Heads-Up and 3-Handed Blinds: Who Posts What, and Where the Button Goes

Heads-up: the button posts the small blind

This is the rule that surprises everyone the first time. With two players, the button is the small blind. That player acts first before the flop and last on every street after it, which means the button has position in the only way that matters — the button always closes the postflop betting. The other player posts the big blind and acts last before the flop.

• •Button/small blind: posts the small blind, first to act preflop, last to act on flop, turn and river.
• •Big blind: posts the big blind, last to act preflop, first to act on every later street.
• •Why it is not the other way around: if the big blind had the button, one player would act first on every single street, which would make the position advantage enormous. Putting the small blind on the button splits it.

Three-handed: one of each, and the button leads preflop

With three players there is a button, a small blind and a big blind and no other seats, so the button is also the first player to act before the flop — the seat that would be under the gun at a full table. After the flop the order returns to normal: small blind, big blind, button.

• •Preflop order: button, then small blind, then big blind.
• •Postflop order: small blind, then big blind, then button.
• •What it means in practice: the button is opening into two players but closes every street after the flop, which is why three-handed play is so much more aggressive than a full table.

Where the button goes when someone busts

One principle settles almost every argument: the big blind is never skipped and never moves backwards. The blinds keep rotating in order, and the button is what gets adjusted to make that work. In tournaments that produces two familiar situations:

• •Dead button: the button is placed on the seat of a player who has just busted, so nobody has to post the big blind twice in a row. Nobody is on the button that hand.
• •Dead small blind: nobody posts the small blind for a hand, because the player who owed it is gone. The hand is played with just a big blind in the pot.
• •Going from three players to two: the player who was the big blind stays the big blind, and the other player takes the button and posts the small blind. If you are unsure at a home game, deal one more hand with the same blind order and fix the button next hand — the point is that neither player pays the big blind twice in a row.

House rules worth agreeing before you start

Casinos have a tournament director to settle this; a home game has whoever is loudest. Agree on these three before the first hand and the argument never happens:

• •Dead button or moving button? The dead button is the tournament standard and is fairer over a session. Many home games simply move the button to the next live player, which is simpler and occasionally makes someone post the big blind twice. Either is fine if everyone knows in advance.
• •Does the big blind get a walk? If everyone folds to the big blind heads-up, the hand is over and the blinds move. Nobody gets to raise after the fact.
• •Who deals? In a self-dealt home game, deal with the button, so the player who acts last after the flop also shuffles and deals.

The blind schedule does not change

Blind levels run on the clock, not on the number of players, so a heads-up finish uses whatever level the tournament is on. What does change is how fast the blinds bite: heads-up, you post a blind every hand instead of once every six hands, so the same level costs you three times as much per orbit. That is the real reason short-handed play forces action — not aggression for its own sake, but the cost of waiting.