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Poker Terms

Big Blind

Check Dark

Dealer Button

Flop

Flop The Nuts

Hole Cards

Maniac Player

Poker App’s

Poker Cave

Runt

Slow Roll

Small Blind

Suited Connectors

Under The Gun

Poker Terms - Dealer Button

In poker the term button refers to the dealer button which is used to show and keep track of which player is acting as the dealer in each hand, after every hand it is passed clockwise one position to the next player. It is not simply a case of showing who’s job it is to shuffle and deal the cards each hand, if you play online the cards are shuffled dealt out automatically and if you play at a casino they have specialist dealers to do this. About the only time nowadays where the players themselves need to deal out the cards is in a home game. So you may be wondering, why do they use dealer buttons in casinos and online? Well the answer is it has far more to do with the structure of the game and in what order players act than the dealing of cards. At the start of each hand of poker the player directly to the left (moving around the table clockwise) of the button puts in the small blind (SB) and the person to their left posts the big blind (BB). Having the physical button on the table moving around helps to show the players when they need to post the blinds but it also shows them in what order to act. Preflop the person to the left of the BB acts first then the action moves around the table until it gets to the BB who is last to act. Postflop however the action starts with the SB or if they have folded, the nearest player to their left. On the flop, turn and river, as long as they stay in the hand, the player on the dealer button will always act last.

It’s for this reason that being on the button is so desirable in poker, if your last to act you are said to be in position. You have the advantage of seeing what all the other players do first before you decide what action to take, having this extra information can give you a big edge on your opponents. Doyle Brunson famously once said that if he had the button on every hand he played he would be able to win every tournament. Generally in poker you want to avoid playing hands where your one of the first to act and try to play more in position, long term it’s a strategy that will certainly pay off.