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Action Buttons in Online Poker


If you are new to online poker, you may have heard players talk about the “action buttons” or “pre-action buttons.” What are the action buttons, how do they work, and when should you use them? Here are some thoughts on action buttons.

Action buttons are buttons that appear on the bottom of your screen that you can check off in advance to determine your action. They usually say things like “check,” “fold,” “check/fold,” “raise (the bet amount in limit poker games),” “call big blind” or “call any.” Pre-selecting your action in live brick and mortar games is not possible because acting out of turn will give information to your opponents that neither you or your other opponents want them to have.

Why would you want to use the action buttons? For one thing, they speed up the game. If one player is stalling, either because they are unsure or they have a poor connection, the use of action buttons by other players can make moving to the hand that much quicker. For another, action buttons can make multi tabling easier. Multi tabling means playing more than one game at a time. If you can make certain decisions instantly and move directly to a game where the action may be more complicated, your overall play will be easier.

Why wouldn’t you want to use the action buttons? Some Internet pros claim you should never use them. Why? Because when you use an action button, your action takes place instantaneously, which means everyone at the table knows you chose a pre-selected action. Some Internet players feel that this is bad poker strategy and giving away too much information to your opponents. If there has already been action and you have a garbage hand, there is no harm in clicking the “fold” action button. Once you fold, you have no information to give opponents, and since opponents don’t know you are folding in advance, you are not giving anything away in the way you would if you folded out of turn in a live game. Other decisions may be different. If you click “check/fold,” your instant check may clue opponents in to the fact that you are only interested in playing for a free card and are weak. Of course, if you sometimes instant check when you are strong, this may be a false tell.

You will have to decide for yourself whether action buttons in online poker are convenient or a way that opponents can take advantage of you. If you are not sure, taking the extra few seconds to wait for your turn to act will not hurt. At the very least, a pre-selected fold when there is action and the play has stalled will probably be appreciated by others at the table.

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