The dealer position (known as the “button”) is the best position at the poker table.

 

The reason is because when you’re on the button, you get to act LAST after the flop… giving you the chance to see what your opponents do first.

 

This lets you get a “read” on your opponents at the table… and decide who has a strong hand, who has a weak hand, who’s bluffing, and so on.

 

OK, so that’s common knowledge.

 

What’s also common knowledge is the fact that LATE P SITIONING is preferred over EARLY POSITIONING… because once again, you get to see what your opponents do first before it’s your turn to bet, raise, call, or fold.

 

Of course, being on the button is BETTER than just plain late positioning… because the button GUARANTEES that you will be LAST TO ACT post-flop.

 

OK, now here’s what is NOT common knowledge…

 

Once you understand positioning and its enormous implications, you can begin “improving” your positioning and setting yourself up for more pots each game.

 

The technique is called STEALING THE BUTTON.

 

It’s simple… it’s practical… and right when you’re done reading this newsletter you can immediately start using it.

 

Stealing the button is LEVERAGING your late positioning when you’re NOT on the button… but getting all the same benefits as if you WERE on the button.

 

Remember, the dealer position is SO POWERFUL because it means you’re LAST to act post-flop.

 

Being SECOND TO LAST to act isn’t nearly as good, especially considering there’s usually only three or four players to a flop at an 8-man table.

 

So what you do is make a reasonable pre-flop RAISE when you’re in late positioning… and therefore force the player on the button to fold.

 

Having done this, you’ll be last to act after the flop… the same as if you actually were on the button. (Hence the name, “stealing the button”).

OK, let’s look at an example so you can see what I’m talking about:

 

Let’s say you’re sitting two seats to the RIGHT of the button at a 10-man table. The game is $1-2 no limit Holdem.

 

Two players limp-in… and you look down at your cards:

J-9 of clubs.

 

I call hands like these “semi-connectors”– they’re not quite connected… but almost.

 

The great thing about semi-connectors is that they’re a “hidden hand”. When they HIT (straight, flush, two pair…) your opponents NEVER see it coming.

 

You decide to play your Jack-9 suited. Now remember, there are two players BEHIND you that will act post-flop if they both call the blinds.

 

So it’s YOUR JOB to make sure they DON’T limp-in.

The solution is to crank up the pressure…

 

You make it $15 to play. Nothing crazy (after all, you don’t exactly have a monster). You simply want to force the two players to your left to FOLD… which will happen most of the time.

 

Of course, they won’t always fold… because sometimes they’ll pick up a big hand. But odds arethey’ll fold.

 

The RESULT, of course, is now YOU have the button.

 

Well, not the button exactly… but all the advantages that it brings.

 

Sure enough, the two players to your left fold, and John– who’s in the big blind– is the only caller.

 

The flop comes out:

10h-8d-Ks

 

No flush possibilities for you here, but BINGO, you’ve just flopped an open-ended straight draw.

 

This is the type of flop you hoped for.

 

Now it’s on John to act first. And this is where your positioning is so important. Not only do you get to see what John does first… but you also have the CONTROL in this situation.

 

Since you made the pre-flop raise, John will likely check the flop to you… giving you the opportunity to play aggressively and take down this pot.

 

No matter what happens after this, you’ve set yourself up to win this pot. Sometimes John will pick up a real hand and come out firing… but usually not.

 

Sure enough in our example, John checks.

 

You throw out a $30 semi-bluff. This is a bet you should make even WITHOUT the open-ender… because you made the pre-flop raise.

 

John mucks it, and you rake the chips… leaving the table wondering what you had.

 

That’s how you “steal” the button. It’s a simple, surefire way to gain control at the table by improving your positioning.

There are five main steps you need to know…

1. You need a playable hand.

If you’re going to bluff, make it a “semi-bluff” by raising with a hand that can hit… something like semi-connectors.

I personally don’t like raising with 7-2 offsuit or crap like that. It seems to me like an “ego raise” more than a logical play.

Remember, the key is to gain that extra bit of control and power by acting LAST after the flop.

 

2. Force out the player on the button (and possibly the player to his right).

The whole point to stealing the button is to ACTUALLY STEAL THE BUTTON. If you make a wussy raise that doesn’t scare anyone, you’ve failed.

If you’re one seat to the right of the button, you want to raise enough to force the player on the button out. If you’re TWO seats to the right, then you’ve got to force out both players to your left.

One of the “secrets” to this process is to ALWAYS pay attention to the pre-flop betting patterns of your opponents on the left.

If you’re sitting on the right of “Tight Tim” who only sees flops when he’s got pocket pairs, then you can steal the button quite often.

On the other hand, if you’re on the right of a LOOSE player, you won’t be able to steal the button nearly as much.

So pay attention.

 

3. After the flop, your opponents will usually check to you.

Notice if someone bets into you, beware. That’s a red flag. Usually players will check into you since you raised pre-flop.

When players check into you that gives you the power to either BET and try to steal the pot right there… OR… get a free turn card by also checking.

While I normally recommend a bet, you can check to mix it up once in awhile or in the case that you’re getting short-stacked.

 

4. Don’t get pot-committed.

Remember, stealing the button is a simple technique that improves your position and sets you up to have a BETTER CHANCE at winning the hand.

Don’t get stupid. Don’t get stubborn and bet any amount in hopes of bluffing out someone with a real hand.

Like I said, you need a playable hand to steal the button in the first place.

Don’t become pot-committed… Never bet so much that it’s PAINFUL to fold your cards after the flop.

 

5. Sometimes you don’t need to raise to steal the button.

 

Often the blinds will be high enough where you figure simply CALLING the big blind will get you the button (this is especially true when you’re to the right of a tight player).

Also, someone in front of you might raise the pot enough that all you have to do is CALL THE RAISE and you’ll get the button.

 

OK, so that’s the process…

 

Here are the two types of situations where you DO want to steal the button…

 

DO STEAL THE BUTTON WHEN:

 

1. You sense weakness and want to steal the pot on a bluff or hidden hand.

 

2. You have a good hand that you want to play post-flop.

 

On the other hand…

 

DO NOT STEAL THE BUTTON WHEN:

 

1. You have a poor hand and you sense someone else has a strong hand.

 

2. You think someone to your left will call a raise no matter what (that defeats the purpose).

 

The MOST IMPORTANT lesson you can get from all this is to realize that winning poker depends on ALL THE LITTLE THINGS. 

 

Stealing the button is just a little technique for setting yourself up for better positioning… it’s not a “game changing” strategy that will double your poker profits or anything.

 

But when you combine it with ALL THE OTHER LITTLE THINGS– like establishing the right table image, throwing out feeler bets, representing the flop at the right times, buying free cards, picking up betting patterns, spotting tells, and more– then you will become a DYNAMIC and POWERFUL poker player…

 

AND THEN your poker profits will double.

A lot of amateurs base their games on the “big hands” and might get lucky once in awhile. But over time, the REAL MONEY always goes to the GRINDERS… the guys who know how to CONSISTENTLY take down pots.

 

It takes a lot of discipline, don’t get me wrong.

 

But you can do it.

 

And I can SHORTCUT the amount of TIME you spend doing it by showing you the STEP-BY-STEP PROCESSES for all those “little things” that will transform you into a winning poker player…

 

Not to mention… I’ll show you the “big things”: the pro-level tactics that most players never EVER learn.

 

So if you’re ready to take your skills to the next level, visit here and download my easy-to-read eBook “No Limit Holdem Secrets”.

 

It’s jam-packed with hundreds of strategies and tactics, along with step-by-step examples and more. After reading it many players have reported up to DOUBLING their profits… instantly!

 

So have the discipline to INVEST in your skills– rather than LOSING that money at the tables because your competitors know THESE secrets…

There is one KEY PRINCIPLE to keep in mind when deciding if someone is BLUFFING or has a GREAT HAND…

 

Here it is:

If a player acts STRONG, he is probably WEAK.

If a player acts WEAK, he is probably STRONG.

It’s simple human nature.

This is NOT an original idea… Mike Caro was the first to put this amazing insight into words many years ago.

And after I had heard this wisdom, my poker winnings soared to a NEW LEVEL.

Because every poker TELL boils down to this fundamental principle.

Now, the UNFORTUNATE thing about this advice is that even though it is SO SIMPLE, most card players just don’t “get it”, or don’t apply it properly.

So let’s discuss how you can use this concept to spot bluffs

QUICKLY, EASILY, and CONSISTENTLY…

First off, it’s important to remember that in order to spot BLUFFS, you must be tuned into signs of STRENGTH as well.

For example… if you only look for “tells” that suggest a player is BLUFFING, you’re only getting half the picture…

When trying to get an accurate read on an opponent, you must be looking for both signs of strength AND weakness.

Let’s go back to our main “rule” again and look at the first part:

“If a player acts STRONG, he is probably WEAK.”

This means that when a player does something that makes it LOOK like he’s got a monster hand, he’s probably bluffing.

The CRUCIAL point to keep in mind is that most players don’t TRY to act strong. They just do it unconsciously…

I know that sounds strange, but think about it.

Let’s say you’ve got 9d-2s and you decide to make a bold bluff by going all-in pre-flop (which I don’t recommend, by the way!).

Anyway… in your mind, you’re thinking, “Damn I sure hope no one calls!”… but when someone starts contemplating a decision, you REALLY start to get worried.

So what do you do? 

Well, the NATURAL thing to do… the thing that MOST players do… is to act like you’re NOT afraid.

Obviously you don’t want someone to know that you’re SCARED of getting called, right?

So you sit up straight, your hands don’t tremble, your voice has a little “arrogance” to it…

And ultimately, all of those things are signs that you’re BLUFFING.

But you didn’t MEAN to act that way… it just kind of came naturally. You didn’t think, “Oh, I don’t want him to know that I’m scared, so I’m going to sit up straight and act smooth and talk with arrogance.”

It just kind of HAPPENS…

Still with me?

Ultimately, a BLUFF is a LIE.

That’s right… just a plain old lie.

So when someone is bluffing by betting, they’re simply LYING about what they have in their hand.

Which means technically, the real skill is not the ability to spot a bluff… it’s the ability to spot a LIE.

But anyway… back to my point…

When the player acts strong, he’s probably weak. But he didn’t really CHOOSE to act strong… this is just a

“mechanism” inside of him that turns on, simply because he’s LYING to you about his hand.

Let me show you a few practical examples. Here are THREE valuable “tells” to look for:

1. When a player “flicks” his chips in the middle with extra OOMPH or tosses them in aggressively… What’s going on there? I’ll tell you what: The player is ACTING strong… which means he probably doesn’t have a very good hand.

2. When a player speaks aggressively and talks a lot… Once again, this is usually a sign of weakness, since the player is “covering up” his bad hand by acting like he’s got something.

 

BUT… this poker tell is very easy to confuse and get

COMPLETELY WRONG, and here’s why:

There is a major difference between SPEAKING AGGRESSIVELY and DEMONSTRATING CONFIDENCE.

Here’s what I mean…

If a player talks a lot in a manner that’s NOT normal for him, it’s usually a sign of WEAKNESS.

The way to sense this is to look for any signs of DESPERATION with his voice…

But if the player is chatting along, having a good time, and seems quite CONFIDENT in general, it usually means he has a strong hand.

It’s a very subtle difference, and takes time to learn.

 

3. When a player looks you dead in the eye… This usually means the player does not have a strong hand. The “death stare” is simply an ACT of strength, but what it really means is WEAKNESS.

Now…

Let’s flip this over and look at poker tells that will show you when a player is sitting on a monster hand…

Because knowing when to FOLD is often times MORE IMPORTANT than just knowing when someone’s bluffing you.

So, repeating the second part of our mantra:

“If a player acts WEAK, he is probably STRONG.”

ACTING WEAK is usually more subtle than acting strong… it’s usually demonstrated in a way that is more like DISINTEREST.

And once again, the player doesn’t usually MEAN to act weak… it’s simply a NATURAL MECHANISM.

Of course, sometimes a player will INTENTIONALLY ACT WEAK, but the meaning behind it is still the same:

He’s got a strong hand.

Here are three poker tells when a player is acting WEAK, but has a really great hand:

1. Looking AWAY and acting disinterested… and NOT making eye contact with you…

This is the opposite of STARING YOU DOWN, which is a sign of weakness.

This poker tell is ESPECIALLY apparent when the flop hits… if the flop REALLY helped a player, he’ll usually just glance at it for a brief moment and then look away.

(On the other hand, if a player stares at the cards on the flop for a long period of time, that usually means the flop did NOT help him.)

2. Being very quiet…

When a player is PRAYING to himself that you’re going to call his bet, he usually stays very quiet and to himself…

If everyone at the table is laughing at something and a player suddenly gets QUIET… or kind of “forces” his laugh… then that’s a sign he just picked up a monster hand. 

Beware!

3. Getting shaky…

When a player’s hands get very shaky, watch out. 

Some people think it’s a sign of BLUFFING, but I sure hope you’re not one of those people. Shaky hands is almost always a sign of a MONSTER HAND.

Also… I might add here… that after someone WINS a really big pot, sometimes they get shaky as an “after effect”.

Honestly, I have no idea why. But I do know that it happens.

So if someone just won a huge pot and is looking kind of shaky, that’s probably why.

Knowing about poker tells like these… both signs of WEAKNESS and signs of STRENGTH… is a very important part of WINNING POKER.

P.S. Be careful not to study the poker players on TV for

bluffs and “tells”. Most of these players are two or three

steps FURTHER than anyone you play with…

The pros will try to trick their opponents by doing stuff

like INTENTIONALLY giving off a tell that is the OPPOSITE of

the tell that would actually MISLEAD the opponent…

It gets crazy. And that’s why it’s hard to learn how to spot

a bluff by watching the pros.