The seating chart

Positions and blinds: who sits where, who acts when

Every seat at a Hold’em table has a name, and the names decide the whole flow of the hand. Here is the full map — the button, both blinds, and everything from “under the gun” to the cutoff.

The seat names Acting order

The button
The blinds
Acting order
Seat names
Why position matters
Blind edge cases

The best seat

The dealer button

The round disc that travels one seat clockwise after every hand marks the nominal dealer. Even in a casino, where a professional dealer handles the cards, the button decides everything positional:

The blinds sit directly to its left.
The cards are dealt starting to its left; the button receives the last card.
On the flop, turn and river the button acts last — it sees everyone’s decision before making its own.

Acting last is such a large advantage that “having the button” is shorthand for having the best seat in the hand.

Who gets the button first?

A new game usually starts by dealing every player one card face up; the highest card (suits break this one procedural tie: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) takes the first button. From then on it simply rotates.

The engine

Small blind, big blind

Hold’em has no antes from every player (in cash games); instead, two forced bets seed each pot:

Small blind (SB) — first seat left of the button. Usually half the big blind.
Big blind (BB) — next seat over, posting the table minimum. The stakes are named after the blinds: in a “$1/$2 game” they are exactly these two numbers.

Both are live: the money counts toward any call, and an unraised big blind keeps its option to check or raise when the preflop action comes home.

Cash games vs tournaments

In cash games the blinds never change. Tournaments raise them on a schedule to force action, and modern events usually add a big blind ante — one extra big blind posted by the BB player each hand, replacing everyone anteing separately.

The flow

Acting order on every street

Preflop: the first player left of the big blind — under the gun — acts first. The blinds act last, the big blind very last with its option.
Flop, turn, river: the first still-active player left of the button acts first; the button (or the nearest active seat to its right) acts last.
Always clockwise, always one player at a time.

Notice the shift: the blinds act last before the flop but first after it. Paying for the blind buys you exactly one round of late position.

Why “under the gun”?

The UTG player opens every preflop round with the least information and the most players still to speak — acting under pressure, hence the name.

The full map

Every seat name, 9-max and 6-max

Clockwise from the button at a full-ring (9-player) table:

Seat	Name	Group	Also called
1	BTN — Button	Late	The dealer
2	SB — Small blind	Blinds	—
3	BB — Big blind	Blinds	—
4	UTG — Under the gun	Early	—
5	UTG+1	Early	—
6	UTG+2	Early / middle	—
7	LJ — Lojack	Middle	MP
8	HJ — Hijack	Middle / late	—
9	CO — Cutoff	Late	—

At a 6-max table the early seats disappear; what remains, clockwise from the button: BTN, SB, BB, UTG, HJ, CO. Heads-up there are only two seats — and their own rules.

Two sentences of strategy

Why position matters

Acting later means acting with more information: you’ve seen who checked, who bet, and how much, before committing a single chip. That is why the button is the most profitable seat at the table and the blinds — which pay to play and then act first all hand — are the least. This is a rules site, so we’ll leave the strategy there.

The fine print

Blind edge cases

Joining a game: a new player either posts an amount equal to the big blind to be dealt in immediately, or waits until the big blind reaches them naturally.
Missed blinds: after sitting out, you make up the missed blinds or wait for the BB again — no slipping back in for free behind the button.
The dead button: when a player between the blinds busts or leaves, the button may sit in front of an empty seat for a hand so that nobody skips a blind and nobody pays one twice. Blinds move forward; the button never moves backward.
Straddles: some cash games allow the player left of the BB to post a voluntary double blind (“straddle”) before the deal, buying last action preflop. House-dependent, never standard.

The principle behind all of it

Every blind rule reduces to one sentence: everyone pays each blind exactly once per orbit — no more, no less. When a weird seating situation comes up, apply that sentence and you’ll usually land on the official ruling.

Heads-up rulesTwo players — the blinds swap around. Read → Betting rulesWhat those blinds actually buy. Read → The complete rulesBack to the full guide. Read →