“Location, location, location” is important in the real estate world. In poker, it is “position, position, position,” and in Open Face Chinese Poker, position is tremendously important. Position gives you a wealth of information from the start and an advantage on every street for the rest of the hand. The information is available to you, but it is up to you to pay attention and take advantage of it just like in any other form of poker.

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Out of the gate, if you are playing heads-up, you know five cards and if you are playing three or four ways, you know even more of what is gone out of the deck. At this point, you have a good idea of what your opponents are shooting for and how their hands may develop. You can use this information to decide which way to go with your hand.

If you have a couple of spades in your hand, but see there are six spades already out, you know that going for a flush isn’t as good of a play. However, you have the opportunity to look around and see what cards and suits are live to give yourself the best shot at making a big royalty on the bottom.

Then, of course, you only have to beat your opponent on each street by a small amount to win, so if you don’t have a hand that builds well for royalties, you can start working toward notching your opponent on each street. Or, if it looks like they have a really strong hand, you can alter your play to focus on whatever line seems the weakest to avoid getting scooped.

Position gives you a tremendous advantage as the hand plays out. Once your opponent has played a card in front of you, you know what the card is along with whatever spot they played it. In the middle and end of the hand, lines will start becoming very defined and once they lock a card in, you have almost absolute knowledge of whether you can beat them on any given street by playing a certain card.

The most obvious example is that once they have played their last card on the top, you know exactly what it takes to beat them. If a player has a J-3 up top and places a K there on their sixth draw and you have a Q-2 up top, you know that you have to either make a pair or put an A or K up there to win. Anything else and you are surrendering that line.

If you draw an A or K behind him, you can easily play it on the top knowing you have locked up that line by notching your opponent (assuming you aren’t fouling).

You always have to develop your hand in a way that gives you a chance to make a hand without fouling. And usually the value of royalties makes it worth building your hand in a way to have a shot at them. But, as the hand plays out, position allows you to easily transition your hand into whatever it needs to be, whether that’s a monster, a 25-point hand, or avoiding the scoop and trying to minimize your losses.

Court Harrington has worked on the business side of the poker industry in roles including tournament reporting for PocketFives, radio hosting for PokerRoad Radio, coaching for the WSOP Academy and privately, and a variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities for poker media businesses. He also plays in cash games and tournaments. Harrington is currently doing consulting work and exploring business opportunities outside of the poker industry. You can contact him at Court@CourtHarrington.com.

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