Cash Game Cash Game “Moving Button” (vs “Dead Button”) - Love It or Hate It? (1 Viewer)

[PokerDogDoc]

Visiting Chicago and stopped in at Grand Victoria Casino (Elgin, IL) to play some 1/3 NL.
Ran into the “moving button” rule that I’ve never experience before (vs. “dead button”).
Personally I hate it… but maybe that’s just because it’s different than what I’m used to?
-See explanation below if you’re not familiar with how a moving button works-

Curious if anyone here plays in a casino that uses a moving button in cash games?
If so, name and location?
Like it? Hate it? Don’t care?
Take the poll (you can change your vote) and post a comment with your opinion!

Explanation - The set up:
-Note: I’ve indented the seat numbers to help keep them straight, visually.
Seat 1 = Button
.Seat 2 = SB
..Seat 3 = BB

>Seat 2 (SB) gets stacked and walks away for a break.

Next hand…

Option 1 - Dead Button (what I’m used to in tourneys and cash games):
-BB advances 1 position, SB and Button fall in line behind no matter if player is present or absent.
Hand 1:
.Seat 2 = (no player) Dead button
..Seat 3 = SB
…Seat 4 = BB

>In other words, the BB advancing 1 seat sets the positions for the others behind.
>Coincidentally, the new Cutoff will get to act last (post flop) 2 hands in a row.

***Life is good and the world makes sense*** (my opinion)

vs.

Option 2 - Moving Button (say what?!)
-Button advances to next live player present; any skipped SB’s have to be posted “retroactively” with the button over the next several hands.
Hand 1:
..Seat 3 = Button + SB that was skipped with button jump
…Seat 4 = BB (skips SB b/c you can’t post a SB w/o first posting a BB)
….Seat 5 = “true” BB
*Hand has 1 SB + 2 BB preflop (2.5 BB total)

Hand 2:
…Seat 4 = Button + SB that was skipped last hand
….Seat 5 = SB
…..Seat 6 = BB
*Hand has 2 SB + 1 BB preflop (2 BB total)

Hand 3 (back to normal):
….Seat 5 = Button
…..Seat 6 = SB
……Seat 7 = BB

>In other words, the live player Button position sets the blinds, which have to be worked out so none are skipped.
>No active player gets a positional advantage to act last (post flop) 2 hands in a row.

EDIT: Added graphics to clarify a moving button. It also illustrates when the BB is eliminated. Credit to homepokertourney.org

Take the poll (you can change your vote) and post a comment with your opinion!

 

[TheRealStephen12]

Not confusing, but BB should matter most IMO.

 

[KHarp1]

I'm confused, but, I'm also just having my first cup of coffee. I'm going to go to another table right now til I get my bearings.

 

[FreeBop59]

I’m used to and prefer the dead button rule used in my tourney group, but see the moving button rule used in my cardroom’s cash game.

Thanks for the example and explanation, @PokerDogDoc : now I’ll understand why a dealer will ask for two big blinds and why the button will have the small blind the next time this happens.

 

[PokerDogDoc]

… but see the moving button rule used in my cardroom’s cash game.

Which card room and where?

 

[FreeBop59]

Which card room and where?

Parkwest Casino in Manteca, CA

When I first heard the dealer ask for two big blinds, I thought back to the old homepokertourney graphic about dead button versus moving button: https://homepokertourney.org/button.htm

Unfortunately, there isn’t an explanation for why there are two big blinds on that page. Your example with that graphic will greatly help me remember how a moving button works

 

[PokerDogDoc]

Parkwest Casino in Manteca, CA

I saw somewhere that the moving button is (or was) more common in California…. So your casino locale supports that comment.

In some ways I get the concept, and when that happens it would suggest widening my range a bit to be in the hand due to the extra $ in the middle… though in an absolute sense that would be more significant at higher stakes.

 

[PokerDogDoc]

When I first heard the dealer ask for two big blinds, I thought back to the old homepokertourney graphic about dead button versus moving button: https://homepokertourney.org/button.htm

And I’ve NEVER heard of a moving button in a tournament as explained in the link you provided. I understood it to be exclusive to cash games.

It’s not what the current TDA rule book uses either, but it’s certainly possible that there have been progressive rules changes regarding a dead button through the years as NLH tournaments morphed out of NLH cash games. Always exceptions, I suppose.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Deucekies]

This is the way it was done at my hometown casino in eastern WA. "One on the button, big big" followed by "One on the button, small big". Nobody had any issues with it. "Dead button" was how it was done in tournaments.

I don't play enough cash in Western WA to know if that's how it's done here.

 

[PokerDogDoc]

This is the way it was done at my hometown casino in eastern WA.

Interesting!
Obviously it’s not as rare as I thought… but my unscientific poll is (so far) heavily skewed towards those that prefer not to have it.

 

[PokerDogDoc]

EDIT: Added graphics in the original post to clarify a moving button. It also illustrates when the BB is eliminated. Credit to homepokertourney.org

 

[FreeBop59]

And I’ve NEVER heard of a moving button in a tournament as explained in the link you provided. I understood it to be exclusive to cash games.

It’s not what the current TDA rule book uses either, but it’s certainly possible that there have been progressive rules changes regarding a dead button through the years as NLH tournaments morphed out of NLH cash games. Always exceptions, I suppose.

Thanks for your input.

The rarity of a tournament moving button rule is probably why there wasn’t an explanation on that page—we can thank our fellow PCF members for preserving that incredibly useful website:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/homepokertourney.41011/

 

[PokerDogDoc]

we can thank our fellow PCF members for preserving that incredibly useful website:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/homepokertourney.41011/

I searched PCF for info on a moving button but didn’t unearth much so made my post… and I had no idea of the PCF connection to the HPT site. Very cool (though a bit sad) and thanks for sharing that legacy here.

 

[ekricket]

It’s a logical process but it adds confusion and complexity to a simple game without seeming to add proportional value.