What is an Ante?

A poker ante is a situation where all players are forced to bet equal amounts and put this into the poker pot before the start of the game.

What is an Ante?

A poker anti is usually either a single unit, which will be a 1-value or the smallest value in the game, or another type of small amount. The latter is often a quarter or a dollar bill. A poker ante minimum it is also a common choice. The idea behind the ante that’s played by all players, is that it makes sure that poker players who tend to fold during every round will end up losing money slowly but surely. This will in turn ensure that players will all have a small incentive to rather play hands than to just throw everything in once the starting bet reaches them.

Where will you Find an Ante?

Poker antes are the most commonly found forced bets in stud poker and draw poker but are not usually found in games that features blind bets (please see our article on poker blinds). Having said that, there are some tournament formats where you will find games with blinds that have an ante, as this tends to discourage very tight play. Without an ante a poker player who has also not paid for a blind can throw in his or her hand at no cost. In other words, the poker ante makes sure that regular hands will not necessarily be a good idea.

Poker antes cause more players to stay in the hand, and this in turn increases pot size and leads to some interesting game play. As you can imagine, this is especially important during those televised tournament games.

Poker Dealer Ante Games

This is applicable to poker games where the person who acts as dealer keeps changing. In this case players usually decide that they want the poker dealer (or some other person in a position close to the poker button) to give the ante for every player. The idea of poker dealer ante games is that it simplifies betting. The downside to this is that it can cause small inequities if some of the players either miss or turn or come and go during the game. During these types of poker games, a player can get a special poker button that indicates the need to pay an ante to the poker pot when they return. This is also called posting.

Poker Ante: Other Forced Bets

Every poker game needs some type of forced bets to take place to ensure that everyone is betting something towards the pot. The betting limits and betting requirements for forced bets are referred to collectively as the game's betting structure.

Poker blinds are when poker players are forced to place bets. These players are on the left side of the dealer, and it usually takes place in flop-style poker card games.