Poker rules

How do you determine which player is the button, small blind and big blind? I know the button and blinds move around, but which one is really moved? If you think about it it is not that simple. Is there a rule for who will be the button, small blind and big blind in the next hand?

all three move around in a clockwise direction every hand at the table. At the very begining of a tourney, it seems that the button is randomly selected and then the two players imediatly after the button are the small and big blinds respectively.
I hope that helps

The original button is chosen at random.
The person on his immediate left is the small blind and posts half the minimum bet.
The player to the small blind's left is the big blind, and posts the minimum bet.

At most live games I've played in people either draw cards for position (Ace through 9 or 10, with the ace being the button, 2 being the small blind, and 3 being the big blind) or you draw a seat number, with #1 being the button, #2 being the small blind, and #3 being the big blind.

In the next hand everything shifts one position to the left (clockwise). The person to the left of the big blind ("under the gun") becomes the big blind, the big blind becomes the small blind, and the small blind becomes the button.

Rush poker is an exception. In that case, the computer looks for who at the table hasn't posted the big blind in the longest amount of time and makes that person the big blind. The person to his right is the small blind, the person to the small blind's right is the button.

SavagePenguin said:

The original button is chosen at random.
The person on his immediate left is the small blind and posts half the minimum bet.
The player to the small blind's left is the big blind, and posts the minimum bet.

At most live games I've played in people either draw cards for position (Ace through 9 or 10, with the ace being the button, 2 being the small blind, and 3 being the big blind) or you draw a seat number, with #1 being the button, #2 being the small blind, and #3 being the big blind.

In the next hand everything shifts one position to the left (clockwise). The person to the left of the big blind ("under the gun") becomes the big blind, the big blind becomes the small blind, and the small blind becomes the button.

Rush poker is an exception. In that case, the computer looks for who at the table hasn't posted the big blind in the longest amount of time and makes that person the big blind. The person to his right is the small blind, the person to the small blind's right is the button.

Click to expand...

^^^THIS^^^ Pretty much that simple not complicated at all.

Now if by chance your playing cash or a tournament and the dealer puts the button in the wrong position and at least 2 people have acted on their hand the hand contiues til the end, then the button is put in the position that it was missed for 1 hand then put in the correct position.

EX: seat 3 is button seat 4 is SB seat 5 is BB the next hand the dealer puts the button in seat 5 and 2 players act on their hand before they realise its in the wrong position play continues til the end then next hand button goes in the 4 seat then after that hand button goes to the 6 seat.

Ruling from Robert's Rules of Poker

1. In button games, if it is discovered that the button was placed incorrectly on the previous hand, the button and blinds will be corrected for the new hand in a manner that gives every player one chance for each position on the round (if possible).

It should be fairly straightforward - at the start of the game the button is randomly allocated to one seat (usually by dealing each seat one card face up and the highest card starts with the button), the seat to their left takes the small blind and the seat to the small blind's left takes the big blind.

At the end of the hand the button moves one seat clockwise and the blinds go to the two players to the left of the button again.

The only time it should be difficult is when you have to work out dead buttons and blinds - when one of the players that would have been on the button or in the blinds has been eliminated in the previous hand.

The way I always remember to get it right is to ignore the blinds at first and just move the button one seat clockwise. If the player in that seat was eliminated on the previous hand the button still goes to that seat and the blinds still go to the two seats to the button's left. If you move the button and the person that would have been in the small blind has just been eliminated then there is no small blind that hand. We do this so that nobody misses their big blind and gets a cheap round.

Note that you can't have a dead big blind - if the player that would have been the big blind has just been knocked out the big blind goes to the next player on their left.

Thank you for all the replies. At pokerstars tournament the blind moves by the button. If the button moves to an empty seat, the next non empty seat get the button until there is only two players left.
So I guess it all depends on the tournament rule.

ct2009 said:

Thank you for all the replies. At PokerStars tournament the blind moves by the button. If the button moves to an empty seat, the next non empty seat get the button until there is only two players left.
So I guess it all depends on the tournament rule.

Click to expand...

Yeah... that's an alternative system but not a lot of places use it. I've always been used to the dead button system (which is what all live tournaments governed by TDA rules use, along with most online sites) so I find it a bit easier to apply.

The other issue is the system Stars uses also allows players to miss blinds in certain situations - it's not a big deal because in the long run everybody stands to miss the blinds about the same amount of the time but it might have an effect on short-term results (ie: if the short stack gets to miss their big blind on the bubble or something like that)