Playing from the dealer or button position is the best thing that can happen to you in a round of Texas Hold’em poker. Speaking last in each round is tremendously beneficial from a strategic point of view, which gives you a plus when it comes to approaching the game by making decisions when you already know the game of others.
Being the dealer in poker has more pros than cons, but you have to know some peculiarities to take full advantage of the best position at the poker table.
Tips from the pros to play from the button
In poker, the dealer is the one who speaks after everyone else in all rounds except preflop. But playing from the dealer also means that you play more times than in any of the other positions at the table, since you will be involved in more hands as you will have more information than the others after each round.
The button has only two players behind him preflop (the blinds), and on the flop, turn and river he is the last one to talk. Therefore, you will play more times than anywhere else at the table.
One of the elementary points of the game from the button is that you always have to see if the hand is clean and without raises. If so, unless you have a really bad hand, you can call or raise. If your intention is to steal the blinds, you are in the ideal place because it is the position from which, statistically, more blinds are stolen.
On the other hand, if the hand comes to you dirty, you have to think about it more. Your hand will then have to be really good for you to be interested in staying in the game.
Other points you have to pay attention to: the volume and frequency of your bets. Keep in mind that everyone at the table knows what it means to play from the dealer’s position, so they will carry out their strategies taking this factor into account. How does this affect you?
Well, if you abuse your betting by taking advantage of your position, your opponents will notice it right away and will give the game a more defensive approach so that your decisions affect them as little as possible. And believe us when we tell you that this is not good for you.
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of your position. In fact, you should. For example, if several before you have paid without raising (they have folded), it is logical to think that you are also going to pay, whatever hand you have. This, when it happens preflop, paves the way to see the flop for free, so you should take advantage of it. Also keep in mind that in preflop play no one is going to raise, unless he clearly has a tremendously strong hand or you are facing a maniac who wants to play very aggressively and with little head from the beginning.
But what happens if there has been a raise and there have been several players who have paid? The best thing to do is to follow the trend and jump on the bandwagon by paying in, even with a bad speculative hand, as long as the raise was moderate. With strong or continuous raises, the dealer is the worst off because that means that on the next street there is going to be a crucial bet if no one dares to go all-in preflop.
Crucial aspects of the game from the dealer’s position
From all this we can draw several interesting conclusions. To begin with, that in poker the dealer is the most coveted position, but you have to know how to play it. That abusing the advantages that this position gives you can be counterproductive to your interests, that preflop play can be good even with bad hands, but that chained or too high raises can compromise you, and that you should be very attentive if someone limps preflop, because it can help you see the flop without costing you anything.
Being the dealer in poker has a special meaning for many. Not because of the strategic advantages, but because the dealer, if he plays well, can create a new current at the table by generating feelings in the players that push them to think something that leads to confusion.
There is an art to employing the last word to generate a reaction on the next street, but it can be done. It’s not just about speaking last and using the information of the players who have spoken before you to your advantage, it’s about using the power of being last to open the next street by generating a misleading feeling.
What is the dealer’s chip in poker for?
Although in online poker this is done automatically and you don’t have to worry, since the dealer’s chip in online poker games is assigned without anyone intervening, in informal live poker this may not be the case, the dealer being the player who has the dealer’s chip.
However, it is also a way of establishing a visual boundary that marks the beginning and end of the table. By knowing where the dealer is located, we can have a clearer visual image of where the round starts and where it ends, also seeing how many players are ahead and behind us.
Therefore, it is more of a visual indicator than an element that really has a specific function in the game. All the advantages associated with the figure of the dealer in poker are brought by the position itself, no external element such as a chip.
