5.1 The button marks the dealer's seat and moves one seat clockwise every hand
In games with blinds, a disk called the button shows which player is the dealer for the hand, even when a house dealer does the dealing. That player gets the last card and acts last on every betting round after the first. After each hand the button moves one seat clockwise, so every player takes the last-action seat in turn. Stud games have no button.
When a new game starts, each player is dealt one card face up and the highest card takes the button. A tie in rank is broken by suit, ranked from the top: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. Robert's Rules gives the button to the lowest card instead in low games such as lowball. Tournaments draw for the first button the same way.
When a player leaves or busts, the button and blinds can't simply all move one seat. Rooms use one of two methods:
(a)Dead button. The big blind always goes to the player due for it next. The small blind and button are then placed where they fall, even in front of an empty seat. A button with no player is "dead", and the player to its right acts last a second hand in a row.
(b)Moving button. The button always moves to the next player, and the blinds adjust around it. Nobody gets last action twice in a round, but on some hands the blinds come out unevenly, and there may be two big blinds on one deal to make up.
Robert's Rules allows either and says neither is better in every situation. The TDA requires a dead button in tournaments, and lets the button jump forward past empty seats when that seats the most incoming players without anyone missing a big blind or posting two in a row. The WSOP's cash rules also use a dead button.
Example of a dead button: seat 1 has the button, seat 2 the small blind and seat 3 the big blind. Seat 2 leaves after the hand. Next hand, seat 4, who is due, posts the big blind, seat 3 posts the small blind and the button goes in front of the empty seat 2. Seat 1 acts last again.
5.4 The small blind and the big blind are posted on the button's left
With two blinds, the first player clockwise from the button posts the small blind and the next player posts the big blind, before anyone sees their cards. The amounts are set by the stakes (3.13).
5.5 Blinds are live bets, and the big blind has the option
The blinds count toward the poster's bet: a small blind who calls tops up to the big blind, and a big blind whom nobody raises has already called. When the action comes back to the big blind with no raise, the big blind may check or raise; this is the big blind's "option". Robert's Rules adds that the option survives an all-in for less than a full raise: if someone goes all in for a little more than the big blind, the big blind may still raise. Some structures add a separate dead blind, which isn't part of the poster's bet.
With only two players, the button posts the small blind and the other player the big blind. The button acts first before the flop and last on every later round. Under the TDA's tournament rules the button also gets the last card of the deal.
When play becomes heads-up, the button is placed so that nobody posts the big blind twice in a row. Robert's Rules: the player who had the big blind most recently takes the button (and so the small blind), and the other player takes the big blind. The TDA says the button may need adjusting for the same reason.
A player with fewer chips than the blind posts everything and is all in. The blind still counts as full for everyone else: to play, the others must call the full big blind, and the smallest raise is to twice the big blind. The short player can win only what they put in from each caller (Pots).
At $1/$2, the big blind has $1.50 left and posts it all in. The next player must still call $2 or raise to at least $4; the WSOP's cash rules say outright that calling just the $1.50 isn't an option. The TDA applies the same idea to pot-limit sizing (3.7).
5.9 An ante comes from every player and is not part of a bet
An ante is a small fixed amount every player puts in before the deal. Unlike a blind, it doesn't count toward a call: it is dead money in the pot. Stud games use antes, and flop and draw games may use antes, blinds, or both.
Many tournaments now use a big blind ante: instead of every player anteing, the player in the big blind pays one ante for the whole table, usually equal to the big blind. At 1,000-2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante, the big blind puts in 4,000 in all. The TDA recommends this "single-payer" format, and its 2026 rules include a tie-break for players knocked out together in big blind ante games.
Rooms disagree on what comes first when the big blind can't cover both:
(a)Ante first. The TDA's recommended procedure, backed by about nine in ten of the rooms at its 2019 summit in a show of hands: the ante is paid in full before the blind. A big blind with 3,000 at 1,000-2,000 pays the 2,000 ante and has a live blind of only 1,000.
(b)Blind first. Some rooms, including the Venetian in Las Vegas in its 2026 tournaments, take the blind before the ante. The same player posts the full 2,000 blind and only 1,000 of ante.
The practical difference: ante-first means the table never gets short-changed on the ante, but a big blind who can cover only the ante has no live bet and can win back only that ante; blind-first protects the big blind's live bet at the cost of a short ante.
A player with less than a full ante puts in what they have, is all in, and is still dealt the hand. They can win only the part of the pot they matched (Pots). In stud, a player all in for the ante is skipped when it would be their turn to act.
Stud has no blinds. After the antes and the first face-up card, the player showing the lowest card must start the betting with a forced bet called the bring-in. Two cards of the same rank are separated by suit, clubs lowest, then diamonds, hearts and spades. In Razz, where the low hand wins, it's the other way round: the highest card showing brings it in, with aces counting low, so a king brings it in ahead of a queen.
5.13 The bring-in is a short bet that may be completed
The bring-in is less than a full small bet; the house sets it. The player bringing it in may choose to bet a full small bet instead. If they bring it in short, the next players may fold, call the bring-in, or raise it to a full small bet, which is "completing" and counts as the round's first bet, not a raise. In Robert's Rules' example at $15/$30 stud, the low card opens for $5 and the next player completes to $15, after which the usual number of raises is still allowed. On pagat.com's account, nobody may raise until someone has completed.
5.14 A bring-in player who is short or already all in
A player who has some chips but not enough for the bring-in puts in what they have, and the other players must still come in for at least the normal amount. If the low card belongs to a player already all in for the ante, the action starts with the first player still able to bet on that player's left.
A straddle is a voluntary extra blind, usually twice the big blind, posted before the cards are dealt. In the standard version the player on the big blind's left (under the gun) posts it. It is a live bet: the action before the flop starts on the straddler's left, and the straddler acts last before the flop, with the option to raise if nobody has. Robert's Rules allows one straddle in non-tournament no-limit and pot-limit games, and treats it as raising the minimum bring-in, not as a raise. Whether straddles are allowed at all is a house rule.
Rulebooks disagree on how much the first raise over a straddle must be. At $1/$2 with a $4 straddle:
(a)The straddle as the new big blind. Robert's Rules treats the straddle as setting a new minimum bring-in, and pagat.com says the limits go up in proportion. The first raise is to at least $8.
(b)The WSOP's cash rules (2023) set the minimum raise after a straddle at three times the big blind: a raise to $6. The same rules keep the minimum bet on later rounds at the original big blind.
5.17 Button, Mississippi and sleeper straddles, and re-straddles
Many rooms allow other kinds of straddle by house rule:
(a)Button straddle. The button posts the straddle. The WSOP's cash rules allow a straddle from under the gun or the button unless the table's sign says otherwise, with the button taking priority. The action then starts with the small blind, on the straddler's left, and the button acts last on every round.
(b)Mississippi straddle. A straddle allowed from any seat, often the button, depending on the house.
(c)Sleeper straddle. A straddle posted from a seat other than under the gun that only takes effect if the action reaches it unraised. Rooms differ on whether it is live.
(d)Re-straddle. The next player doubles the straddle again before the deal, and so on, where the house allows it.
These are all house rules, with no rulebook standard. Agree on them before you play.
Robert's Rules allows no live straddle at fixed limit except in games set up for it. The WSOP's cash rules allow the under-the-gun straddle in all blind games but not the button straddle at limit. Tournaments almost never allow straddles, and the TDA's rules don't mention them.
5.19 A new player posts a big blind or waits for it
A player joining a game already running has two choices: wait until the big blind reaches their seat, or post an amount equal to the big blind and be dealt in straight away. A posted big blind is live, with the option. A newcomer who lets the button pass once without posting isn't treated as having missed a blind. When a game first starts, a new player needn't post until the button has gone round once, as long as no blind has passed their seat. In lowball, Robert's Rules makes the post twice the big blind.
5.20 No one is dealt in between the big blind and the button
Robert's Rules says a new player, or one making up missed blinds, can't be dealt in between the big blind and the button, and must wait for the button to pass. It calls this standard practice, though it suggests letting them in would be better. The WSOP's cash rules do let them in: a newcomer in that spot may "buy the button" by posting a big blind and a dead small blind, and plays the button next hand, or post just the big blind and let the button pass them.
5.21 Missed blinds: post them or wait for the big blind
A player who sits out while the blinds pass their seat has missed them. To come back they may either post the blinds they missed or wait for the big blind to reach them again. Card rooms usually mark the seat with a "missed blind" button, and the WSOP's cash rules may pick up the chips of a player who misses blinds for too long (two absent buttons or an hour). Robert's Rules adds that a player who goes broke and misses blinds before buying back in still owes them.
5.22 When you make up missed blinds, the big blind is live and the small blind is dead
A player who posts missed blinds puts the big blind in as a live bet, and the small blind goes straight into the middle as dead money that doesn't count toward a call. At $1/$2, a player back from missing both posts $3: $2 is their live bet, with the option to raise when the action reaches them, and $1 is dead. Robert's Rules puts it as: up to the size of the minimum opening bet is live, the rest is dead.
If a player who owes a missed blind is dealt in by mistake, the hand is dead if they look at it before posting and before acting. If they have already played it and put chips in before anyone notices, the hand stands and they post on the next deal.
Moving seats in a cash game shouldn't let a player skip the blinds. Robert's Rules lets you move closer to the big blind with no penalty; moving farther away, you wait to be dealt in until you're back in the same position relative to the blinds, or post a big blind. The WSOP's cash rules let you move past up to two active players without posting. A player who plays the button and then moves at once may let the blinds pass the new seat once and come in behind the button without posting.
A tournament player's stack is dealt in and posts blinds and antes whether or not the player is there; in stud it posts the bring-in if dealt the low card. A player not in their seat when the last card of the deal goes out has their hand killed, and the forced bets stay in the pot. Deliberately dodging a blind is penalized.
Tournament blinds go up at set times. When a level changes, the new blinds apply from the next hand; a hand already started finishes at the old level. Under the TDA, a hand starts with the first riffle of the shuffle (or the shuffling machine's button); a hand dealt at the old level by mistake stands once substantial action has happened (4.25), and anyone may point out a missed level change.