Poker position: acting order and information

Common positions at a six-handed table

Position names describe seats around the moving dealer button. The exact labels vary with table size; this is the usual order at a six-handed table, starting with the first player to act preflop.

• Under the gun (UTG): first to act before the flop, so the most players are still behind.
• Hijack (HJ): acts after UTG and before the cutoff.
• Cutoff (CO): the seat immediately to the right of the button.
• Button (BTN): the dealer position. When still in the hand after the flop, the button acts last.
• Small blind (SB): sits immediately left of the button and posts the smaller forced bet.
• Big blind (BB): sits immediately left of the small blind and posts the larger forced bet.

The button moves one seat clockwise after each hand, so nobody keeps the same position.

Why acting later matters

After the flop, the first remaining player to the left of the button acts first. If you act before several opponents, you choose without seeing their decisions. If you act after them, you can use their checks, bets or raises as information before deciding.

This informational advantage is useful, but it does not guarantee a winning hand or make every call profitable. The board, the bet size, the players still in the hand and your own cards all matter. Position is one part of a decision, not a substitute for it.

The blinds and heads-up play

The blinds are unusual because they put chips in before the cards are played. The big blind may be last to act preflop if nobody raises, but it will usually act early after the flop. Having already posted a blind does not by itself make a call worthwhile: the decision depends on the price and the chance of winning the pot. See how pot odds work.

Heads-up play has a special order. The button posts the small blind and acts first preflop; after the flop, the button acts last. At a multi-player table, the order does not switch just because a hand later becomes heads-up. The Texas Hold'em rules guide walks through the full hand order.

A simple way to use position

Before acting, note where the button is and count how many players still act after you. As a general starting point, many strategies use fewer opening hands from early seats and more from late seats. The right choice still depends on what happened before your turn; a raise in front of you is different from a pot nobody has entered.

For a beginner-friendly framework, continue to starting hands by position. These are practice concepts, not promises of profit.