How Do Blinds Work When Someone Busts Out?

[royaltrux]

If the person between the dealer and big blind bust out the previous hand what is the standard method for getting the blinds correct again?

[greg nice]

at our home games we just move the dealer button to where the busted player is.

[royaltrux]

Yeah but then one person gets out of having to post a big blind and everyone I talk to says that's too big of an advantage in a tourny sense. Online I see that they just make the big blind post but I don't know how they handle the dealer cause then one person would get to act last twice.

Any suggestions?

[CORed]

If the SB bust out, you move the button to the empty seat. This is commonly called a "dead button". This way the blinds are posted the same as they would have been if the player were still in. In a self-dealt home game, just have that person who busted deal the next hand before they leave, or have the small blind deal, but he deals to himself first.

[greg nice]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah but then one person gets out of having to post a big blind


[/ QUOTE ]

no. did you even read what i posted?

[Cleveland Guy]

The person between the Dealer and the Big Blind - is already the small blind. SO if he busts out, then you just move the button to his seat. Yes the guy who was he button still gets to act last, but this is less important to the structure than someone skipping their BB.

[juanez]

There are two ways to deal with this scenario:

"Dead Button Method"
If the SB busts out: the button moves to that empty seat and there is a "Dead Button" (no player has the Button). The player who was the BB becomes the SB and the player to his left becomes the BB, just like normal. The next hand, the Button and blinds move forward as usual.

If the BB busts out: the button moves forward as usual (SB becomes the Button) but there simply is no small blind that hand (the BB turns into an empty SB seat). The next player becomes the BB. On the next hand, the Button moves forward to the empty seat, the BB becomes the SB and the player to his left becomes the BB.

If both the SB and BB bust out on the same hand: the Button will move forward to both empty seats over the next 2 hands in a row - there will be a Dead Button for two hands in a row and the lucky player who was originally UTG (to the left of the blinds) acts last for 3 hands in a row (basically giving him the Button for 3 hands in a row). Due to this obvious advantage this player gains, the "Forward Moving Button Method" was invented.

"Forward Moving Button Method"
If the SB busts out: the Button moves past the empty seat to the next player, who becomes the SB, but that player also gets the Button. The player to his left is the BB and the next player ALSO has a BB (in effect, UTG posts a BB also - call the two Big Blinds BB1 and BB2.

The next hand, the Button moves to the next player (who was BB1) and again, that player has the Button and the SB. The former BB2 becomes another SB (so there are now two Small Blinds - call then SB1 and SB2), the next player becomes the only BB.

The next hand, the SB2 gets the Button, BB becomes the only SB and the next player becomes the only BB. Now we're back to normal again.

If the BB busts out: the Button moves to the SB as usual, but the next two players post Big Blinds (again call them BB1 and BB2) and there is no SB.

The next hand, BB1 becomes the Button and the SB1, BB2 becomes SB2 (two small blinds) and the next player becomes the only BB.

The next hand, SB2 gets the Button, BB becomes the SB and the next player becomes BB. Now we're back to normal again.

This method is a little confusing, but it ensures that the Button moves forward every hand, nobody misses their blinds and nobody "gets the Button" more than once per orbit.


See here for more info and maybe a more understandable explanation.

[kvcobra]

Yeah, dead button, otherwise normal.

Related question: Back the play up by one hand. What happens when the BB busts out, and the would-be SB is now gone? I say no SB that hand. Only other option is to shift the blinds one seat to the left, which makes the BB the SB and the UTG the BB. More balanced is to drop SB (even chance of being "cheated" the SB).