The small blind can be first to act before the flop and last to act after it, without the dealer button moving an inch. That is the two-player arrangement described in the Poker Tournament Directors Association's current rules. The same player holds the button through the hand; the opening order changes between betting rounds.
Rule 36-C of the 2026 TDA longform rules, version 1.1 dated 21 September, makes the heads-up small blind the button. It gives that player the last card in the deal, first action preflop and last action on the other betting rounds. TDA rules are voluntary tournament procedures for events that adopt them.
PokerStars' online tournament rules, section 2.5, also assign the button the small blind and first action on the opening round when two players remain at the final table. That supports the opening arrangement; its separate button-movement policy should not be replaced with a different event's procedure.
One hand, two starting positions for action
Use a fictional heads-up Hold'em hand with blinds of 100 and 200 tournament units. Player A has the button and posts the small blind of 100. Player B posts the big blind of 200. Both have enough chips, and there is no ante, straddle, deduction or all-in in this example.
Before a voluntary decision, the pot is 300. A acts first and needs another 100 to call B's 200. The small blind already posted supplies the other 100; A does not pay a fresh 200 on top.
If A calls, the pot reaches 400. B now has an opening-round option to check or raise. Posting the big blind did not itself amount to checking. Assume B checks, both players remain and the flop is dealt.
The initial order is now:
| Betting round | First position to act | Next position |
|---|---|---|
| Preflop | A: button and small blind | B: big blind |
| Flop, turn and river | B: big blind | A: button and small blind |
The later-round row assumes both players still have a live hand and can bet. A fold can end the hand; all-in situations can remove later betting decisions. A raise can also send action back around. This table identifies starting positions, rather than promising that every round consists of exactly two actions.
A keeps the button when the flop arrives. PokerStars' Hold'em rules start later betting rounds with the active player immediately clockwise from the button. With these two seats, that is B. Our short all-in article addresses the separate question of whether a later wager reopens a player's right to raise.
The first heads-up deal needs the previous blind positions
Now consider a separate fictional tournament hand under TDA rule 36-C. Three seats run clockwise: seat 1 has the button, seat 2 the small blind and seat 3 the big blind. Seat 1 is eliminated, leaving seats 2 and 3 for the next deal.
The rule says the button may need adjusting when heads-up play begins so that no player has the big blind twice consecutively. Applying that condition here puts seat 3 on the button and small blind, with seat 2 paying the big blind. Simply moving the marker to the next occupied seat, seat 2, would charge seat 3 the big blind again.
That is a TDA-based reconstruction of this stated transition. PokerStars section 2.4 separately describes a forward-moving button for its online tournaments. The two documents should retain their own scope; a client transition cannot be reconstructed by silently combining them. Our dead-button and missed-blind report examines those different movement and payment rules.
In the TDA example, seat 3's smaller forced payment on the next hand follows a bigger payment on the previous one. That earlier big blind explains why the new button can appear to have skipped the next occupied chair.
