The button, the small blind, and the big blind play in Texas Holdem

Ronald Norris

When everyone folds to the button in Holdem, an interesting dynamic develops between the three remaining poker players in the pot. We call this “the button, the small blind, and the big blind play”.
The button has seen most of Texas Holdem players at the table get out, and he’ll have position on the remaining two players for the rest of poker hand. Logic dictates that he’s entitled to call or raise with much weaker poker hands than normal, since the chance of his winning the blinds is so great. In previous Texas Holdem strategy articles poker hands we like to play on the button were listed. Summarizing quickly, raise with any pair, any ace, any two cards jack-nine or higher, and suited connectors down to six-five. That’s a lot of poker hands.

The small blind, of course, knows that the button could be raising with a wide range of poker hands, so his calling or raising requirements are much less as well.
And the big blind knows what the button and the small blind are doing, so he may also move with poker hands that aren’t so strong.

When all three of these Texas Holdem players start moving on the pot, the result is a poker version of three-card monte: Who’s really got a hand? The key idea to remember is simply this – don’t get too caught up in your own cleverness. Suppose you’re on the button, you raise with a pair of sixes, the small blind reraises you, and the big blind reraises him! Yes, they might both be raising with trash. In many cases in Holdem, they both will be raising with trash. But the simple fact remains that your poker hand is weak and your real goal, to take down the blinds without resistance, didn’t happen. Let poker hand go and move on. We’ve seen many ingenious holdem players lose all their chips when their intricate chain of logic bumped into an unexpected pair of kings. (It’s perfectly legal for the blinds to get dealt good cards.) Keep it simple and move on.

Good luck.

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