Big Blind Ante - Ante First Procedural Discussion

[MikeB]

Discuss BBA - ante first procedures here

[Mathieu Perchoc]

Ante means before in Latin.
And it's better for the game.
Therefore, it should always be first !

[Dave Miller]

In the case that there are forum members that don't understand the question, here goes:

In a Big Blind Ante tournament, if the BB doesn't have enough chips to pay both the BB and the Ante, which is paid first?

To make the math easier, say he has only one BB left.

If it goes towards the ante, all he can win is that ante.
If it goes to the BB, he can win that much from every player who puts chips in.

Obviously, should he win the hand, the second scenario is far better for the unlucky player that got himself in that position. However, maybe that player should have thought about it and played differently before getting into that position.

It is the goal of all tournament players to eliminate other players. Similarly, it is the goal of the poker room to knock out players so maybe they'll move to the cash games, as well as allowing tables to be merged out and a new cash game open.

So even without the obvious "ante means before", paying the ante first is the best option for everybody — except that unlucky player.


Count me in the ante first camp.

[Steff0111]

Ante first!

The poor player had time enough not to come down to one BB.

[karlovic]

In a Big Blind Ante tournament, if a player in the big blind doesn't have enough chips to cover both the big blind and the Ante, the Ante is paid first. This is because the Ante is considered a pre-hand obligation, similar to the traditional Ante that every player used to put in before cards were dealt.

When a player only has enough chips to cover the Ante, it means they can only play for the Ante pot and not for the blind pot. Similarly, if a player only has enough chips to cover the Ante in a Big Blind Ante tournament, they can only play for that value and not for the full blind amount.