Just
in front of one of the players on the game, Cindy,
you will notice
a small, generally white, disk. This disk is called
the "button." The
button shows who would be dealing the cards if he
or she were actually
the dealer. Holding the dealer button in Texas Hold’em
is to your
advantage, because the dealer is the last player
to take action after
the deal. By acting last, the dealer has helpful
additional information
when it’s betting time.
To
stimulate action before the first cards are dealt,
most poker games
require a blind bet or an ante. If antes are used,
all players must
post a standard amount of up-front seed money in
order to receive their
first cards. An ante is a forced bet in which each
player places an
equal amount of money or chips into the pot before
the cards are dealt.
You will find antes used in your traditional Stud
games. The blind bet
is a flexible alternative to the ante for getting
the initial money in
the pot. It is a required wager of some, but not
all players, that must
be posted before anyone gets to see his or her cards.
In
Texas Hold'em with blind wagers, the first two players
to the left
of the dealer post their bets before they see any
cards, and are thus,
still "blind." This required wager rotates
around the table as does the
dealer button. Because blinds require forced wagers,
blind bettors, in
return, can raise once the betting has gone around
the table the first
time and it's their turn to act again.
The
concept of blinds is simple, Cindy, and your Mother
will pick it up
in seconds, so let’s get busy with an example.
The first player to the
dealer's left (the first to bet after the deal)
makes a blind bet of
$10, then the player to his left posts a fearless
blind wager of $20.
Once the cards have been dealt, play continues with
the next player in
turn (third from the dealer), who acts just as if
the $10 had been an
opening bet and the $20 was a raise, so he must
either call $20,
re-raise, or fold. When the betting returns to the
player who had the
forced $10 blind bet, he acts just as if that had
been the opening bet;
he must equal the bet facing him (toward which he
may count his
original $10), re-raise or fold.
To
ensure that there is constant betting action on
every hand, blinds
in a no-limit tournament increase progressively
at pre-determined time
intervals. They continue to go up as the day goes
on, raising the
stakes and the pressure, especially on the player
who lurks and seldom
acts. That type of player risks getting his or her
bankroll eaten up
bit-by-bit by the erosion of the increasing blinds.
Best regards to
your Mom.
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