Ante - one of the mandatory bets in the game of poker, which is placed by all players at the table before cards are dealt. Not all varieties of poker have ante’s. The size of ante, in general, is from 1/6 up to 1/4 of a big blind.

The main purpose of the ante is to revive the action at the table (discourage extremely tight play) and to prevent the delays of the game. In ante games players are forced to engage into betting, because if they’ll constantly fold their pocket cards, they will just loose chips from their stack.

Ante is not considered a bet or a raise of the bet.

The difference between the ante and the blinds is that only two players are posting blinds in each hand, changing clockwise, however ante should be placed by all the players at the table (including the players on the blinds).

An ante is typical for a number of poker varieties (for example such games as Stud, Draw-poker and Lowball), as well as for multi-table tournaments. In tournaments ante is introduced after reaching specific level of blinds.