Before cards are even dealt in a game of Texas Holdem, it is important to
have some initial money in the pot. Otherwise every player could just
wait for aces in the pocket before making any investment. It would also
make pot limit games a little difficult to get going. The two ways to
start this are antes and blinds and we'll go into each in detail.
Antes
Antes are a set amount put in the pot by every player in the game prior
to cards being dealt. This amount does not count toward your bet on
the first round of betting, unlike blinds. This simple method is used
primarily in home games. This method also is not very common with Texas Holdem specifically, it's more often found in games like five-card stud
or draw. Antes are also used in conjunction with blinds in the later
stages of a tournament.
Blinds
Based on the limit of the game, the player to the left of the
dealer's button (the small blind) and the player two to the left
of the button (the big blind) are required to put up mandatory
bets before the cards are dealt. The big blind puts up a bet equal
to the small limit. The small blind puts up half that amount.
So if the limit is $5/$10, the big blind is $5 and the small blind
is $2.50.
These blinds do count toward your total investment toward the
first round of betting. So if the pot isn't raised pre-flop, the
small blind will only have to put in another half a bet to call.
Likewise, the big blind won't have to put anything more in the
pot, although the big will have the ability to raise his own blind.
In an unraised pre-flop pot, this is referred to as the “option”.
Blinds and Antes in Tournaments
The way Texas Holdem tournaments are structured, the blind and/or antes go
up after a set period of time, called the “escalation”. Each group of
time where the blind/antes stay the same is called a “level”. Usually
when players go up a level, the blinds double or less. If antes are
introduced, they usually do not double every level.
Sometimes to start a tournament, the big and small blind are the same
amount and at the next level the big doubles.
For example, on the first days of the 2004 World Series of Poker, blinds
escalated every two hours and looked like this...
1st Level
No Ante
Blinds $25/$50
2nd Level
No Ante
Blinds $50/$100
3rd Level
No Ante
Blinds $100/$200
4th Level
$25 Ante
Blinds $100/$200
5th Level
$50 Ante
Blinds $150/$300
