It is a long accepted fact that where one sits at a poker table is better not left to chance, because it definitely matters in any, specially multi-handed, poker game.
According to poker-pros it matters so much that not choosing a right seat at the table can reduce one's winnings by as much as half.
Chosing the right seat is not about trying to avoid someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes per hand or sweats a lot. It isn't even about trying to sit a far as possible from someone you hate. In poker, there's no room for radical feelings like hate, or any other feelings for that matter. Try to always judge everything as objectively as possible.
Some say there are lucky seats at the poker table. Trust me, those seats ain't lucky, it's just the human mind which is trying to make heads and tails of everything, telling you otherwise. Remember, the fact that you had a few good beats sitting in this or that or the other chair has nothing to do with why you were succesful.
One might ask: if there are no lucky seats in poker how come the position at the table is important then?
Sure enough there aren't any lucky seats, but just as well, you can bet that there are seats more profitable than others. In poker, the action happens from the right to left in a clockwise direction. It is also pretty much common sense that if you have to act something after your opponent has already made his/her choice regarding that same thing you posess an advantage over him/her. Word has it, that if someone were to observe a poker table from above he'd probably be able to see the money flowing around from the right to the left.
The same is valid in an online poker room or when someone plays poker in an online casino. One might figure the advantages equal out in the longrun because every player has someone to his right he can take advantage of and another player to his left who is taking advantage of him.This way of seeing things is not a mistaken one, however, because of all the different playing-styles represented at a table the equation is a far more complex one.
There are obviously players who can use their positional advantage better than others, and players who – because of the style they play – are easier to take advantage of than others. Naturally one would want the 'fish' to be on his right so he can milk him good, and the players who do not represent much of a danger but are still tough to milk on his right.
Another type of poker player that's best off on your left is the tight player who folds often, only playing really really strong hands. By the nature of his game this player is less likely to hurt you even if he has the positional advantage on you.
Things in reality are of course a lot more complicated than this. A simple example of position-advantage at work would be the following: picture a loose player on your left. He's holding a mediocre hand and you have a really solid one you're almost sure you can take the pot with. You, naturally raise and this sounds the alarm for him. He'd most probably call the bet, but now with your raise he's not so sure anymore, he folds. If you had him on your right he would've called the bet, then you would've raised and by the time it got around back to him he would've called it again.
That way you'd have got a lot more money into the pot, and you could've made the best of your strong hand no problem. Another way to try to squeeze as much juice out of the loose player when he holds position advantage is not to raise but simply keep calling. That might just get more juice into the pot if someone else raises, but if not then you're back where you were and it's a bit too much left to chance already.
While digging into poker-strategy books and browsing the internet red hot for poker info make sure you do not get blinded by the abundance of information on complicated techniques. Remember to keep simple things as table position in sight.