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Poker positions, explained

Where you sit relative to the dealer button decides when you act — and acting last, having seen what everyone else did, is the biggest edge at the table that has nothing to do with the cards.

The button, and why everything counts from it

The dealer button is a disc that moves one seat to the left after every hand. Whoever has it acts last on the flop, turn and river, so they see every other player's decision before making their own. The two seats to its left post the forced bets — the small blind and the big blind — which is why they act last before the flop but first on every street after it.

Every other seat is named by how far it is from the button, because that is what matters: the further before the button you sit, the more players are still to act after you, and the less you know when you commit chips.

The names

Seat Also called What it means
Early Under the gun (UTG), UTG+1 The first seats to act before the flop. The most players behind you, so the tightest.
Middle MP, lojack (LJ) Between early and the named late seats. Still five or six players to act.
Hijack HJ Two seats before the button. Named for "hijacking" the late-position steal before the cut-off can.
Cut-off CO One seat before the button. Only the button and the two blinds act after you.
Button BTN, dealer Acts last after the flop on every street. The best seat at the table.
Small blind SB Posts half a bet blind; acts last pre-flop but first after it — the worst seat.
Big blind BB Posts a full bet blind and closes the pre-flop action; gets to see a free flop if nobody raises.

Heads-up (two players) is the odd one out: the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop, then last after it.

Who acts first, at every table size

Pre-flop acting order, starting with the seat after the big blind. The cut-off only earns its name at six or more players, and the hijack at seven or more — below that, the seats before the button are simply early or late. This is exactly how the calculator labels the seats when you place the dealer button.

Players Acting order before the flop
2 Small blind → Big blind
3 Button → Small blind → Big blind
4 Early → Button → Small blind → Big blind
5 Early → Late → Button → Small blind → Big blind
6 Early → Middle → Cut-off → Button → Small blind → Big blind
7 Early → Early → Hijack → Cut-off → Button → Small blind → Big blind
8 Early → Early → Middle → Hijack → Cut-off → Button → Small blind → Big blind

How much each seat opens

The practical consequence of position is the share of hands worth raising with when nobody has entered the pot. These are the conventional ranges a solid player uses at a full eight-handed table — the same ones the starting hand chart draws — counted properly over all 1,326 two-card holdings, not by cells on a chart.

Seat What it is Hands opened
Early First to act with seven players behind you — the tightest seat at the table. 10.6%
Middle Five or six players still to act — a seat for genuinely good hands. 14.0%
Hijack Two seats before the button — the table is thinning out, so open a little wider. 17.8%
Cut-off One seat before the button — only three players can act after you. 25.2%
Button Last to act for the rest of the hand — the best seat, so open widest. 42.7%
Small blind Only the big blind left — but you act first on every street after this one. 28.5%

The button opens four times as many hands as the first seat. That is not because the cards are better there — they are dealt the same everywhere — but because with only three players left to act, a raise wins the blinds outright far more often, and when it is called, acting last on every later street is worth real chips.

Position never changes a hand's equity: ace-king against queens is the same coin-flip from any seat, and the calculator's percentages ignore the button entirely. What position changes is how well you can use that equity — which is why the calculator lets you place the button and names each seat, and why the coach's advice reads it.

See it on a table