What is a button in poker – the concept and features of the dealer’s position

Everyone who has played poker at least once, watched the game or started to master it, must have come across such a concept as Button. By and large, this definition has two meanings, but both of them are positional. The button in poker is the player’s position at the poker table, and at the same time, the participant in this position is also the so-called dealer in the offline game. In both live and online poker variants there is always a dealer chip. Note that all positional and ordinal calculations are carried out with respect to this player, let’s take at least the big and small blinds.

Every poker player, especially a beginner with a little playing practice, needs to not only know who the Button is, but also understand all the advantageous details of this playing position at the table. This will be discussed in the following material. What is a Button in Poker Let’s start with the basics – let’s figure out what a button is in live poker – in any land-based casino. So the button, or in English Button, is a symbol of a person who deals cards, and if you play in any gambling house, your button does not deal cards, this is done by the dealer or the croupier (not the player), but the button chip is given to one of table participants and moves clockwise from one player to another, on each new round – and is used to determine the big and small blinds. In the following poker variations: Texas Hold’em and Omaha, Lowball, Draw Poker and Badugi Poker, where there is no separate dealer, the position of the button is also indicated by the “dealer” chip, moves clockwise and serves as a report for all other positions at the table. Each of the participants present at the table can be a button in poker. We remember that the player with the small blind (one of the mandatory bets) is the first to receive cards – he is the first to the left of the button, but the button is the last to receive cards in the distribution. The chip (button) “Dealer” or “Button” itself is needed to maintain order, or in other words, the queue for issuing cards to players and for them to make decisions. It should be borne in mind that with each new distribution, the position, so to speak, of the button passes to a new participant – the first from the left, and then they are guided by the new position. Button position in poker Professional poker players use various game strategies, and each of them takes into account the position of the player at the preflop stage, and in the further trading process. So it is the position of the button that is considered the most optimal of all. Let’s look at the positions, or rather the positions of the players at the poker table. They are listed below in order from left to right from the dealer: Button – Dealer – D or D Small Blind – SB or SB Big Blind – BB or BB Early Position – RP or EP Middle Position – SP or MP Late Position – PP or LP Position Benefits Button at the poker table Now let’s take a closer look at the advantage of the position of the button (dealer) in poker: The advantages begin from the first round of the game – from the preflop – the button does not need to make any of the mandatory bets, and he makes one of the last decisions about further actions – so as after the button only two “go” – the blinds. This means that the participant with the dealer’s chip sees the current situation at the table quite widely – he knows who remains in the game, who folded cards and he can see the first reaction of the players to their starting hands. That gives him the opportunity to make the right decision for himself. At the stages after the flop, it is the button that makes the last decision in the hand – in front of him, the blinds decide first, after them the players in early and middle positions. So the next rounds of betting – the dealer has an excellent overview of the situation and more confidently makes his moves. The position of the button is very often difficult to predict for opponents, since they also understand the advantageous priorities of the player with the dealer chip. This means that they are playing a rather cautious, accurate game against him. But in the case of the so-called loose players, the button itself also needs to be careful – since these people can enter the draw with “any” cards from any position on the table. So, let’s sum up – the position of the button, so to speak, is present both in the live poker format and in poker rooms on the Internet. It is this position that serves as a guideline for determining the rest of the positions in poker throughout the game. The button moves clockwise to a new player with each new hand, moving both the two blinds and the rest of the seats. That is, every player at the table can be the dealer. Due to the convenient order, the button can better assess the situation and make the optimally favorable decision for himself. The dealer’s position is considered the most convenient, and it is the game from the position that is one of the foundations of all strategies. So if you properly master all the subtleties of the dealer’s place and manage to use them correctly in the game, you will surely be able to achieve good results. And maybe wins at major poker tournaments.