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The button is the seat that acts last on the flop, the turn and the river. That is the whole of its advantage and it is worth more than any two cards you can be dealt: you make every decision after the hand has already watched everyone else make theirs. It is marked with a physical disc that moves one seat clockwise after each hand, so the blinds and the position rotate evenly. Tap BTN on the map below to see it, then tap the cutoff next to it — the seat almost every home game plays too tight.
Why acting last is worth more than the cards
How wide the button and the cutoff should really open
What the dealer button is for, and where it moves
Table positions
Preflop action starts left of the big blind and moves clockwise. The button moves one seat after every hand.
Players behind you
2
Position group
Late
Read the third column. Everything about late position comes from how many players are still behind you, and the drop from three to two is the single biggest step at the table.
Seat
Hijack
Acts postflop
Fourth-last
Players still to act preflop
4
Rough opening range
23%
Seat
Cutoff
Acts postflop
Third-last
Players still to act preflop
3
Rough opening range
28%
Seat
Button
Acts postflop
Last, every street
Players still to act preflop
2
Rough opening range
45%
Seat
Small blind
Acts postflop
First after the flop
Players still to act preflop
1
Rough opening range
40%, raise or fold
Seat
Big blind
Acts postflop
Second after the flop
Players still to act preflop
0
Rough opening range
Defend, not open
Same cards, two seats apart. Nothing about the hands improved — two of the players who could have raised are already out of the way, and the two who remain have both paid to be there.
Hand
K7o
Hijack
Fold
Button
Open
Why it changes
Only the blinds are left, and a king is ahead of most of what defends
Hand
J8o
Hijack
Fold
Button
Open
Why it changes
It plays badly, but it plays badly in position and against two players
Hand
65s
Hijack
Marginal
Button
Open
Why it changes
Suited, connected, and it will see every street last
Hand
Q4s
Hijack
Fold
Button
Open
Why it changes
A steal, and it flops enough to continue on some boards
Hand
A2o
Hijack
Fold
Button
Open
Why it changes
Weak, but it dominates the ace-x hands the blinds defend with
Hand
83o
Hijack
Fold
Button
Fold
Why it changes
Even the button has a floor
It is the seat marked by the dealer disc, and it is where the deal would start if somebody at the table were dealing. In a cardroom a professional deals every hand, so the disc is all that is left of the role — but it still decides everything: the blinds are posted to its left, the action starts to their left, and the button itself speaks last on every street after the flop. It moves one seat clockwise after each hand so that everyone pays the blinds equally over a session.
Every other seat has to act while somebody behind them still gets to respond. The button never does. You see the flop bet before you decide whether to call it, you see the turn check before you decide whether to attack it, and you see the river action before you commit anything. Over a session that is not a small edge — it is the reason a mediocre player on the button beats a good player under the gun more often than the cards say they should, and the reason the button is the only seat that shows a profit for most players.
Around 45% of hands from the button when it is folded to you, which reads like a misprint next to the 15% you open under the gun. It is not. There are two players left, both of them already have money in the pot, and both of them have to play the entire hand out of position against you. Hands like K7o and Q4s are not good; they are good enough against two specific opponents who will fold most of the time and be out of position when they do not.
The cutoff sits directly to the button's right and has three players left instead of two, which makes it the second-best seat at the table by a comfortable margin. Almost every home game plays it like middle position out of habit, opening perhaps 18% where 28% is right. If you change one thing after reading this page, make it the cutoff rather than the button — the button is the seat people already know to attack from, and the cutoff is where the unclaimed money is. It gets no page of its own here because it has no separate question: it is the button's problem with one more opponent.
Position keeps paying after the cards are out. When the blinds check to you, a small bet takes the pot far more often than it should, because they have to act first on every remaining street and know it. When they do fight back, you get to fold cheaply having spent one bet rather than three. The discipline that separates a good button from a greedy one is being willing to check back — a free card taken in position is worth more than a bluff made because the seat felt like it demanded one.
The other side of a 45% opening range is that most of it is weak, and folding your big blind to it every time is how a recreational player donates money without ever making a visible mistake. You have already posted a full blind, so you are getting a price nobody else at the table gets. Defend wide, expect to miss most flops, and accept that you will be playing them out of position — the alternative is paying the button a blind an orbit for nothing.
A home game has no professional dealer, so the disc is doing real work: it says who deals, who posts, and who acts. The two failure modes are forgetting to move it and forgetting who has it, and both end in the same argument. Move it clockwise before the next deal starts, not after the cards are out. A room on PokerChip.live advances the button and the blinds itself, which removes the disc and the argument together.
Short-handed, the button posts no blind and still acts last after the flop, which makes it enormously valuable and is why three-handed games swing so hard. Heads-up the order inverts: the button posts the small blind and acts *first* before the flop, then last on every street afterwards. If your game shrinks to two players late in the night and nobody adjusts, the person who realises this first takes the rest of the evening's money.
FAQ
01
The seat marked by the dealer disc. It acts last on the flop, turn and river, and the disc moves one seat clockwise after every hand so the blinds rotate evenly.
02
Because it acts last on every street after the flop. You make each decision knowing what everyone else did, which is worth more than any two cards you can be dealt.
03
Around 45% when it is folded to you — close to one hand in two. Only the two blinds are left, both already have money in the pot, and both will play the hand out of position against you.
04
The seat immediately to the right of the button, with three players left to act. It is the second-best seat at the table and the one most home games open far too tight, at around 18% where 28% is right.
05
Clockwise, one seat after every hand. Move it before the next deal starts rather than after the cards are out — forgetting is the most common bookkeeping error in a home game.
06
Not in a normal game — the two players to its left post the small and big blind. Heads-up is the exception: there the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop.
07
It is the abbreviation for the button, and it is what you will see on charts and seat maps alongside UTG, HJ, CO, SB and BB.
08
Yes, clearly. The button has two players behind it and the cutoff three, and the button also acts last after the flop even when the cutoff enters the pot.
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