Lojack (LJ) in Poker: Position Meaning Explained
The lojack (LJ) is the seat three to the right of the button — the first of the late positions. Here's where it sits and how to play it.
| Seat | Distance from button | Players left to act |
|---|---|---|
| Button (BTN) | on the button | 0 postflop |
| Cutoff (CO) | 1 right | 1 |
| Hijack (HJ) | 2 right | 2 |
| Lojack (LJ) | 3 right | 3 |
The lojack (LJ) is the seat three to the right of the dealer button — the earliest of the seats most players treat as “late position.” It acts just before the hijack, with the cutoff and button still behind it, so it opens wider than the early seats but stays tighter than everything to its left. When LJ appears in a hand history or on a range chart, it always means the lojack.
The name is a joke stacked on top of the hijack. Once the seat two off the button became the “hijack,” the seat just to its right picked up the rhyming, one-notch-lower “lojack.” There’s nothing more to it — it simply carries the wordplay downward, the same way “cutoff” and “button” anchor the far end. On a full 9-handed table it’s the fourth-latest seat overall and the earliest of the lojack–hijack–cutoff trio that forms the classic late-position group.
Playing the seat
Three players still act behind you, so the lojack rewards discipline over aggression:
- Open for value, not for the steal. A reasonable full-ring range is around the top 12–15% of hands — big pairs, strong broadways, and suited connectors down to about
T9s. Leave the wide light-stealing to the cutoff and button. - Expect pressure from the left. The cutoff and button can flat or 3-bet you in position, so marginal offsuit hands like
KToplay badly here and are usually a fold. - Let the table set the width. Passive opponents behind you? Nudge the range wider. Aggressive 3-bettors? Tighten up, because a hand like
A9othat’s fine against callers bleeds chips when you’re constantly forced to fold to a re-raise.
Picture it with A♥ J♥ 9-handed, folded to you: an easy open, comfortably inside a value range. Swap in K♣ 9♣ and it turns borderline — playable against a passive table, a fold against sharp opponents behind you. That single swing captures the lojack’s character. For the wider positional map, see the Texas Hold’em hub or the full poker glossary.