The button position is the strongest late position in poker. There are lots of winning strategies we can derive from this poker position. But how do we beat it when we're positioned before it? The way to beat it is steal it.
Stealing the button position means we come from either one or two seats away from it and device a strategy to make the button fold. There are 5 considerations in stealing this poker position. First, we need a good hand to scare the button player with. With this hand we try to do a semi-bluff in hopes of making a hit. At least we should have semi-connectors - -hands that can lead to being connectors, like 7-9 becoming 789. The idea is to have enough hand strength to scare the button with a hand we can bet on.
Second, with a good hand, we make a bet scary enough to force the button to fold. Perhaps even the player with a poker position to the button's right would also fold if we're a seat away from the button. The farther away from the button the more players we need to force to fold - and that may take a hefty amount. If the button plays tight and does not bet often at pre-flop, we may be able to steal the button poker position. But if the button plays loose, we should reconsider the steal.
Third, expect to be checked post flop. If opponents do this we immediately bet to try to steal the pot, or check to have a free turn card. But if someone wagers into us post flop, we reconsider the plan to steal the button poker position.
Then fourth, we should be careful never to have ourselves ending up pot-committed due to our pursuit of the button. The key here is to place bet amounts that would be easy to let go when we are about to lose the pot, but not too small as to be useless in trying to scare the button into folding. Some players desperately after the late poker position end up pursuing their bets in the pot instead and become duty-bound to bet bigger wagers.
Lastly, there are times when we don't really need to raise to steal the button. Either we call the big blind when the blinds are high, or we call the raise when someone raises the pot.
With these 5 considerations we should be aided in weighing our plan to steal the button poker position or just forget it altogether.
