How Do Antes And Blinds Work In Poker?
Poker is no doubt an exciting game with a lot of complicated rules. While the rules might be complicated, once you learn them, you know them. There are many variations of the game and different variations are being developed all the time, but when you know the basic rules of the game of poker, you can get by. That being said, if you are playing regular 5-card or 7-card poker, you’ll hear players and dealers shouting all kinds of terms and lingo. Amongst some of these will be antes and blinds. While there are many that mean and do many different things, blinds and antes are probably two of the most important. What do they mean and how do they apply when playing poker?
Understanding The Antes
The antes are without a doubt one of the first terms you’ll hear when playing most variations of poker. And, this is because they are required to get a hand. For instance, think of the ante as the requirement for playing. It’s what you and every other player must put in the pot before being dealt a hand. All that being said, you’ll likely notice that antes vary from game to game. When playing with the same players at one table, you might pay different antes than you’d pay when playing with the same players. If this is the case then it is likely because you are playing a different variation of the game or you passed specific limits. Most of the time, antes are based on specific limits.
Low stakes games usually mean low stakes antes, while high stakes games usually mean high antes. Regardless of the situation, antes are always smaller than the minimum bets. When all said and done, think of antes are forced bets.
Understanding Blinds
It doesn’t matter if you are playing Texas Hold’Em with a quality online provider like situs judi online or you are playing with a lesser-known name, you will encounter something referred to as blinds. You’ll likely hear the term different times in different variations. For instance, you might hear some players talk about small blinds and you might hear some players call big blinds into action. Either way, they are both an integral part of the game and key to understand. While this is the same for antes, blinds are an entirely different type of bet.
That being said, the two do have one thing in common. And that is, they are both bets that are placed before any cards are dealt. Antes are required and will be paid by all players at the table wanting a hand. This is not the case with blinds. Blinds are kind of like a way to say that you will have a winning hand before even seeing your cards. They bring an entirely new meaning to the phrase, “Do you feel lucky?”
Rules For Blinds
Blind bets do come attached with some unique rules and they are, the blind amount goes in the pot before the hand starts, the pot isn’t raised for the rest of the players, and you can play without blinds. The minimum bet must be the lowest denomination chip currently in-play, and you can toss one of these chips in and consider a call. When this usually happens, all players, on the other hand, do have to post another ante.