Ante

Forced bet paid before the deal

Definition

The ante is a forced bet paid by players before the cards are dealt, on top of the blinds. Historically every player paid a small individual ante; the dominant modern format is the big blind ante (BBA): the player in the BB pays a full big blind once per orbit for the whole table — same total, much faster to play. The strategic effect is immediate: the ante inflates the preflop pot before any action. In 6-max with BBA there are 2.5bb in the middle instead of 1.5bb — every steal earns two-thirds more, and every range must widen to fight for that extra dead money. Opens widen at every position, BB defenses get very wide (the pot odds improve), and resteals gain value. That's why "with ante" and "without ante" charts differ substantially, and using one in place of the other is a real leak: playing ante ranges in a no-ante format means opening too wide for a pot that doesn't justify it — and conversely, playing too tight with antes means letting others share the extra dead money.