Stealing the button

Tuesday, August 30th., 2005 (By the PokerStrategyKing)

Poker is game all about positioning, especially no-limit hold em. Position is power I like to say. The best position at the table is the person who has the button. Why is that? Well, it’s because when you’re on the button, you’re last to act on the flop and all betting rounds which means you get to see what your opponents do before acting. You can use this to your advantage to decide who has a real hand and who is drawing. This paragraph shouldn’t be news to any of you. Taking this concept a step further, late position as always better than early position for all of the same reasons and being the button much better than late position.

Once you understand positioning and its importance to the game, you can work on ways to improve your position and put yourself in position to take down more pots. This strategy is what is referred to as stealing the button and its pretty easy to do.

Stealing the button is using your late position when you’re not on the button to make it seem like you are. You don’t want to be second to last to act, you want to be last to act period. So the way to do this is when you’re in late position, make a pre-flop raise to force the player on the button to fold. If you successfully do this, you’ll be last to act on the flop and you’ve successfully stolen the button.

Let’s take the following example. Say you’re at your local $1/$2 no limit game at a full ten-handed table. Two players limp-in and you look down at your cards 7-9 of clubs, decent semi-suited connectors. These are a nice hidden hand, because when you you’re your opponents don’t see it coming, especially with a straight. You decide to play your 7-9 suited but remember, there are two players behind you that will act post-flop if they both call the blinds. You need to make sure they don’t see the flop so you raise to say $15. Most of the time, the players behind you will fold, not always, but many times they will. Congratulations, you now have the button. Sure enough, the two players to your left fold, and Pete, the Big Blind is the only caller. You both see a flop and its 6c-8s-Kh
You have a back door flush possible, but you flopped an open-ended straight draw.
This is the type of flop you hoped for. Now it's on Pete to act first and this is where
your positioning is so important. Not only do you get to see what Pete does first but you also have control over this hand. Since you made the pre-flop raise, Pete will likely check the flop to you giving you the opportunity to play aggressively and take down this pot. No matter what happens, you’ve given yourself a great chance to win the pot. Maybe Pete will pick up a real hand and come out firing but usually not. In this example Pete checks and you fire out a pot sized bet of $30 as a semi-bluff. This is a bet you should make even without the open-ender because you made the pre-flop raise. Pete mucks and you take a nice little pot. There you have it, you stole the button and you’ve used it to gain table control by improving your positioning.

In order to pull this off successfully, there are some general guidelines you should follow.

1. You need to have a playable hand.

If you're going to bluff, make it a "semi-bluff" by raising with a hand that can hit, any pair or something like semi-connectors. Don’t do it with trash hands, you’re just wasting money this way. Remember, the key is to gain that extra bit of control and power by acting last after the flop, not stealing blinds

2. Force out the player on the button with a decent raise
The whole point to stealing the button is to actually steal the button. If you make a small raise that doesn't scare anyone, you've failed. If you're one seat to the right of the button, you want to raise enough to force the player on the button out and if you're two seats to the right, then you've got to force out both players to your left. You need to know your opponents though.

3. After the flop, you need to be ready to have your opponents check to you.

If someone bets into you, beware because usually players will check into you
since you raised pre-flop. When players check into you that gives you the
power to either bet and try to steal the pot right there or get a free turn card by also
checking.

4. Don't get pot-committed.

Remember, stealing the button is a simple technique that improves your position and sets you up to have a better chance at winning the hand. Don’t bet so much on the flop that you become pot-committed. Don't get stubborn and bet any amount in hopes of bluffing out someone with a real hand only to have them call you and take your money.

In summary, there are the two types of situations where you do want to steal the button:

1. You sense weakness and want to steal the pot on a bluff or hidden hand.

2. You have a good hand that you want to play post-flop.

But don’t steal the button in the case of any of the following:

1. You have a poor hand and you sense someone else has a strong hand.

2. You think someone to your left will call a raise no matter what

(For more poker strategy and tips, please visit the PokerStrategyKing’s website at www.pokerstrategyking.com )

 

---