holdemrulesreport

I have never understood why I have to post a blind when I sit in a holdem table as a new player. I mean what poker rule says that? Why can't I just see my hand for free and post a blind when the buttons come around to me?

Poker Rules Professor says:

Ok I suppose this is a valid question about Texas Holdem Rules but I should be clear here - although I assume the asking party knows this already - you do have a choice in not playing the portion of that round you join the table in. The dealer will skip you until the blinds get to you seat if you wish. In terms of poker strategy and profiling, and this is hardly ever an error to do just that.

The reason you must pay a big blind if you want in the very next hand, is because blinds are how the game is made to have the same entry cost for everyone at the table. This entry cost is associated with blinds and perhaps antes as well that are defined over a single orbit. An orbit is essentially the puck moving around the table one full cycle - or orbit. Everyone pays the same for that orbit, so if you join the orbit half way through, well you haven't paid as much as your opponents, and that makes the entry costs uneven or unfair.

I would also like to point out that by immediately playing in a hand, thus paying the big blind makes you entry costs for that round higher than everyone else at the table because you only get to see a portion of the orbit's hands that are dealt. That point may be mute though if you see a very lucrative opportunity table and don't want to miss a single opportunity to perhaps double up.