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The Button — The Best Seat in Poker, and the One Most Home Games Waste

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

牌桌位置

点座位,看它什么时候行动

POKERCHIP9 人桌UTGUTG+1UTG+2LJHJCOBTNDSBSBBBBB

翻牌前从大盲左手边开始行动,按顺时针走。每打完一手,庄家按钮往左移一位。

按钮位BTN

行动顺序
翻牌后每一轮都最后行动
这个位置是什么
庄家座位。翻牌、转牌、河牌你都最后说话——这比你拿到什么牌都值钱。
该怎么打
全桌最宽的开池范围——40-50% 的牌。

你身后还有几家

2

位置分组

后位

The last four seats, and how much each is worth

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

What the button opens that the hijack folds

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

What the button is

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.

Why acting last is the whole advantage

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.

How wide to open, and why the number looks absurd

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 is the seat you are actually misplaying

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.

Playing the button after the flop

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.

Defending against the button, when it is not yours

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.

The button at a table with no dealer

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.

Three-handed and heads-up change the rules

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

关于button poker的常见问题

01

What is the button in poker?

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

Why is the button the best position?

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

How many hands should you play from the button?

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

What is the cutoff in poker?

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

Which way does the dealer button move?

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

Does the button post a blind?

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

What does BTN mean?

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

Is the button better than the cutoff?

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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