When visiting the Playground Poker Club outside Montreal last week, I played in a tournament which employed a button ante. The button ante has appeared on the radar recently, so I thought I would share my experience with it.
What is a Button Ante?
When a button ante is used, the player on the button pays the ante for the entire table. At the Playground, the amount was static regardless of the number of players sitting at the table. Early in the tournament, the ante was the size of the small blind. Later it went up to the size of a big blind. The button amount is treated exactly like any ante, as it is swept in by the dealer and does not mean that the player is in the hand.
I have seen reference to other tournaments using a “big blind” ante (doubling the big blind) instead of the button ante. Personally, I prefer the latter, but individual preferences may vary.
Impact of the Button Ante
I became an instant fan of the button ante. The action moved much more quickly than in a typical ante tournament, as the dealer merely had to pull in one ante, rather than sweep, count, and make change for all ten players around the table. That alone won me over. Additionally, I preferred paying up once for the round, rather than having to put chips out every single hand. The larger ante sizes meant that the smaller chips were off the table faster, making it easier to count my, and my opponents’, stacks.
I have to admit, I am a fan of the button ante. Click To TweetFinally, the button ante also encouraged me to play more aggressively (which I should be doing anyway) in a couple of ways. First, when I was on the button I had a tendency to play more aggressively (as I should) as it felt like I already had some investment in the hand. Even though I know this was an illusion, as once the ante is taken in it is gone just like any other ante, it still had some subjective value. Secondly, this style ante further pushes the action for small stacks as it becomes more critical to be aggressive ahead of the blinds. If you fail to shove in the hands before the big blind, you now have to pay the big blind, small blind, and button ante in consecutive hands. That can take a short stack to a microstack pretty quickly.
Who is Using It?
At this point, the button ante seems to be fairly rare, at least in the US. The Playground has been using this system since early 2017. Several online tournaments on sites such as Party Poker and Dusk Till Dawn have recently launched them. A number of casinos in Europe and Asia have instituted the button ante as well. The Tournament Directors’ Association position appears to be wait and see before they comment on the practice.
I think that the button ante will become a reality in card rooms across the country very soon. I will happily greet it when it does.
Like this post? Head on over to the sidebar and subscribe. We will alert you whenever a new APT blog post goes live!
Follow us on Twitter! Follow @pokertraining
Another good read! Thanks Heather! And I agree, I think the B.B. paying the ante for the table makes more sense…you could conceivably be the button two hands in a row…yes?
Hi Linda! LAPC just instituted a big blind ante yesterday. So you are clearly not the only one. There are accommodations made for dead stacks, I believe, so that the button never pays twice.
How do they handle the ante in the case of a dead button?
In places where I have seen it, there is no button ante in the case of a dead button. Or, by the way, if the small blind is eliminated. So you never have to pay twice in a row.
You point out several positive effects of the “Button blind.” I suspect this will gain traction everywhere soon.
While I personally like it, here are a couple of considerations:
1) It is going to be even more difficult to explain the game to a novice player or a casual viewer. “Three people have to put in money before the hand starts, but only two of the count. But the one who has to put in money that doesn’t count is in the most advantageous position.”
2) this is a selfish reason. I don’t WANT players who don’t know when they should be more aggressive to be steered toward better play. Let them figure it out through hard work and pathetic results like I did!
Both excellent points!
It’s been nearly a year now and it looks like BB ante is taking over, at least in the USA. I’ve seen it now at Foxwoods, Borgata, Maryland and several casinos in Las Vegas. The only negative I’ve seen is that some tournaments start it at LEVEL 1, so you have 200-100-200 or $500 in middle from the first hand, instead of the normal 25-50 or $75. That is huge! Foxwoods now usually starts 100-100 for the first two levels and then goes to 200-100-200. Some places cut the ante in half once you get to the final two tables or so to account for the likelihood that there will be fewer players at the table. I have read that studies show using the BBA does increase hands-per-hour, which is a good thing!
Yes it definitely has. I would say that up to 80% of the tournaments I play now are big blind ante. I’m finding that I prefer it strongly to the traditional format right up until the tables get short and the floors inevitably fail to balance correctly. Then I start to lose my mind.
If the only intent is to speed up the game, couldn’t you just as easily raise the blinds quicker and/or by larger increments? The ante builds the pot faster and (when paid individually) encourages players to be more active, particularly when short stacked. The BBA essentially double penalizes the big blind. At least the Dealer ante comes when the player has position, so it’s not quite as bad.