My humor doesn't seem to be landing right. Tough room.

My games use two decks, and often while playing a hand, my dealers will put down the stub. Having a button in place makes it easier for everyone to remember who is dealing when this happens.

At the beginning of a tournament, and as players bust out, we frequently have times where the dealer is not in the button seat. Again, a button is useful here.

In that case you're fitting in with eneely better than you think.

I don't know what you mean. Every one of my posts here have been hilarious.

Including this one. Yes, that's right. Including this one.

This.

I can't get the fellas to keep the pot together, fold their cards into the discard pile, much less pass a button.

I consider it "not tapping the glass"

Yep we use a button in our game, mainly because the chip set came with one..
I think it helps a bit, but yeah it get's left behind some times.

But its not really terribly important, a nice place holder though.

A common case in my game is we'll be playing for two hours without incident before someone frantically says, "Wait, where's the button tonight?!"

Then we'll introduce the button and continue playing as before except now we have to stop every three hands because the current dealer can't start dealing until he finds the button and Matt where's...hey Matt do you...Matt do you have the dea...MATT LISTEN, do you still have the dealer button oh there it is behind your stack.

Good thing we have it.

^^^^ the button is not the CAUSE of this sort of confusion, but its misplacement is a symptom. More symptoms makes for a more definitive diagnosis.

I prescribe KITNs until focus improves to the point that the button moves accurately. Or else whiskey until you stop caring. Perhaps alternate treatments until a balance is struck.

I've been playing in self-dealt poker games for decades, and it's only been in the past couple of years that I've encountered dealer buttons in games that don't have a dedicated dealer. I have custom DBs and only bring one out when a player is felted and volunteers to deal for a while. If a would-be dealer is absent, I suggest that the dealing duties should be handled by person to the right of the missing dealer and not by the small blind -- the deal is still normal, and there is no real need for a button. As far as clarity is concerned, I've seen the wrong person deal or the wrong deck used even with a DB in use, and I've seen way too many stalled buttons to rely on one to tell me who's dealing -- it's the person holding the deck that matches my hole cards, ldo. I have no problem with other hosts using a DB and I try to be diligent in passing the puck, but I don't use one myself because I don't think they accomplish anything.

This thread cracks me up!

With even a modicum of focus, everyone will know who the dealer is without a button. Without focus, the button doesn't move properly.

So I agree, work on focus, and don't worry about a button.

But...we'll keep ours just to make people happy.

Sorry, we don't agree here. More things to track is most certainly a cause of confusion. You can extend that to its logical extremes to see why it's true.

The existence of one problem does not imply that all other points of confusion are symptoms and not causes themselves. In a self-dealt game where the current dealer is already indicated by whichever deck is in play, the chance of confusion over who the dealer is will never decrease with the introduction of a button. Do you see why?

Some players come to my games for the poker, and they don't need a button.

Others come to have fun, be social, watch the game, gambool it up, etc. These are the guys who tend to be more distracted, and I believe having a button helps them. Sure, I could nag them to pay more attention, but that a) takes away some of the fun for them, and b) makes them more likely to play better.

I think occasionally reminding Joe that he forgot to move the button is an acceptable tradeoff.

We don't use a Button. We are self dealt, two decks!

Would a button make things go smoother, likely sometimes , but not often.
Having certain folks focus and give a **** more would be best. We work on this a lot, and we are actually a lot better than a few years ago when it was a real zoo.

"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers! Nothing, nothing can be done"

Different strokes for different folks. If your game runs fine without a button, then okay. If your game is a bit of a mess with or without a button, then maybe proper use of a button can help.

The thing about focus is that only one person needs to focus on moving the button. You don't need to train everybody to do it. Just do it yourself.

The reason I think a button helps in the sloppy games is because these are also the games where the dealer will set down the deck next to him in front of another player. Or hold it behind his chips. Or hold it off to the side. Or get up and have someone else deal. Or anything. It's easier to train everybody to look for the button, as that will always be in front of a player on the surface of the table, whereas the deck could be anywhere and the dealer may not be the dealer. You only need to train one person to keep track of its movement.

If your game is so regimented that everybody knows what's going on at all times, then I don't think a button makes much difference. I doubt the self-dealt lowball games in California casinos had a button back in the day, but I'm not really sure.

I think my point was made better here:

The button may not help those who are so tuned out that they can't see a person holding a deck of cards, but they can see a white disk on the table. For those people, yes, we have a button.

But it causes it's own confusion, which impacts players of all persuasions. You see the button, and you think you know the relative positions, but no, there is also a deck in someone else's hand, so you have to say something and rethink it.

I don't think it helps, at times. At times, it hinders.

I agree. We have several table policemen, and they keep things on track, as a rule. The button is still relatively new, so it is a habit that they have not all yet developed. I think some of them may also not think it is important, so they don't even track it. But having it out there, and it not being correct, is worse than not having it out there at all, imo.

Two decks, self-dealt, no button... I have been to games that seem to enjoy having one, but it is in the wrong location more times than not. Obviously, if I'm out of the game then I use one for dealing.

Every time I see the title of this thread, I complete it in my mind:

"Button, button, who's got the button??



Carry on . . .