Low Limit Preflop Strategy: Late Position

Late position is the most fun position to play from because you can now play a wider range of hands and use your position to abuse your opponents. Playing from late position allows you to play more hands because you have more information about the opponents – both before the flop and after the flop.

In late position, you have a pretty good idea of how much it’s going to cost to see the flop because most of the other players have already acted. That knowledge gives you more leeway to play more hands. In short, late position gives you a major information advantage.

Late Position After a Raise

The types of hands you can play to a raise in late position depend primarily upon how many other players have entered the pot. In most cases, you should only play hands that are strong enough to warrant a re-raise. Hands such as AK, AQ and AA-TT can be re-raised because they are likely the best hand at the table and because you have the advantage of position.

Speculative hands such as small pocket pairs and suited connectors should only be played for a raise if several other people have already called that raise. These hands have the potential to make strong hands but they don’t do so often. By only playing these hands when there are several other people in the pot, you give yourself a better chance to win a bigger pot and make up for all the times you miss and have to fold.

Late Position After Folds

This is the perfect situation to turn up the aggression in your game. Most of the table has already shown no interest in the pot and it’s likely that the remaining players have random, non-interesting hands as well. This gives you a great opportunity to steal pots and win hands that you normally wouldn’t win.

The speculative hands that we mentioned earlier (small pairs and suited connectors) can sometimes be raised from late position in order to steal the blinds. The players in the blinds may suspect you are stealing but there is little they can do to fight you and they know it. A couple successful blind steals every hour will show a significant increase in your win rate.

Despite the advantage of position, a little caution is in order when stealing from late position. Some players defend their blinds vehemently and other players simply like to call lots of bets. Note how the players in the blinds react to steal attempts and adjust your play accordingly. If they fold to steals, you should continue stealing as much as possible. If the like to stick around, you can cut down on the stealing and instead place more value bets with legitimate hands.

Late Position After Limps

If several people have limped in to the pot without raising, you can play a wide variety of hands. I would suggest raising strong hands for value even though you might not get many folds. Those hands tend to win more pots than usual so you should get as much money in the middle as possible.

Weaker speculative hands can be played but they should not be raised. The goal with these hands is to get in as cheaply as possible and win a big pot. If several people are already in the pot, the only thing you need to do is limp in behind them. After the flop, you can then play your hand in a straightforward manner: fold if it misses, bet if it catches something.

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