Poker Terms Under The Gun

Apr 22, 2019  Under the Gun (aka UTG) is the position of the player sitting directly clockwise of the Big Blind, and the first to act preflop. At a nine-handed table, the positions directly clockwise of UTG are known as UTG+1 and UTG+2.

  1. The player who is 'Under the Gun' or 'UTG' is the first player to act in a hand pre-flop. They are the player that sits immediately to the left of the Big Blind. The player who is UTG has a significant positional disadvantage in the hand, especially pre-flop.
  2. Under the gun. A pocket pair smaller than the lowest card on the board. A run of good luck, resulting in increased winnings. How to play Pairs and Rundowns in Omaha. In this article, we go over some live hand examples. Position is one of the most important strategy con. Under-the-gun or UTG poker.
Kristy Arnett

Each week, the Talking Poker series will highlight a particular poker term. We’ll give you a clear, to-the-point definition of the term and an example of the strategic concept to which it refers, so that you can start using the term and implementing the related strategy into your game. This week we focus on a term referring to one of the positions at the table — “under the gun.”

Definition

“Under the gun” (or “UTG”) refers to the position to the immediate left of the big blind in flop games like hold’em and Omaha. The under-the-gun player is the first to act before the flop. The term refers to the pressure that goes along with having to act before anyone else in the hand.

Example

Player A is directly to the left of the button and posts the small blind. Player B is on the left of Player A and posts the big blind. Player C sits to the left of Player A. The cards are dealt and Player C, playing under the gun, acts first.

Poker Terms Under The Gun Movie

Strategic Considerations

Pros generally advise players to play tighter in early position, especially when under the gun. The reason is that the rest of the table gets to act after you preflop, then after the flop all players who are not in the blinds who choose to play the hand will continue to have a positional advantage on you throughout.

Because the under-the-gun player is at a huge positional disadvantage, he or she can gain back some edge back by playing a better range of hands. For example, instead of raising with a hand like as a player might do when opening from the button, the under-the-gun player should instead be inclined to fold such a hand.

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Watch and Learn

Poker Terms Under The Guns

For more about playing from under the gun, here is a video by PokerXFactor coach Chris Wallace in which he presents a formula by which to guide starting hand selection from early position in cash games, including when playing UTG:

Under The Gun Plus 1

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    cash game strategytournament strategypositionpreflop strategyunder the gun