Heads Up With David Williams

David Williams exploded onto the poker scene in 2004, when he was the runner-up in the World Series of Poker main event. Since then, he has won a WSOP bracelet and the 2010 WPT Championship, and become a member of Team PokerStars. Recently, Card Player TV caught up with him to discuss the importance of being in position.

David Williams: The reason that being in position is so important is, when you make your decisions, you have more information before you have to act. When you are first to act, you don’t know what your opponents are going to do, but you have to decide whether to check or bet, and then your opponents who have position on you get to use that information when they decide whether or not to continue.
When you are in position, you get to see what they do. If they check, you can bet and try to win right there, or you can check and get a free card. If they bet, you can raise them, or if you decide that they have a hand, you can fold.
So, being in late position gives you a lot more information, which enables you to make better decisions. When you are in position, you are able to really open up your game and play more loosely. You can play speculative and drawing hands, because you can control the action, in a sense, by going last. ♠