Buy the button
It was in north California casinos that the concept of buying the button first arose. The concept was simply to offer an option to a person joining a game in the middle. If the new player happened to join on the seat to the right of the player playing the big blind, then as per the normal rules of the game, s/he would not have been passed on the blind button in the next round.
Due to her/his late addition to the game, the player would have to wait for the blind to go past her/him and then return after a complete circle of the players on the table. Only then would they be allowed to play as either blinds.
However, this rule was slightly changed by bringing in the “buy the button” option that allowed new players to become the blind, despite joining late and sitting to the right of the blind, by simply paying the combined value of the small and the big blind, for his first hand (when the blind is still to her/his right). The big blind’s amount works as the normal live blind whereas the small blind’s amount acts as dead money for that round.
After playing that hand, the player receives the blind button in the next hand.
Buying the button is a tactic that is used quite frequently by players who known as late-position players. These players play well when they are the last players to play in the betting round. Hence they enter the game, buy the button and raise; to encourage the later players while trying to force the button players to fold. This raise not only gives them the last position for the betting rounds that follow, it also allows the new joiners to understand and observe the playing style and pattern of the players who have been in the game till now.
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