PokerzinEvery Texas Hold'em hand starts with two forced bets before anyone sees a card: the small blind and the big blind. They look like a detail, but they set the size of the table, the order in which everyone acts and a good part of the strategy. This guide explains what they are, why they exist and how they move around the table.
The button (dealer)
The button is a disc that marks who would be dealing the hand. On the internet nobody actually shuffles, but the button is still there, because it decides the order of action. After every hand, the button moves one seat to the left (clockwise), and every other position moves with it.
The player on the button acts last after the flop, on the turn and on the river. That makes it the best seat at the table: you decide after seeing what everyone else did. The guide on position in poker shows why that matters so much.
Small blind and big blind
The two players to the left of the button put chips in the pot before the cards are dealt:
- Small blind (first to the left of the button): half the big blind.
- Big blind (second to the left): the full bet, which is the yardstick for everything at the table.
When people talk about a "10/20" table, the small blind is 10 and the big blind is 20. On Pokerzin, the cheapest table, the Boteco, is exactly that, and the others go up to 5,000/10,000 at the VIP table.
Blinds exist so there is always something to fight for. Without them, everyone could wait for pocket Aces and never risk anything. With them, sitting still costs chips every time the button goes around, and someone has to fight for the pot.
Who acts first in each round
| Round | Who starts | Who closes |
|---|---|---|
| Preflop | The first player to the left of the big blind (UTG) | The big blind |
| Flop, turn and river | The first player still in the hand to the left of the button (usually the small blind) | The button, or the last player before it |
Preflop, the blinds act last because they already put money in the pot. If nobody raises, the big blind can still check or raise when the action reaches them: that is the big blind's "option". After the flop the order changes and the blinds act first, which leaves them in the worst position for the rest of the hand.
When only two players are left
Heads-up there is one exception: the player on the button is the small blind. They act first preflop and last on every later round. The other player is the big blind.
Minimum bet and minimum raise
In No-Limit Hold'em, the game played on Pokerzin, you can bet any amount up to all your chips, but there is a floor:
- the smallest possible bet is one big blind;
- a raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise. If the big blind is 20 and someone raises to 60 (40 more), the next raise has to go to at least 100;
- a player who doesn't have enough chips for the minimum can go all-in with what they have.
Ante: everyone's bet
Some tournaments also use an ante, a small bet every player at the table pays before the hand. It makes the pot bigger from the start and pushes everyone to play more hands. There is no ante at Pokerzin tables: only the two blinds.
Why think in big blinds
Experienced players count chips in big blinds, not in raw amounts. Having 2,000 chips at a 10/20 table means 100 big blinds; at a 50/100 table it is only 20. Strategy changes a lot between those two cases, and thinking in big blinds keeps advice valid at any table. That is why table buy-ins are given in BB (from 40 to 100) and why the guide on bet sizing uses fractions of the pot and of the big blind.
Summary: the button sets the order, the two players to its left post the blinds, preflop action starts to the left of the big blind and, after the flop, the button acts last. Everything moves one seat every hand.