Poker - Taking A Break
Taking a Break
Sooner or later you will need to take a break. You can get up and leave the table to go to the bathroom, stretch your legs, or take a break for any other reason. What you can't do is take your chips with you if you plan on returning to the game. The chips must stay on the table. The dealer will deal you out of the hand while you are away from your seat. If you do not miss any blinds it will not cost you any money while you are away from the table, as you want be involved in any hands. If you are gone from the table and miss your blinds, abutton will be put in front of your chips showing that you have missed a blind.
When you return from your break you will have to make up one big and one small blind if you have missed them both while you were gone. You can post it right away or wait until it is your turn to be the big blind again. The money for the small blind you missed will be put in the pot and the money for the big blind will act as a live bet. Even if you missed more than one big and small blind, you will only be required to make up one of each in most card-rooms.
I used to try and take my breaks after it was my turn to act as the blinds. I noticed one problem with this. I was always leaving the table when I was in late position giving up the advantage that acting later gave me. I discovered that if I had to leave the table and would miss more than a couple hands, I could actually turn this to an advantage. Instead of taking a break after the blind, I leave the table one hand before I am the big blind when I am going to be under the gun. Since this is the worst position, where you have to act first I don't mind missing this hand. I then return to the table after the dealer button has passed me. I post my big blind and I am now in the hand in late position with the option to check or raise when it is my turn. After the flop, I am second-to-last to act, putting me in extremely good position. Granted I have to forfeit my small blind, but most of the time I fold these if I don't have a playable hand. For the price of the small blind I have bought myself excellent position.
Most of the cardrooms I have played in are fairly liberal about the amount of time you can be away from the table. I think most of them are too liberal. If you are away from the table when there is a dealer change you are given an absent button. Every time a new dealer comes on board you get another one. If you are gone and get three absent buttons, they pick up your chips and give your seat to another player. Dealers change about every twenty minutes in the rooms where I play, which means a player can be away from the table for a full hour before losing his seat. I think this is very unfair to the players on the waiting list. It is also not fair to the players who then have to play short-handed. I have sat in on some games when two or three players are gone from the table at the same time.
One time a player returned to the table just as they were about to pick up his chips. One player asked him where he was and he told them he had gone to dinner. I asked him why he didn't just leave the game and come back after dinner. He glared at me and said he didn't want to lose his seat and have to be put on the waiting list. Three hands later, he picked up his chips and left. Some people have no consideration for others. If you think you are going to be gone for an extended period of time, give up your seat to a player on the waiting list. Remember, the shoe could be on the other foot some day.
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Tags: blinds, dealer button, live bet, online poker