Nuts First Practice →

33 of 43

L — Loosen: Opening up on the button

On the button and cutoff, open up: all of Groups A and B, and Group C when the pot's unraised or cheap.

Now flip it. You're on the button. Everyone but the blinds has already acted before your first decision, and after the flop you act dead last, forever. Every check, every bet, every hesitation happens in front of you before you've spent a chip.

That information subsidy is real money, so spend it: play every hand on the starting chart from back here. And when the table folds around to you, raise hands even a notch below the chart — the two players left (the blinds) hold random cards, they'll act first the whole hand, and their forced bets are sitting there waiting to be taken. That little move is called stealing the blinds, it's not rude, and done steadily it quietly pays for your bad beats.

The same seat-math flows through every gate: a ♠D value bet extracts more from late seat because you've seen him check first. A ♥A story sells better from the button because raising from there is exactly what strong hands do. Position isn't a separate skill — it's a multiplier on all the others.

DIAL — ♣L by table size. How often you actually get the good seats is pure arithmetic: the button comes around every N hands. 4-handed you're on the button or cutoff half the time — half your hands are played from a position of strength, which is the deepest reason short-handed poker is aggressive. 8-handed it's a quarter of your hands. 12-handed it's one hand in six, so late-position opportunities are precious and should be used every single time they appear — steal the blinds relentlessly from the button at a crowded table, because everyone else is folding too.

Practice this
Run the seat drill on real cards.