In heads up poker is the dealer the small blind or the big blind?

Question

Also, who acts first during the three rounds of betting?

Answer 1

The other answer is correct.  In heads up play, the dealer is always the small blind.  The reason is so that one person doesn't have a positional advantage during the entire hand.  Preflop, the dealer acts first, and then after the flop the dealer acts last.

Sometimes it's confusing when a tournament goes from 3 to 2 players.  Sometimes the blinds don't match up with where the dealer position is.  If the dealer position gets eliminated when it's three handed, it looks like the dealer button would move on to the person who is now the big blind. That causes confusion and sometimes arguments.  The rule is that the dealer button can move to accomidate for the blinds.  The blinds don't get moved.  So in that circumstance, the dealer button would actually go back to the person who is now in the small blind.

Consfusing yet?  Just remember that the button is the small blind always, and the button can move out of order if the blinds don't line up that way.  

Hope that helps.

Goodluck.

Answer 2

The dealer would be small blind and act first pre flop then last afterward, And big blind gets dealt first card in heads up play.