Once you have selected a table at which to play, it is important to consider where you should sit. Often you will have no choice in the matter – there will only be one seat available and you will either have to take that place or go to the back of the waiting list. However, on other occasions you will be presented with a choice of two or more seats. Which criteria should you consider when selecting a seat?
If you know nothing about any of your opponents, there is little on which to base your decision. In those circumstances, many players recommend sitting to the left of where the majority of chips are located. In flop games, chips tend to move in a clockwise direction and, other things being equal, it is worth taking up a position that seeks to exploit this trend.
Your initiaating decision becomes more involved if you know the playing styles of some of your opponents. In those circumstances, the conventional wisdom is to sit to the left of the more aggressive players, with more passive players to your left. That way you can see the action of the aggressive players before you commit to the pot, and do not have to be too concerned about being raised every time you make a bet or call. You can thus take advantage of your position relative to the aggressive players, whilst the passive players can be counted on not to take full advantage of their position over you. In addition, if there is an opponent who calls nearly every hand pre-flop (in unraised pots), you would ideally like them on your right. That way whenever you have a premium hand you can almost guarantee that they will be investing two bets before the flop, one for their initial call, and another when they call your raise.
However, if there is a hyper-aggressive player who bets and raises at nearly every opportunity at the table, then the situation becomes a little more complex. It may be that you actually want them to your left – the fact that they are so predictable reduces the importance of holding position over them, since you can tailor your play so that whenever they are in the hand they can help bet your hand for you. The problem with having such a player on your right is that whenever they bet or raise you always have to act without knowing the actions of the players behind you – even if you suspect that the ‘maniac’ doesn’t have much of a hand, there may be someone else behind you who does, and you could easily get trapped on a second-best holding. Card Player columnist and author Bob Ciaffone goes so far as to call the seat to the immediate left of such a bulldozer, the ‘death seat’ – the one place to be avoided in a hold’em game.