Poker table positions: UTG, hijack, button and blinds

Position: the invisible variable that decides poker

There is one thing about poker that is hard to grasp until you have lived it at the table a few times: not every seat plays the same. The same hand —say K-J offsuit— can be a premium holding from one spot and an emphatic fold from another. And not because the cards change, but because what changes is the order in which you have to act in each betting round.

In this article I am going to walk you slowly through what "positions" at a poker table are, what they are called, which ones are good and which ones are bad, and why that largely decides which hands are worth playing. I will try not to bury you in opaque jargon right at the start: we will go step by step, common sense first and acronyms afterwards.

If the rules are not clear to you yet, you are better off starting with how to play Texas Hold'em. Here we assume you know the basics —blinds, flop, turn, river— and we go one step deeper. And if some term does not ring a bell along the way, the glossary of poker terms is one click away.

What we talk about when we talk about "position"

In poker, "position" is not your physical chair at the table: it is the order in which you have to act in each betting round. Since that order depends on where the dealer button is —the disc that marks who deals, and which rotates one seat every hand— your "position" changes with every hand that goes by. If you are in good position this hand, five hands from now you will be in a bad one. That is why, in the short run, it does not matter much: it is random and it evens out. But in the long run you lose or win money depending on how you handle what has to be played from each spot.

The basic rule everything else comes from is this: the later you act, the better. Whoever acts last has seen what everybody else has done, and that is pure gold as information. Whoever acts first is betting blind on how the rest will react. That is why early positions are called "bad" and late ones "good", even though there is nothing inherently good or bad about the seat itself: what it has is a different amount of available information.

Books and professionals sum it up with a phrase that has become almost a mantra: position is the second best thing you can have in a hand, after the cards. And plenty of people say it is the first. A player with position and a medium hand will usually win money against a player out of position with a decent hand.

Preflop and postflop: a different order in each

Before we get into the names, it is worth understanding that the order of action changes depending on the round. This tends to throw beginners off.

Preflop

The order starts with the player to the left of the big blind and goes round clockwise until it closes on the big blind itself, which acts last. The reason: the blinds have already put money in by force, so they are given the "advantage" of deciding last, once they have seen what everybody else has done.

Postflop (flop, turn and river)

The order resets. It starts with the first active player to the left of the button —that is, the small blind if it is still in the hand— and it ends on the button. The blinds, which acted last preflop, act first postflop. The button, which acted second to last preflop, acts last postflop in every round.

That asymmetry is what turns the button into the most profitable seat at the table: in the three postflop rounds —where the big pots are moved— you always act last. And it makes the blinds, at the same time, the most expensive seat in poker: you act first in every postflop round, with zero information about your opponents.

The positions one by one, at a full table

The number of positions depends on how many players are seated. We are going to explain them in the fullest format —nine players, what is called full ring or a "full table"— and then we will comment on how everything changes at short-handed tables.

Starting to the left of the big blind and moving clockwise, the positions are:

UTG (Under the Gun)

"Under the gun". This is the player immediately to the left of the big blind, and the first to act preflop. The name comes from the feeling of being "under fire": you have information on nobody and there are still eight players left to act behind you. Any hand you open from here has to be very strong because, if you open, eight players get to respond with their full judgement. It is the earliest position and the hardest.

UTG+1

The next seat to the left. Barely better than UTG: one more position's worth of information —UTG has already acted before you— but you still have seven players behind. You are firmly in early position.

UTG+2

Third seat to the left. Traditionally it is still considered early position, although you do have a bit more room because two players have acted before you. In some sources this position is simply called MP1 (Middle Position 1).

Lojack (LJ)

A relatively new name, one that appeared with the growth of the online game and its more specific terminology. Some manuals still call it MP or middle position. You are starting to be in intermediate territory: you do not have as many hands ahead of you as at UTG, but there are still four players behind.

Hijack (HJ)

"The hijacker". It is called that because from here, if you open with a raise, you usually force the cutoff and the button to fold, "hijacking" the last postflop position from them, which is what they would have wanted to hold. It is the first seat considered late position and the one from which wide opens already make sense.

Cutoff (CO)

Immediately to the right of the button. Only one player —the button— acts after you in each postflop round. A very good position. The name comes, according to the most widely accepted theory, from classic Stud: in some variants there was a rule by which the cutoff could "cut" the deck before dealing. Other theories say it is because from here you can "cut off" the button by stealing the blinds before he does.

Button (BTN)

"The button". The best seat at the table, no argument. You act last in every postflop round (flop, turn and river). You have complete information on everybody else before you decide. Preflop you act second to last, right before the blinds. The physical button rotates one seat clockwise every hand.

Small Blind (SB)

Small blind. You paid half the mandatory minimum bet without having seen any cards. Preflop you act second to last (after the button, before the BB). In the postflop rounds you act first, which is rather uncomfortable. A tricky position.

Big Blind (BB)

Big blind. You paid the mandatory minimum bet without seeing cards. Preflop you get the "advantage of acting last" because you close the round with your bet already made in advance. In the postflop rounds you act second, after the SB. Tricky postflop, but better than the SB because your initial investment is bigger and that gives you better pot odds to defend.

The visual layout of the table

To get a clear mental image, this is what a nine-player table looks like with the button fixed in one position. The button rotates one seat clockwise every hand, and all the other names rotate with it.

                 [UTG+1]    [UTG]
            [UTG+2]              [BB]
        [LJ]                          [SB]
            [HJ]                  [BTN]
                 [CO]      [dealer]

The result of that rotation is that, in the long run, everybody passes through every position equally: the bad evens out with the good. But in each specific hand, position decides a good part of what is worth playing. A good player takes advantage of the good positions without getting greedy and knows how to defend in the bad ones without bleeding out.

Why information is everything

Here is a concrete example so you can see why position changes the value of a hand so much. Picture two identical situations. In both you hold 8♥ 9♥ (a medium hand, with a flush and a straight draw). The flop comes 6♥ 7♣ K♦. You have an open-ended straight draw (any 5 or 10 completes it) plus a flush draw with the 9♥ and the 8♥ in your hand and the 6♥ on the board. You have nothing made yet.

Case 1, playing the hand from UTG

You are first to act on the flop. If you bet, you have no idea what the others are going to do; somebody might have a king for top pair, somebody might have a set of sevens, nobody might have anything. If you check, somebody can bet big and force you to decide without information. If you decide to bet to "see where everybody is", three players behind you can raise and force you to pay a lot or fold. Every decision is uncomfortable.

Case 2, playing the hand from the button

You are last to act. Everybody else has already shown their intentions: two have checked, one has made a small bet. You know that nobody probably has a monster hand, or they would have bet bigger. You can call knowing that you have one of the best possible hands to defend on flops like this one —an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw combined— and that on the turn you will act last again, with more information about everybody else. An excellent spot.

The hand is the same. The flop is the same. The opponents may be the same. Position changes everything.

The table of positions and opening ranges

There are "standard" hand ranges that good players work with from each position. They are not laws —poker does not work that way— but they are the base you should have internalised before departing from it. The ranges you will see below are a guideline for No-Limit Texas Hold'em with nine players in full ring; the exact figures vary with the style of the table, the level of your opponents and the depth of the stacks.

A quick guide to the notation in the table:

• s = suited (same suit). Example: AKs = ace and king of the same suit.
• o = offsuit (different suits). Example: AKo = ace and king of different suits.
• 66+ = a pair of sixes or any higher pair (66, 77, 88, 99, TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA).
• Broadway = cards from ten to ace (T, J, Q, K, A).
• Suited connector = two consecutive cards of the same suit (87s, 76s, 65s).
• Gapper = two cards of the same suit with a gap between them (86s, 97s).

The button: why it is the most profitable seat at the whole table

Statistically, over a long session, players win more chips from the button than from any other position. Online hand databases, with millions of hands analysed, all agree on this. And the reason is threefold:

Postflop information

You act last on the flop, turn and river. Every decision you make, you make with everybody else's information on the table. You know who has bet, how much, in what order; you can work out better what hands each of them holds and adjust yours accordingly. On a street where three players have checked, you know that nobody probably has much: you can steal the pot with a small bet at almost no risk.

The chance to steal the blinds

If everybody folds around to you, you can "steal" the blinds with a modest raise because the two blinds have to decide without knowing your hand and, statistically, their card ranges are weak (they have been dealt whatever). This play is called a steal and serious players plan it carefully from the button. At an average table, a good player steals successfully between 40% and 55% of the times he tries.

A wider range of hands

You can open many more hands without losing money in the long run because your postflop information lets you avoid getting trapped with marginal holdings. A hand like Q8s from UTG is a problem because you have to play postflop out of position against eight opponents; from the button it is a reasonable open because you will benefit from position throughout the whole hand.

There is one exception, mind you. If the two blinds are very aggressive players who defend all the time and 3-bet often, the steal stops working and you have to tighten your range. Position is an advantage, but it is not immunity. A button that opens too wide against aggressive blinds loses money fast.

The blinds: playing out of position is hard

The two worst seats to play postflop are the small blind and the big blind. The SB is probably the most expensive position in poker over the long run: you start by paying half a blind blind, you are going to play every postflop round first, with information on nobody, and on top of that the player on the button can steal your blinds whenever he likes. The BB is somewhat better because you paid the whole blind (you are already invested and that improves your pot odds) and you act second postflop, not first.

How to play the Small Blind

From the SB, if everybody has folded around to you, you raise a fairly narrow range to attempt the "steal from the BB". Limping (calling without raising) is not advisable because you give your opponent a free flop and hand him the initiative. If somebody has already raised before you, you defend few hands and, when you do, usually with a re-raise (3-bet) to take the initiative and make life difficult for the opener.

How to play the Big Blind

From the BB, you defend many more hands because you already have 1 BB in the pot, which improves your pot odds to call. But most of your defences will be calls, not raises: you resign yourself to playing postflop at a positional disadvantage, but at least you have "bought the flop cheap". Against a standard raise from the button, a solid player defends his BB with almost 40% of hands.

Six-handed tables: what changes

The 6-handed format (six players), also called shorthanded, is very popular in online games and increasingly so in casinos and live poker cash rooms. The positions are reduced and squeezed together: since there are fewer players between the button and the blinds, every range widens and the game becomes more aggressive. The 6-max positions are:

• UTG (which 6-handed works as early position).
• Hijack (MP).
• Cutoff.
• Button.
• Small Blind.
• Big Blind.

6-handed, there is practically no genuine early position: UTG looks more like the 9-handed hijack than like a "real" UTG. The opening ranges are wider in every position —a good 6-handed player can open more than 20% of hands from UTG— and the rhythm of the game is far more aggressive. It is the format that most resembles "pure Hold'em" because each hand has more active players and fewer folds.

Three-handed tables and heads-up

At short three-player tables (sometimes called 3-max) or heads-up (one against one), position becomes almost the only thing that matters. Heads-up there are only two positions: the button (which preflop posts the SB and acts first, but postflop acts last) and the BB. Any reasonable hand is playable from the button. Opening ranges heads-up reach 80-90% of hands.

Five typical mistakes related to position

1. Playing the same hands from every seat

The beginner's signature mistake. It is very tempting to think "A-10 is A-10" and play it the same from UTG as from the button. But A-10 offsuit from UTG with eight players behind is a marginal hand that loses money in the long run; from the button it is a comfortable opening hand. Before anything else, adjust your range to the seat. It is the first technical step and the one with the most impact on your results.

2. Defending the blinds too much because of "sunk cost"

When you have been paying blinds all night and nobody has let you play anything decent, you get the urge to defend the SB with anything "because I have already put money in". That is the sunk cost bias, and it is exactly the bias that costs the most chips in the long run. What you already put in is no longer yours: what matters is whether it is worth putting in more, not whether you already have something in there. Learn to let the SB go with bad hands, even if it hurts.

3. Underrating the hijack

Many intermediate players treat the hijack as just another middle position. In reality it is the first useful late position and from there you can already make steals, wide opens and control moves against the cutoff and the button. Learn to use it well —opening with a moderately wide range, applying pressure when the late-position opponents are passive— and you will notice the difference in your winnings.

4. Forgetting who is left behind you

Your position is not just "the number of players until the button". It is also who those players are. If at UTG+1 you have two very aggressive professionals behind you, you should open a narrower range than if they were two passive tourists. Theoretical position is modulated by the real information at each table. The best players constantly adjust their ranges according to the types they have around them.

5. Thinking the button is invincible

The button is the best seat, yes, but it is not a blank cheque. If you open with very weak hands because "I am on the button", the blinds are going to 3-bet you with hands that dominate yours, and you will very often go to the flop with the worse pair. Position does not make up for bad cards: it makes them somewhat more playable. Opening too wide is just as bad a mistake as opening too tight.

6. Confusing absolute position with relative position

This is a nuance that separates intermediates from advanced players. Absolute position is your seat relative to the button (UTG, cutoff, and so on). Relative position is your seat relative to the specific aggressor in the hand. If a UTG player raises and everybody calls, the cutoff has good absolute position but bad relative position with respect to the aggressor: he still has to play postflop before the big blind and the small blind. In multiway hands, relative position sometimes matters more than absolute position.

Cash game and tournament: different nuances of position

One detail that does not usually get told: the relative importance of position changes depending on whether you play cash or tournaments. In cash, with generally deep stacks (100 BB or more) and no elimination pressure, position is what decides most hands with long postflop play. Every street counts, and acting last in three betting rounds in a row is an enormous cumulative advantage.

In tournaments, especially once stacks drop below 20 BB, the dynamic changes. Many hands are played in push or fold mode: either you go all-in preflop, or you fold. With only one betting round, position still matters —pushing from the button has fold equity against two players; from UTG, against eight— but it weighs less than in cash because there are no three streets of postflop decisions in which to exploit it. When stacks are short, the pushing range from the button can be more than twice the UTG one.

On the other hand, when you are on the bubble —near the money but not yet in it— position becomes gold again. Stealing blinds from the button against players who do not want to risk elimination is one of the most profitable plays in tournament poker, and that is why professionals put their foot all the way down from the button in those stages. ICM theory (Independent Chip Model) explains mathematically why.

A concrete example of a hand played from two positions

To nail the concept down, look at this A♣ Q♥ hand played twice with the same flop but from different seats. Nine players, blinds 25/50 (100 BB effective).

Version A: A-Q from UTG

You open to 150 (3 BB). Cutoff calls; button calls. Blinds fold. Pot: 375, three active players. Flop: J♣ 8♦ 4♡. You act first. You have nothing made —ace high— but you are the preflop aggressor, so you continue with a c-bet of 200. Cutoff raises to 550. Button folds. You have to decide with the next two streets ahead of you and one live card (an ace) without a clear draw. A very uncomfortable spot. The most likely outcome is that you end up releasing the hand and losing 350 chips.

Version B: A-Q from the button

UTG opens to 150. Cutoff folds. You call from the button. Blinds fold. Pot: 375, two active players. Flop: J♣ 8♦ 4♡. UTG acts first: he c-bets 200. You have the same cards as in version A, but now you are going to decide with two whole streets ahead of you and always acting after him. You can call intending to float and steal the pot on the turn or the river if a card comes that is dreadful for his range. You can also fold without any ambiguity, knowing you have invested less than in version A. The decision is cleaner and the options more profitable.

The ace-queen has not changed. The flop has not changed. Only your seat. And the options have multiplied.

How to train your "positional awareness"

Position is learned by playing hands, but there is also a mental trick that speeds the process up a lot: before you look at your cards, look at where the button is. Know which position you have this hand before you see what cards you hold. Only then look at the cards and apply the range that goes with it. This order —position first, cards afterwards— is the opposite of what the anxious player does, glancing at the cards straight away and deciding without a thought for the seat.

Another useful exercise: next time you watch a professional play on video or on television, pay attention to where he opens his hands from. You will notice that certain players open many more hands from the button and far fewer from UTG than the average. That adjustment is what theory calls PFR (Pre-Flop Raise) by position, and it is one of the indicators that online tracking tools measure most.

Frequently asked questions about poker positions

What is the best position at a poker table?

The button (BTN), by a very long way. You act last in every postflop round (flop, turn and river), which means you see how everybody else acts before you decide. Statistically, players win more chips from the button than from any other seat. Online poker tracking sites confirm it again and again.

What does "UTG" mean in poker?

UTG stands for Under the Gun, "under the gun". It is the player immediately to the left of the big blind, and the first to act in the preflop round. It is the hardest position in the game because you have to decide without any information about what the others will do.

What does it mean to be "in position" and "out of position"?

You are "in position" (IP, in position) on another player when you act after him in each postflop round. You are "out of position" (OOP, out of position) when you act before. In any hand, your position relative to the active players matters more than your absolute seat.

Why is the small blind such a bad position?

For two reasons that add up. First, you have paid half a blind blind and the big blind is going to act after you in the preflop round. And second, postflop you act first of the whole table, so you decide without information in every remaining round. It is the position that loses the most chips in the long run among average players.

What is the "hijack" and why is it called that?

The hijack is the first late position seat at a full table (the fourth from the button, going right). It is called that because from here, if you open with a raise, you usually make the cutoff and the button fold —you "hijack" from them the last postflop position, which is what they would have wanted to hold—. The name became popular with online poker in the late 2000s.

Does playing at a six-handed table change much?

Yes, quite a bit. With fewer players between the button and the blinds, the opening ranges widen in every position and the whole rhythm speeds up. The genuine early position of the 9-handed format practically disappears. It is more aggressive and faster, which many players prefer. Professionals tend to split: some prefer full ring for its strategic load, others 6-max for the action.

Why is the cutoff called that?

There are several theories. The most widely accepted one is that it comes from the old Stud custom, where the player in that seat "cut" the deck before dealing. Another says it is because from there you "cut off" the button by stealing the blinds before he does. Neither is documented one hundred per cent.

Can I have position and be out of position at the same time?

Yes, in multiway hands. You can be in position on one player and out of position on another. For example, being the cutoff with a UTG open and a BB defence: you are in position on UTG (you act after him postflop) but out of position on the BB (which postflop acts first, though after the SB if it is still in the hand). This fine reading is typical of advanced players.

How many hands should I open from each position?

That is what the table above in this article sums up. As a rule of thumb: from UTG onwards, each position adds about five percentage points to the opening range, all the way to the button. UTG opens around 12%, cutoff around 28%, button around 40%. The blinds are special cases that are played differently.

Taking it to the table

If you had never thought about position, the first thing to do next time you play is to pay attention to who acts before you and who acts after, not just to your cards. Within an hour you will notice how that changes your game. Position is probably the most important concept in poker after the hand ranking, and curiously it is one of the things taught latest in books and videos. Start noticing it from the very first hand and you are well ahead.

For a home game with friends, the position business works exactly as it does at a professional table. The only thing that changes is that everybody will probably play more hands than the theory says —because in the end you are there to have fun, and spending the whole night folding from the button is no joke—. Even so, keeping your positional awareness will help you not to lose silly chips.

And for a decent evening, what really shows is the quality of the deck. A Bicycle Standard or a Bee Stinger feel different when you deal many hands in a row and they last the night without going "soft". In poker decks you have the whole selection; if you are torn between brands take a look at our Bicycle vs Theory11 vs Tally-Ho comparison, and to understand why there are so many different deck systems, have a look at the complete guide to poker decks and the suits of the poker deck.

If you want to keep going deeper into strategy, the logical steps are: mastering the hand ranking without thinking, starting to calculate pot odds and outs, learning the glossary of terms so you do not get lost when somebody drops a check-raise or a squeeze, and getting to know the variants of poker beyond Hold'em, because positions exist in Omaha and in Stud too, but played with their own logic.

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