Nine players at a full-ring table act in one order before the flop and a different order after it. The table below gives both, keyed to the same nine seats.
| Preflop Order | Position | Full Name | Postflop Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UTG | Under the Gun | 3rd |
| 2 | UTG+1 | Under the Gun plus one | 4th |
| 3 | UTG+2 | Under the Gun plus two | 5th |
| 4 | MP | Middle Position | 6th |
| 5 | HJ | Hijack | 7th |
| 6 | CO | Cutoff | 8th |
| 7 | BTN | Button | 9th |
| 8 | SB | Small Blind | 1st |
| 9 | BB | Big Blind | 2nd |
Reading the preflop column
Preflop action starts at UTG and moves clockwise through the seats toward the blinds. The Button is seventh, with the Small Blind and Big Blind behind it. Those last two seats have already posted chips, which is why they still get to act after the Button even though they sit at the end of the seating order.
Use this column when you are deciding whether to open a hand. The more seats still to act behind you, the greater the chance that one of them holds a hand that outranks yours, so early seats need a tighter selection. The preflop charts show that tightening in practice: the same holding that is an open from the Cutoff is often a fold from UTG.
Reading the postflop column
After the flop, action starts at the Small Blind and ends at the Button. The table lists the Button ninth for this reason. Everything that made an early seat difficult before the flop reverses: the Button now sees every other decision before making its own, while UTG acts third and commits with almost no information about the field.
When you are planning a bet on the flop, read the postflop column rather than the preflop one. A continuation bet from an early seat goes into the field before anyone else has spoken; the same bet from the Button comes after the whole table has checked or bet. That difference changes both how much information you have and how much of the pot you can control.
Why the Button moves from seventh to last
Blinds are posted before any cards are dealt, so the Small Blind and Big Blind already have chips in the pot and keep the right to act on them preflop. Once the flop is dealt there is no blind obligation left to resolve, and the game uses a fixed rule: start at the first active seat to the left of the Button and move clockwise, which puts the Button at the end of the round. The numbering is not a contradiction. It is the consequence of two different starting points for the same seating circle.
Acting last is the source of the Button’s advantage. You can close the action when everyone checks, size a bet after seeing how the field responded, and take a free card when the table checks to you. A player in an early seat has none of that information and must commit first. This is why position, not just card strength, decides which hands are worth playing from each seat.
Using both orders in one hand
Treat the two columns as separate decisions. Preflop, your position tells you how wide you can open. Postflop, the same seat tells you how much control you have over the pot. A hand opened from the Cutoff will feel very different after the flop from one opened UTG, even though the seat names never changed.
Naming also varies between sources: some tables split the middle seats differently or use Lojack for one of them. Rely on the action order, not the abbreviation, when you move between references. The poker position chart covers the seat names and opening ranges in more detail; this page is the order of action.