The "Button"

We all know the Button is the imaginary Dealer, the person last to act after the flop/turn/river, and last to act preflop before the blinds. The dealer is the best place on the table to steal blinds from, as you only have 2 people to act after you.


However recently ive been thinking. Ive found myself a lot of times on the button with some medium hands, for example A5suited and KQ off suit.

Now normally this is a raise from here, or sometimes a limp. However recently for me, ive been getting alot of defence from the blinds to buttn raises. For the purposes of this, and the fact i know its true anyway, lets say the blinds have no read on me.

Last few times ive raised - ive been either pushed on, or they called. The problem with being pushed on is if you play the %s, your ahead more often than not with their being assigned 2 random hands. that makes a call more likely for you, but then if you have A5s, your racing 3 pairs, your behind to the other pairs, your just ahead of the KQ/QJ hands, and any A beats you, so you need some luck!

If you have KQ, yeah your ahead of all Kx/Qx hands, your racing likely pairs, and in a semi-race wth AJ or less.

What ive been thinking is calling more to steal than raising. It carries the same idea, but your just betting a flop which is unlikely to hit their hands if they check ( e.g A Q 8) or similar. Or betting when you hit your hand ont he flop.

Now tourney players have got alot more agressive than since a few years ago, its harder to make button raises seem less stealish. even with a decent AJ type hand, you still are behind alot of hands.

I just am unsure about this now, and am looking for some serious input.


Anyone??

I agree with the call. Now this would only happen if I had an average stack. If I were short stacked, by a good margin, I would press the raise. Now with a big stack I would bump it up by 2-4 times depending on how the players have been responding to my bets. I hope this makes sense to you.

I don't see a problem with the limp/bet on the flop theory. The only issue is that alot of players will check on a flop to see if the button tries to move on them. Conventional knowledge says you should raise first in to pressure the blinds, but this play is becoming "normal." I've started limping with AK and AQ in an attempt to help disguise the hand. The only problem with this play is I have to hit the flop to be able to bet. I'm allowing weaker hands to come in and possible two pair against me with a non scare card.

My thought on the first in on the button is to raise a small amount, usually 2 times the big blind. By doing this, I'm making them call extra bets, but keeping the pot small enough I can make a strong continuation bet and not risk a large portion of my stack taking away odds from others. I've found it works about 60% of the time. Another thought is if the players might already have a read on you, based on prior play. Some people will sit at a table without playing and just watch, especially if they see you around that limit alot. I've done it many times and it's helped me with making calls or folds.

I very much disagree with limping on the button then betting the flop. These same agressive players who won't let you steal preflop have no problem checking to you then putting in a big raise because you seem weak, and trust me your bet there seems weak. That's why I still raise my buttons with those types of hands, your flop bet seems legit a lot more often.

push push pushhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
or your Doomed Doomed i tell ya DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED

i agree with the limp theory with a pr good hand like KQ/A5suited on the button...why put extra money in the pot, when you can keep it small and maybe someone will catch a smaller part of the hand and pay you off, for example Ax suited, thats a drawing hand so maybe someone with JT of that same suit limps in, and bingo you both flop a flush draw or the flush...hes def gonna pay you off...also ive seen many times the person with KQ get paid off by a limper with KT and the person with KT doesnt know how to slow down or stop betting their top pair out of position.