While playing poker, there are three kinds of mandatory bets which are made: the Small Blind, the Big Blind and an Ante. The purpose of all three bets is to ensure that players cannot constantly fold and to force action, as they demand that players put chips into the pot whether they want to or not.
The two blinds are bets which are on every hand of poker in games such as No Limit Texas Hold’em. The small blind is put into the pot by the player immediately to the dealer’s left, while the big blind is posted by the player sat to the left of the small blind. As the dealer’s button moves to the left, so too do the blind buttons.
The big blind is always the minimum bet which can be placed on the table, while the small blind is always half the amount of the big blind. In tournament poker, the blind amounts gradually increase in order to give players proportionally fewer chips.
If a player is busted out in a manner that affects the order of the blinds, then their placing is adjusted so that nobody misses out on posting a big blind. If this means there is no player available to post a small blind, it is referred to as a ‘phantom’ button and that bet is skipped.
Ante bets are small, compulsory non-refundable bets which players have to put into the pot, often during closing stages of large Texas Hold’em poker tournaments.