Which player bets first, relative to the dealer chip, if there are only 3 players left? What about 2?

Question

My understanding, when blinds are involved, is that the following rules apply to "Who Bets First" in Poker:

1) After the cards are dealt, before the flop, the player to the left of the big blind bets first.

2) On subsequent rounds after the flop, the player to the left of the dealer chip bets first.

Is this correct?

If these rules apply, who should bet when there are only 3 players remaining in the game?

1). In the initial round of betting, the player to the "left of the big blind" is the dealer, so the dealer bets first.

2). In subsequent rounds, this will be the guy to the left of the dealer who goes first.

If there are 2 players left, I'm assuming the person to the left of the dealer chip will always start the betting round?

Please correct me if I am wrong!

Answer 1

if there are three players left, the dealer starts the betting pre-flop and post-flop they are the last to act (the small blind starts the betting post-flop).

If there are two players left, the player with the button posts the small blind and the other player posts the big blind. The player with the button acts first pre-flop, then is the last to act post-flop.

a good way to remember it is that the player to the left of the big blind starts the betting pre-flop, and the player left of the dealer starts the betting post-flop.

Answer 2

Clarko's answer is correct but I think a bit misleading, especially for games with unusual blind structures. The correct way to determine betting is this: in every betting round but the first, the player to the dealer's left ("age") acts first, and the dealer acts last.

On the first round, except when head up (that is, any number of players other than two), players act in the same order except that placing a blind is considered the first action, so age acts first by posting the first blind (if any), then the next player clockwise posts the next blind, if any, etc. In some games, optional blinds called "straddles" may be posted in order (some places even allow out-of-order straddles--rules vary). The first player after the last blind or straddle acts first (if there are three players and two blinds, and no straddles, this will happen to be the dealer).

Only in the head-up case with two blinds is this rule broken. In that case, the dealer posts the first ("small" blind), the other player posts the second blind, and the dealer acts next. Head-up with a single blind is played in normal order: non-dealer posts the single blind and dealer acts next.