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The seats in early position at a poker table are always going to be the least desirable seats in the hand. Players that find themselves to the very left of the button in seats such as the small blind, big blind and 'under the gun' will be one of the very first to act on future betting rounds if they decide to play their hand. This can cause a major problem, as having the ability to see your opponents act before you is a big asset in Texas Hold'em, so we need to form a solid game plan.
Firstly, we have to realise that we are going to be severely hindered if we decide to play a hand from early position, and that our opponents hold a significant advantage over us. Therefore to compensate for the lack of position, we need to stick to playing the very best hands to help give us a better chance at winning the pot. This means that normally decent hands like KQ, AJ and even AQ should be folded from early position.
It is important to point out however that the number of players at the table will have an impact on how strict you should be with your starting hand selection. This is because at a short handed table, there is less chance that an opponent has you beat if you hold a decent hand, so you can open up you starting hand range a little. But as a general rule of thumb; the more players are the table, the stricter your starting hand requirements should be from early position.
In terms of betting from early position, you want to stick with the standard preflop strategy of either raising with a good hand or folding if it's anything else. For example, if you have a strong hand like AK, you want to make a strong raise of around 4BB or more to help reduce the amount of players that call to see a flop.
You want to avoid limping from early position position, as it is a very weak play that is just going to get you into sticky situations. The last thing we want to have in early position is a number of players acting after us, as it further compiles the problem of being the first to act on each betting round.
Post flop play is never going to be easy if you are the first to act, so you just have to do the best that you can with what you have. In general, it is best to stick to your guns and make a continuation bet on the flop to follow on with the preflop aggression. Of course this will all depend on the situation and how strong your hand is, but if you are up against one opponent, the aggressive approach is often going to be the best strategy. A check will make it look as though you are giving up on the hand, so keep firing and hope to take down the pot. Just be prepared to fold if you come up against too much resistance.
Regardless of how good a player you are, the likelihood is that you will always lose money over the long run in seats like the small blind, big blind and under the gun. Therefore the best strategy is damage limitation, rather than attempting to outplay your opponents and win money. Always look for a reason to fold from early position rather than reason to see a flop, things will work out better this way.
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