Poker positions are the seats around the table relative to the dealer button, and they set the order you act in every betting round. Late positions like the cutoff and button act with more information, so they can profitably play more hands than the early seats.
Where you sit decides how you play. Here's the 6-max and 9-max table map, and how to play every seat from the button to the blinds.
Six seats, six different jobs. In a 6-handed game the positions in order are: UTG, MP, CO, BTN, SB and BB — here's how each one plays.
first to act · opens ~9%
First to act before the flop, with the entire table still to come. Open only your strongest hands: every player behind you can wake up with a monster, and you'll be out of position on all of them.
still early · opens ~14%
A step better than under the gun, but still early. Widen your opening range a little, while respecting that the cutoff, button and blinds still get to act behind you. In 9-max, the lojack fills this middle zone, while UTG+1 is still an early seat.
second-best seat · opens ~23%
One seat before the button, the second-best position at the table. Open a wide range and go after the blinds, especially when the button looks likely to fold. In 9-max the hijack sits just to your right.
acts last on every street · opens ~39%
The best seat in poker. You act last on every street after the flop, so you decide with more information than anyone. Open the widest range from here and attack the blinds relentlessly. Position alone wins pots.
acts first postflop · worst seat
You post half a big blind, then act first on every postflop street, the worst spot after the flop. Come in tight, and prefer raising to just calling: you never want to play a big pot out of position with a weak hand.
already in · widest defend
You post a full big blind, so you already have money in and get a price to defend. Call wider here than anywhere else preflop, but don't overplay weak holdings after the flop when you're out of position against the raiser.
Full ring adds three seats between the blinds and the cutoff. Same logic, more patience: the earlier you act, the tighter you open.
Early position in a full ring. You open barely wider than UTG: most of the table still acts behind you, so dominated hands stay in the muck.
Three seats off the button. The lojack is where a 6-max table effectively starts: UTG in 6-max plays like the lojack in full ring.
Two off the button. Wide enough to start attacking the blinds, close enough to the button to get 3-bet for it. Opens sit between MP's and the cutoff's.
Seats group into three families. Early (UTG, UTG+1): first to act, tightest ranges, no room for pretty-but-dominated hands. Middle (MP, LJ, HJ): wider, but still respecting everyone behind. Late(CO, BTN): the profit seats — most hands, most steals, most information. The blinds are their own case: you've already paid, you'll act first after the flop, and no discount fixes that.
Position is the most persistent edge in poker — it works on every street, in every format:
Before the flop, action starts left of the big blind — UTG speaks first, the big blind acts last. After the flop the order shifts: the small blind (or the first live player to the button's left) starts, and the button always acts last. That flip is why the button is the best seat and the small blind the worst: same seat distance, opposite information.
UTG is 'under the gun', the seat directly left of the big blind and the first to act before the flop. With the whole table still to come, it calls for the tightest opening range.
The button marks the dealer seat and acts last on every postflop street. That last-to-act edge makes it the most profitable position, so you play the widest range from there.
Clockwise from the dealer: button (BTN), small blind (SB), big blind (BB), then under the gun (UTG), middle position (MP) and the cutoff (CO) in 6-max. Nine-handed adds UTG+1, the lojack and the hijack.
Acting later means more information when you decide. That single edge lets you bluff more, value bet thinner and control the size of the pot, which is why later positions win more money.
The button. You act last on every postflop street, so every decision comes with maximum information — that's why it opens the widest range at the table.
The small blind: you pay half a blind and then act first on every street after the flop. The discount never covers the positional tax.
Middle-position seats in full ring: the hijack is two seats right of the button, the lojack three. The hijack is where wider “steal” opens usually start.
Same idea, fewer seats. 6-max simply drops the three earliest full-ring seats — UTG at a 6-max table plays roughly like the lojack in a full ring.