In Hold'em, the important features are "position, position, position" (like the real estate maxim "location, location, location").

Your seat at the table (your position) is so important that some two-cards can't be profitably played from an early position. These same cards are ones that you would likely raise with from a late position.

In a typical ten-handed game, PokerSchool Online refers to the positions as:

• The Blinds

  • Small Blind (1st player to the left of the dealer)

  • Big Blind (2nd player to the left of the dealer)

• Early Position
  Includes the two players to the left of the blinds (and after the first round of bidding also includes the blinds).

• Middle Position
  Includes the fifth, sixth, and seventh players to act.

• Late Position
  Includes the eighth and ninth players, as well as the 10th and last person to act, the dealer.

The expression "passing the buck" does not refer to dollar bills, but to poker. And President Harry S. Truman, an avid poker player himself, had a sign on his desk in the White House that read, "The Buck Stops Here."

--Reprinted with permission, from "Poker for Dummies", by Richard D. Harroch and Lou Krieger, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. ©2000