the initiative, by Double Barreling, you have the momentum and when the weak tight fish and TAGs get tired of the abuse and lash out at you, you wake up with a hand.

Any way, that's my first three months of poker in a nut shell. I managed to buy a car and put a down payment on my house with a lot of aggression, a lot of discipline, some unorthodox play and a general disdain of TPTK, 2Pair and Over Pairs. I'm by no means a professional player, but poker has been very good to me, and at the age of 23, I have a lot more to show from it than my asshole friends have to show from World of Consume Your Life Craft. It's arguably been the best 50 dollar investment and learning experience I've ever made, and hopefully my long winded tale will inspire you to make something of yourselves.

Props to SmakinYaUp, his personal website and the advice it afforded me was invaluable, if you take the time to listen to that man, you'll be well on your way to generating a second source of income.

Slops to Phil Hellmuth, your book wasn't worth the 9.95 I payed for it let alone the 50.00 dollars I lost from it. May Vegas Billboards haunt your dreams you commercial ninny.