The first time you sit down at a Hold’em table, or the first time you read other people talking through a hand, the thing that confuses you first is usually not the rules. It is a string of abbreviations: UTG opens, CO calls, BTN 3-bets, big blind defence.
You have learned the rules and you can compare hand strengths, so why can you still not follow what people are talking about?
UTG, CO and the rest are not that hard to understand. All they mean is: which seat you are in. So how do the seats differ? Why do some of them matter so much? What do people mean when they say one seat is the most profitable? Keep reading this series and those ideas will become clear, one step at a time.
If you are not yet sure what the blinds and the four betting rounds are, read what Texas Hold’em is first and come back.
We start with the seating chart and the names of the seats.
1. The Seats Follow the Button and Change Every Hand
There is a small disc on a Hold’em table called the button, also known as the dealer. Every seat’s name is counted leftwards from the button:
- The first player to the button’s left is the small blind (SB), who puts in half a big blind before the cards are dealt
- One further left is the big blind (BB), who puts in one big blind before the cards are dealt
- Carrying on left from the big blind come UTG, MP and so on, all the way back round to the button
After every hand the button moves one seat to the left (clockwise), and everyone’s seat name changes with it. Your chair has not moved, but your position changes every hand — you are UTG this hand, and six hands from now you will have been through all six positions.
2. Six-Max: Six Seats
Online, the most common format is the six-handed table. Going clockwise from the small blind:
| Order | Abbreviation | Name | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SB | Small blind | Already has 0.5bb in; first to speak after the flop |
| 2 | BB | Big blind | Already has 1bb in; last to speak before the flop |
| 3 | UTG | Under the gun | First to speak before the flop, with five players still behind |
| 4 | MP | Middle position | At six-max also called HJ (Hijack) |
| 5 | CO | Cutoff | The seat just before the button |
| 6 | BTN | Button | Always last to speak after the flop |
UTG stands for Under The Gun — it is the first player who has to make a decision before the flop, while everyone behind has yet to show their hand. CO is the Cutoff, the seat that “cuts off” the action just before it reaches the button.
3. Nine-Handed: The Three Extra Seats
Live games are mostly nine-handed. The three extra players sit between UTG and the CO:
| Order | Abbreviation | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SB | Small blind |
| 2 | BB | Big blind |
| 3 | UTG | Under the gun |
| 4 | UTG+1 | Under the gun +1 |
| 5 | UTG+2 | Under the gun +2 |
| 6 | LJ | Lojack |
| 7 | HJ | Hijack |
| 8 | CO | Cutoff |
| 9 | BTN | Button |
Whatever the table size, the last four seats keep the same names: CO, BTN, plus the two blinds (SB, BB). When there are fewer players, the seats that disappear are the early ones — so UTG at a six-max table actually sits where the LJ does at a nine-handed one.
One idea worth planting now: some hands (K5s, for example) are playable from UTG at six-max but have to be folded from UTG at a nine-handed table — because there are three more players behind you, which means three more players who might hold a better hand than yours.
4. Order of Action: Different Before and After the Flop
This is the most important section of the post, and the thing beginners mix up most often.
Before the flop: action starts from UTG and goes round clockwise, and the big blind (BB) speaks last. The two blinds already have money on the table — they have paid part of their way in advance — so they get to decide last.
After the flop (on the flop, turn and river): action always starts from the small blind and goes round clockwise. Of the players still in the hand, whoever sits closest to the button’s left speaks first.
At a six-max table:
| Seat | Order preflop | Order postflop |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | 1 | 3 |
| MP | 2 | 4 |
| CO | 3 | 5 |
| BTN | 4 | 6 (always last) |
| SB | 5 | 1 (always first) |
| BB | 6 (last) | 2 |
Two things are worth stopping on:
- The button is the only seat that always speaks last after the flop, whoever it is playing against
- The two blinds are the other way round: they decide last before the flop, but are the first two to speak after it
“Speaking late before the flop” is not the same thing as “having the advantage after the flop”. In the next post that point becomes the core of the whole idea of position.
5. Early, Middle, Late and the Blinds
In practice people rarely name the seats one by one. They usually split them into four groups:
| Group | Six-max | Nine-handed | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early | UTG | UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2 | First to speak before the flop, with the most players still to act behind |
| Middle | MP (HJ) | LJ, HJ | Most players in front have usually folded, but the CO and the button are still behind |
| Late | CO, BTN | CO, BTN | Only two or three players left behind before the flop; the button speaks last after it |
| Blinds | SB, BB | SB, BB | Money already on the table; first to speak after the flop |
The grouping comes down to a single question: when the action reaches you, how many players behind you have intentions you cannot see yet? Early position has to decide while five players have yet to act; late position gets to watch most of the table act before its turn comes.
This post has taught you to tell which position you are in, and what each position is called. The next two posts introduce the ideas that make position valuable and important:
- Next: Why Good Players Love the Button: In Position vs Out of Position (IP/OOP) — who speaks first between you and your opponent matters more than which seat you are in
- After that: Why Beginners Lose at Poker: No Sense of Position and Range — how your seat decides which hands you should play
To get to know the six seats one at a time, start with Under the Gun (UTG); the full series is listed in the position guide.