Stay away from seats 1 and 10

I realize that most experienced poker players will never willingly choose to sit in seats 1 or 10. However, I do feel the need to discuss this scenario again after having had to sit in seat 1 during a tournament this past weekend. So what is the big deal? The deal is that the two seats I just mentioned have the worst visibility of any seat you can sit at the poker table in. That means you do not have clear view of your opponent(s) or their chip stack. Not good. You always want to be able to see your opponents with a clear unobstructed view because the idea is to gain any information you can from their immediate reaction to a hand. This is almost impossible to do from seats 1 and 10 because the dealer is in-between you and your opponent blocking your view.

Obviously, this mostly applies to cash games as you do have the choice and opportunity to change seats should you be seated in one of these two seats initially. You can always get up and move to a more favorable position at the table. In my opinion by not doing so you put yourself at a sleight disadvantage. Tournaments are not so friendly. In a poker tournament you have no choice in the matter. You draw your seat or it is drawn for you and that is the end of the story until you are moved and/or your table breaks. So be aware that you can move when you join a cash game if the seat is not to your liking and there is another seat available.