Texas Hold 'Em: The Dealer Button
When getting into a long and involved game of Texas Hold ‘Em, it is good to have a dealer button handy in order to keep track of time as well as providing a management tool to oversee your game.
So what is a dealer button, exactly? Also known as a “buck”, the button is basically a small marker (usually plastic or some similar material) that tells the other players who the dealer is. Now, in a friendly game, the dealer actually deals the cards. But in a casino or tournament, the dealer is fixed, so the dealer button signifies who the “dealer” is for terms of position.
It was introduced as a means to properly manage turns for dealing, ensuring that player intentions stayed honorable (i.e. it kept them from cheating). The dealer button is placed into position by the (real) dealer, who then proceeds to hand out cards to all the game participants. When the game ends, it’s time to “pass the buck” to the next person (Heard that phrase before? Welcome to its origin).
Besides identifying the dealer, a button can have other practical uses, such as identifying plays or actions. The standard descriptions for a button can read as follows: All In, Missed Blind, No Player, Reserved, Seat Change, Third Man Walking, and Kill. A dealer can set one of these buttons on the table in order to show the conditions of a certain player and their actions.
For more of a technological approach to the dealer button, there is also an electronic version, which is suitable for home play. This type of dealer button allows for several different types of variables to be programmed into it, and is able to keep players from trying to have to manually keep track of all the various game details. Besides making for a more organized game, it serves one greater function: It allows players to focus less on taking game notes, and more on actually playing the game.
The electronic dealer button does a variety of things, ranging from keeping track of what the antes and big and small blinds of the games are, to the game’s length of round times, to the overall round as a whole. Some models can even keep track of who the poker dealer is, and which player is currently up. In other words, it is your handy dandy portable poker manager, serving all the base needs of a standard dealer button, yet providing more convenience.
So make sure to include a dealer button in your next game. It will help you to save your larger focus for winning the pot.
