Howdy,

In Texas Hold'em, position relative to the dealer is very important.

Given this a marker is moved around the table hand by hand to indicate where the "Dealer" is. The house dealer then starts the dealing from there as if that person were dealing the cards.

Now, players aren't going to come into a hand if there isn't something to go for, so Blinds were invented. Otherwise, people would wait until they had monsters to get involved.

The first person to the dealer's left posts a Small Blind. This is normally 1/3 of the Small Bet. For example, in a 3/6 Hold'em game where the first two betting rounds are limited to $3 bets the SB is $1.

The next person over posts a Big Blind, which is equal to the small bet. In this case $3.

After the cards are dealt, the betting starts with the person 3rd from the dealer's left who is also sitting to the left of the BB.

During the first round of betting the SB and BB's blinds are considered part of their bet, so if no one raises and there are a few callers the SB would only have to put in $2 and the BB could just call.

After the first round of betting is completed and the flop is dealt the betting starts with the person to the left of the dealer (the SB if they are still in) and goes on from there for the remainder of the hand.

There are exceptions to this. I believe The Palms has a 3/6 with 2 $1 blinds.

A missed blind button indicates you didn't post your blind when it was your turn, so you will have to make it up before you can play. In some poker rooms you can leave the table for 2 dealer changes (3 if you count the dealer who was there when left) and return to play, without moving yoru chips. This way you reserve your spot and don't have to wait on a list again. Depending on the room's rules you could be gone for over an hour. I'm not really sure about time limits, so if someone does know for sure, please tell us.

Since you are interested in playing Poker, I would suggest you buy a book on the topic before you go and at least give it a once over. There is more to the game than some think. If you are interested in Texas Hold'em I would suggest Winning Low Texas Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones 2nd Edition. As far as other games, I'm still working on Hold'em.

Also check out www.cardplayer.com, www.pokerdigest.com and www.twoplustwo.com.

I am a big Hold'em fan myself. Hope this helps and if you need more just ask as I know there are people here who could give you a better answer than I.