What is Antes & Blinds

What is Antes and blinds?

Also in those old das, back when the main game in cardrooms was five-card drwa, plaers put antes into each pot. An ante is a payment made by each player to the pot prior to receiving cards. An ante is not bet because it does not play for the player. The purpose of the antes is to stimulate action. Without money in the pot, the first player would never have an incentive to open the betting because there would be nothing to win.

Antes are still used in forms of seven-cards stud and they also appear in the later stages of o-limit holdem tournaments. Generally, though, holdem type games use blinds. Blinds serve the same purpose as antes, to stimulate action. Unlike an ante, however, a blind is considered to be a bet made before thecards are dealt, and it 'plays for' the player. that is, an amount equal to the size of the blind is part of a player's bet later on.

Usually, the player to the immediate left of the button puts chips into the pot equal to half the size of the lower limit of the game. Those chips and the player who puts the chips in) are called the small blind. The next player to the left, that is, the player two positon to the left of the button, puts chips into the pot equal to size of the limit of the game. Those chips (and the plaer who puts the chips in) are called the big blind. For example, if the stakes are $4-$8 -- this would be called a $4-$8 limit game --- the small blind is $2 and the big blind is $4.

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