Where the magic happends in no limit holdem - The dealer button

By now, you should have understood that position is extremely important! So important that when you have it, you can play much more hands. If you looked at my preflop charts, you most probably noticed I don't tell you what to play on the dealer button, and that's because it would'nt help you to follow a chart in this position.

If you are the best player at the table, as long as there is no raise in front of you, you can play every single hand on the dealer button. Don't forget that you should never open-limp, even if that means open-raising with 72o!

Now, if the players are strong or if the blinds are defending their blinds hard, you should be more selective with your starting hands. Also, if some players have limped, you should be more selective on a full ring table than on a shorthanded table.

It's the best place to vary your game

When playing texas no limit holdem online, it's very important to keep your opponents confused. The dealer button is the best place to vary your game, you should still vary in every position, but much more on the dealer button.

If a player limps with any 2 cards, once in a while, raise with any 2 cards. Your opponents probably won't like to see that you raised with 63, fine, I'd much rather be the strong player on the dealer button with 63 than the weak player out of position with J9. Your strong opponents will notice that you only do this on the dealer button, but many weak players will not and they will pay you good money on your good hands because they don't beleive you anymore!

Some examples

I know a lot of people who play a very mechanic game, I used to be just like that. If you are one of those, you may think that "being original" on the dealer button is much easier to say than to do. For those of you, here's a list of example of what you could decide to do one the dealer button (remeber to vary, don't do what I'm telling here every time).

Do a small raise or even a minimum raise if you wish with small pairs, low suited connectors when there are 1 or more limpers.
If someone if playing every hand, raise him often no matter what you have (he could have anything since he plays every hand)
Limp anything if there are already 2 or more limpers
When everyone folded except a player that easily fold the flop, raise with total junk, bet the flop and show your cards :)
Why not raise with Q8s, Q9s, it's a good hand when in good position if nobody raised!
Bet a different amount once in a while, 2-3-3.5-4.5 big blinds for no specific reason, with a good or a weak hand, let them try to figure out what you are doing when it's actually random

All these are very good examples of how to keep your opponents confused while making money on the dealer button. People will play hands like QT against your 3 big blind raise because of how bad they think you are playing. But the truth is, your 96s on the dealer button is better than their QT out of position!