Dead Buttons and Blinds

I have brought this up and was told by the site that it doesn’t effect the fairness… but it most certainly does. When blinds are 5k/10k and a guy gets to miss a big blind that would put him all in and gets another time around the table it is very unfair to the rest of the entrants. I have seen many players miss out on better payouts due to this (not just me). Would be nice to see this fixed.

Hi thisisntp0k3r, :smiley:

I am afraid I do not quite understand your complaint.

Since tournament players cannot skip blinds, it sounds like you are talking about ring games. Can you please confirm this and explain further why you believe players sitting out is unfair to others and also please explain further about the better payouts? Please include hand numbers as that would help me/us to understand what you are talking about. Thanks…Cheers!

Tournaments most certainly skip blinds. If the person who was supposed to be in the blind in the next hand loses, their spot is skipped over. On real money sites and in casinos, they have what is called a dead blind or button if it is the person who is supposed to be the dealer gets knocked out. Lets say there is a player about to be in the big blind next hand, but the person to their right busts, they automatically get the small blind when there should be no small blind, and the player still should have to pay both blinds over the next two hands.

It’s extremely frustrating late in the tournaments when someone with a low stack gets another time around the table when they should have been forced all in with the blinds. If they win that is one thing, but it’s unfair to everyone else left in the tournament.

As far as I know, that is how it works, I may be wrong but I have never noticed what you describe. Please, post the hand numbers where the big blind skipped a player. Thanks…
Cheers!

#1172872658 on this hand the small blind busts and I should be in small blind next hand

#1172872781 on this hand I dont pay small blind I become dealer and player to my left is small blind when they should be big blind. There should be a dead button for the player who busted. It happens all the time, and its very unfair later in the game.

Thank you for posting those hand numbers. Now I see what you are talking about. I have never seen/noticed that before.

In the help section for tournament rules:

Tournament rules on Replay Poker

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Sarah

  • Seating is random.
  • Seat 1 has the button when the tournaments starts.
  • The tournament ends when there is one player left with all the chips. If the tournament is a satellite there might be more than 1 winner, if so, the tournament ends when the predetermined number of winners remain.
  • If players get eliminated in the same hand, the player with most chips at the time, will be placed higher. If the players have the same amount of chips, they will share the place and winnings.
  • Replay Poker uses the “forward moving button” rule, as a consequence players may receive the button two times in a row. After each hand the button is moved clockwise to the small blind.

The “forward moving button” rule is mentioned in Roberts Rules of Poker and is a legitimate (although somewhat rarely used) rule. I found an online discussion about it with some folks stating that they have come across it in some casinos. My experience has always been with the “dead button” rule.

I am not sure since I am not familiar with the rule but I think whoever wrote that help section miss-stated the consequence of the rule when they said “players may receive the button two times in a row” as I believe the rule means players should never get the button two times in a row as the button always moves. I could be wrong.

As far as fairness goes, as long as the rule is published in advance (the help section) and applied equally to all players I believe it is fair. Just my opinion, and we all know what those are worth. :grinning:
Cheers!

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It would be very easy to put in dead buttons and blinds. It just doesn’t seem fair in the later stages of tournaments which I have seen plenty (and also received the benefit of missing blinds) and getting a higher payout when a player (including me) would have otherwise been forced all in by the blinds

I get what you are saying, and, as I said, I personally have always played dead button and have never even heard of forward moving button until today (I am not even close to being an expert on poker rules :grinning:).

The only thing I can think is that whoever put that rule in place must have had a good reason for doing so, I am sure it was not arbitrary. Therefore I don’t think it is likely to be changed.
Peace!

My understanding is that moving button is better for ring games. The blinds don’t matter as much and position matters more, but the main reason to use it seems to be that it gets people seated quicker when you have players coming and going a lot. (The “wait for big blind” option has never worked for me on Replay though, so I’m not sure it makes much difference here).
The online consensus seems to be that dead buttons are better and the norm for tournaments. I would guess that the Replay team just didn’t think the benefits are big enough to implement and maintain 2 sets of rules.
I guess either rule is fair because in the long run they should affect everyone equally, but within a single tournament the moving button definitely can give some players an advantage. (The dead button does too, a player gets to be last to act 2 hands in a row, but that’s a much smaller advantage)

I have to say I have never even thought about this
Does that make me a fish? :smiley: