Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 24 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Throughout poker literature, great emphasis is placed on being 'first in' - that is, the first player to make a bet (usually an all in) in order to win the blinds late in a tournament - enabling a player's survival. Much less frequently discussed is the importance in some key situations of being 'last in' - that is, the player that gets all in first.

This whole concept is important for one simple reason - you cannot bluff a person who is all in. Imagine you had a 100% accurate tell on a player that you knew always indicated that they were bluffing. Say they raise (and give off this tell), you re-raise with junk (knowing they are bluffing), but then they do a fancy move for whatever reason and go all in.

Despite the fact that you know that they are bluffing, you cannot call because you are also bluffing and they have been able to get the last of their chips in before you - leaving them 'last in' and you powerless to do anything except call with your junk hand or fold. Despite having an in depth knowledge of their hand, you have lost the ability to use that information because your opponent was the first to be last in.

Compare this with if you had raised with junk, they have re-raised (again, giving off the same tell), and you go all in - now the hand has played out just how it should have with the information you have gained from the tell. They cannot call, you are winning a decent sized pot with total garbage, and by being last in you stop them from doing anything except folding or making a crazy call.

As you can see from how differently these two hands end up depending on your position, it is critical to think through who will likely be last in when considering whether or how to play a hand. Although it is usually the player playing in position that can be last in, when playing short stacked or very deep stacked the advantage actually shifts to the player out of position (hence the constant re-stealing by short to mid stacks - when out of position - against players opening raises in the modern game).

Although it is rare to ever know that a player is definitely going to make a play at you with junk, it is becoming increasingly common in the modern era to see players habitually re-raising light. In these cases it is critical to think about who will be last in and adjust accordingly - it could be the difference between you being bluffed and you doing the bluffing.

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