[DaiTauHa]

This happens to us sometimes in our home tournaments and I was hoping to get everyone's advice (or a ruling) on how to handle the situation described below.

We have players who occasionally show up late for tournaments (yes, we allow this so I'm not really looking for a debate on whether this is good or bad practice). The late players will call up before the tournament starts and ask that we buy in for them and fold their hands until they arrive.

Now, when you're folding someone's hands because they're not at the table, does the absent player get the dealer button as if she/he were present at the table? This wouldn't be an issue if we had one single dealer who deals every hand but we like to pass the deal around to each player. Now, if we do place the dealer button in front of the absent player, who ACTUALLY does the dealing--the player to the absent player's left, the player to the absent player's right, or someone else?

Thanks for your input.

[Dissolved]

if your dealing cards and blinding him, then use he would have to be a dealer when its his turn. when its his deal u can have anyone deal for him, just make sure you deal right, first to the late players left, etc..

[jojobinks]

i recommend the player to the absent player's right deal. he's the one that'll have the effective button position (last to act post-flop), so having him deal/hold the deck will help keep people's head straight about where the button is.

that's just what my experience has been.

[Wylecoyo]

If you are giving them the big and small blinds (which I think you definitely should) then you should also give their empty position the "deal." Any player can deal in their place, but jojo's idea of having the player to the right deal would probably be the easiest to coordinate and manage - you can have the player to the left deal twice and the player to the left shuffle twice (if you use two decks).

[DaiTauHa]

Thanks all, for the advice. We do make the empty seat the small blind and the big blind and we do give him the dealer button as well. Just wasn't sure who should deal cards for the guy who isn't there. The person to the right of the empty seat makes sense to me so I will go with that.

In an ideal world, we wouldn't even allow late players but this guy is notorious for being late. Says he'll show up at 7 but shows up 1 or 2 hours later...that kind of thing.

[Brewster]

This is why we switched to cash games. Several of our regulars have problems getting anywhere on time (including the weekly game) and can postpone a tournament by over an hour. With cash games, this is never a problem.

[MeridianFC]

Originally Posted by jojobinks

i recommend the player to the absent player's right deal. he's the one that'll have the effective button position (last to act post-flop), so having him deal/hold the deck will help keep people's head straight about where the button is.

that's just what my experience has been.

I find this is best too. Either the player to the left or right (or anyone really) could do it, but this is the easiest. Unless that player has just taken a big pot and is busy stacking chips (and gloating) then switch to the player to the left.

I've found that no matter how stern I make my warnings folks always show up late. I just set up as normal get the cards in the air as close to stated start time as possible and start blinding people off.

[ky70]

Here is the late player "rule" for my league for my T5000 tourneys:

"Late Players:
Late players will be penalized 2 big blinds for every round missed (a penalty of 1 big blind will be used for a player arriving late during level 1). The late arriving player will be seated as the big blind to ensure that the late player contributes at the current blind level immediately. A player must arrive before the start of level 4 to join the game.

First 3 blind levels:
..........Small.....Big
level 1 $25........$50
level 2 $50........$100
level 3 $100.......$200

A player arriving during level 1, but after the game has started, would be seated in the big blind and handed out T4950 starting chips (T5000 - 50).

A player arriving during level 2 would be seated in the big blind and handed out T4900 starting chips (T5000 - 50 - 50).

A player arriving during level 3 would be seated in the big blind and handed out T4700 starting chips (T5000 - 50 - 50 -100 -100).

A player arriving at the very end of level 3 or during the break before level 4, would be seated in the big blind and handed out T4300 starting chips (T5000 - 50 - 50 -100 -100 -200 -200). "


So if a player arrives before the beginning of round 4, they can have a seat and I'll hand out the appropriate amount of chips based on the above. If a players doesn't show up by the beginning of round 4, then they can't play that particular game and I don't have to worry about dealing to empty seats or posting blinds or removing chips for a no show...it has worked great and it's worry free.