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Here’s Why The Big Blind Or Ante First Debate Matters

In an effort to speed up the game, poker tournaments are experimenting with a tweaked process for posting antes called the “Big Blind Ante.”

In Big Blind Ante games, instead of each player posting an ante at the beginning of a hand, the BB antes for the entire table.

So far, players overwhelmingly like the big blind ante format. Not only does it speed up the game, it also eliminates the need to keep small denomination chips in play past their usefulness.

But not everything is peachy keen with the new structure.

A debate over what comes first, the ante or the blind bets players are required to post at the start of each hand, has overtaken Poker Twitter.

The debate almost exclusively involves high-stakes poker players and tournament directors, with the two sides arguing player preference vs. fairness.

The two sides of the debate

Poker players are focused on what players would prefer, citing the disappointment an extremely short-stacked player would feel if they were only capable of winning their chips back (the antes) in an all-in situation.

Tournament directors are more interested in changing the long-established norm of antes being posted before the blinds, and whether or not doing the opposite is “fair” to everyone.

The conversation is mainly centered around a situation where a player is extremely short-stacked, and the two radically different outcomes that ante-first or big-blind-first create:

Considering the infrequency and insignificance of the scenario, it may seem trivial. However, there is an important component to this conversation most people are overlooking: game integrity.

Game integrity

In the BB ante format, the big blind is posting the antes for the entire table. That means that each player at the table owes that player a single ante, and the debt is paid when they are in the big blind and pay the antes for the table.

Steve Badger did a good job explaining one scenario where game integrity could be compromised if the ante is considered before the big blind on Twitter:

And it’s not simply a potential issue in unlikely end-of-game scenarios.

Imagine the same all-in situation only it’s the first-hand of a nine-handed single-table-tournament, where each player starts with 100 chips, and there is a two-chip small blind, a four-chip big blind, and a one-chip ante.

On the first hand, each player should have an equal number of chips, but that’s not the case. The big blind is short eight chips that have been “lent” to the other players at the table. In an all-in situation, the big blind is unduly penalized, since they can’t win any other player’s entire stack.

Further, if the BB is eliminated they would never have an opportunity to recoup the chips they are still owed.

If the BB calls an all-in their effective stack is 91 chips (4 chips from the blind and 87 remaining in their stack). On the flip side, the other players (sans the small blind) are playing a stack of  100 chips. The under-the-gun player can win 102 chips — the 15 chips in the pot plus 87 chips from their opponent — leaving the losing player with nine chips.

Now move to the next hand. Suppose the losing player was the small blind and is now the big blind. In an ante-first scenario they would first have to obligate their debts to the other players and would only be able to win the nine chips they ante. In the BB-first scenario they would be eligible to win the blinds, four chips from any player who calls, and the partial five-chip ante they posted.

  • Ante-first with three callers: All-in player wins 9 chips.
  • BB-first with three callers: All-in player wins 23 chips.

Yes, this is great for the short-stack, but how should the original BB feel about this player that should have been eliminated now sitting on 23 chips and only partially paying their antes? In practice this player shorting the antes means they managed to avoid paying antes for four of the five hands that were played.

In no other part of the casino would this be allowed to happen. If you can’t cover the main bet on a table game you’re not allowed to put money on the jackpot bet.

Considering the lending component and the possibility of unfairness, I don’t know if big blind before ante would stand up to regulatory scrutiny, and if a gaming commission really wanted to be a stickler, the lending element of the BB ante format could also be disallowed – although I doubt a gaming commission would go that far.

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The problem with fixing problems

What was implemented as a way to speed up the ante process has somehow turned into a debate over what’s more friendly for recreational players.

The big blind before antes side isn’t making the case from a game mechanic standpoint, in fact, the only logic for it is that it makes the short-stacked player feel better, hence it’s believed to be player-friendly and good for the game.

That may be true, and this issue may be inconsequential enough to not matter from a game integrity standpoint (although I’m not convinced it is), but that doesn’t make the “we don’t want a player to feel bad” argument a good one.

Key takeaway #1

Even if “big blind first” is the best practice for players, it might not pass muster with gaming commissions, and we need to consider all of the different scenarios where a player may be able to game the system in some way.

Eliminating the requirement that new players post a blind or wait for the blind would also be “player-friendly,” but that rule is in place for a reason – people have found ways to take advantage of it and/or it’s simply unfair to the other players.

Key takeaway #2

In the grand scheme of things, none of this will likely matter. It looks like the BB ante structure is here to stay, and tournament directors and players will eventually hash out the chicken or the egg part of it with consideration given to player-friendliness and game fairness.

But to pretend this is just a matter of preference is wrong. There is a legitimate game integrity and fairness concern.

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Why Pennsylvania Online Gambling Could Be Even Bigger Than NJ

The US online gambling industry looks set to grow by leaps and bounds this year.

There are now indications Pennsylvania‘s first online gambling sites will be ready to launch in the fourth quarter of 2018. Plus, there are signs they‘ll be an even bigger success than they are in New Jersey‘s record-setting market.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced Wednesday existing Pennsylvania casinos can soon start applying for the first online gambling licenses.

The state is planning to open up a 120-day window for existing PA casinos to apply. Over the first 90 days, Pennsylvania casinos will be allowed to apply for a license to operate in three online gambling categories at a cost of $10 million.

Those categories are:

PA casinos wanting to apply for individual licenses will then be allowed to apply for separate online gambling categories at a cost of $4 million each. Once the 120 days is up, if any of the 39 licenses available remain unclaimed, other qualified gaming entities can apply.

In the meantime, the gaming board’s Executive Director Kevin O’Toole made it clear the board is still in the process of crafting temporary regulations to govern online gambling operations.

PA online gambling set to launch in Q4 2018

As a result, it appears the first online gambling sites in the state will begin operations sometime in the fourth quarter of 2018.

By the end of the licensing process, it will be clear which of the 13 PA casino license holders want in on online gambling.

However, there have been some big changes in who holds those licenses. All suggesting something rather big is at stake here.

Since December 2017:

  • Penn National Gaming acquired the Pittsburgh region’s Meadows Racetrack & Casino as part of its purchase of Pinnacle  Entertainment.
  • Boyd Gaming bought the Philadelphia-area Valley Forge Casino Resort.
  • Churchill Downs acquired Presque Isle Downs.
  • Sands Bethlehem was sold to Wind Creek Hospitality.

The first two represent some rather large casino company’s making moves in the state. However, it’s those last two that may tell the biggest story when it comes to online gambling.

Churchill Downs came right out and said the reason it bought Presque Isle was to get in on PA’s emerging online gambling market.

It’s not yet clear if Wind Creek Hospitality has the same desires. However, as the previous owner of Sands Bethlehem, Las Vegas Sands did everything it could to prevent online gambling coming to the state.

Getting out now, in what amounts to the 11th hour before launch, is as much an admission that online gambling is going to be huge in PA as anything else. At least now they get avoid choosing between becoming a dinosaur or a hypocrite.

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The New Jersey success story

Online gambling has been an unmitigated success in New Jersey. In fact, the numbers have been nothing short of impressive over the past couple of years.

New Jersey online gambling sites set a record for gross revenue in 2016 at $196.6 million. That helped turned around a decade of declines in the Atlantic City casino industry. In 2017, the burgeoning industry got even bigger. It posted new record revenues of $245.6 million.

Plus, new monthly records for revenue were set in January and February of this year. The sites pulled in $21.96 million in gross revenues to start the year and $21.99 million last month.

Now, New Jersey online gambling has generated over $766 million in revenue since it launched in 2013. It will likely hit the $1-billion mark by the end of this year or early 2019.

However, the biggest casino companies in the country weren’t exactly scrambling to get in that market before it launched. At least not the way they are in Pennsylvania right now.

PokerStars tried to buy the now-shuttered Atlantic Club Casino Hotel just to get into online gambling. However, things were pretty quiet on the casino ownership front in New Jersey at that time.

Yet another reason to think the US online gambling industry is on the precipice of something rather big right now.

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