Blinds vs Antes/low bring in

[Vehn]

One of the things I don't like about 7CS is the intiation of action, i.e. everyone antes and the low card is the forced bring in. Basically there's two reasons for this, one is that it tends to kill action for the low card - its a high card game, and the low card almost always has an unplayable and usually undefendable hand except in high ante situations. The other is it tends to promote lobbying. Has anyone played stud with a rotating small blind/big blind, and then normal high-board-acts-first on successive betting rounds? How does it work out? What would be the disadvantage to it versus the standard ante setup? Obviously it would take some tweaking, but how about if in a $15/$30 game there is a button and two blinds of $10 to the left of it, and the bet size is $10 on 3rd, $15 on 4th, and $30 after that? Seems to me like it would eliminate some of the problems you have in the ante/bring in set up and promote action.

[Elizabeth]

It may seem like you're being penalized for having been dealt a bad card, but statistically you are going to pay the same number of bring-ins as everyone else. In that sense, the bring in isn't yours. Think of it as being halfway in already in exchange as compensation for having the lowest door card. Plus, you get to see who else is playing before calling a raise, AND you might get a free play.

That should *increase* the action for the low card, and the action overall (if high card gets to bring it in, there's less dead money in the pot, and steals are much less likely to work).