‘Position is prime!’ It’s a statement you’ll hear over and over during TV tournaments, but it’s very rarely explained.

‘Position’ refers to your proximity to the button, which represents the nominal dealer. Online this is done automatically, but the button is there to show who would be dealing and who must pay the blinds (forced bets to instigate action).

You can find these – small and big – to the left of the button. These are also the last to act during the opening round of betting (dependant on the strength of your hole cards), but are the first to act in all other betting rounds.

It’s universally accepted that you’re in the best position if you’re in button, as you have the benefit of seeing everyone else’s decisions prior to making your own: to check, bet, raise or fold. Furthermore, if you hold the button you’re ideally placed to make an attack on the blinds – commonly known as a ‘button raise’ or ‘button steal’.

The beauty of button raises is you only have to get past two players (the small and big blinds) and considering the probability of either holding a pocket pair is 16/1 and any Ace nearly 6/1, you often do. It’s very hard to contest a raise with no hand even if you strongly suspect your chips are being stolen by a move-maker in possession of the button.