The most common structure for flop / community card games such as Holdem and Omaha is to have two blinds to the left of the dealer button player, with the blind in first player position (the small blind) being usually 50% of the blind in the second player position (the big blind). In major tournaments an ante from all players is often added, but usually the ante is small, relative to the blinds.
Blinds mean that there is something in the pot to start the game. It is logical to encourage the players who have the least equity in the hand (the first position and the second position) to place the blinds.
PTG Poker diminishes position as a feature of the game. The following analysis ignores the blinds for the purpose of concentrating on position alone. The player in the best position on the Pre-Flop and Turn rounds combined is the dealer button player, as usual. However, the player in the best position on the Flop and River rounds combined is the first position player.
As the Flop and the River rounds combined are more significant than the Pre-Flop and Turn rounds combined, then the player in overall best position is the first position player.
Sticking with two blinds a better alternative for PTG Poker, than having the blinds in the conventional positions, would be to have the big blind placed by the dealer button player and the small blind placed by the first position player.
The first player to act on the Pre-Flop round would be the small blind in first position, who is of course last to act on the Flop round.
Draw poker and Stud poker games have usually been operated with antes. There is no reason that flop / community card games shouldn't be operated with antes. There are two PTG recommended ante structures. One is to have all players ante the same amount each (say 5) and one blind on the dealer button position of an amount equal to a single ante (5), with the first position player acting first. The alternative would be to have all players ante (say 5) with no blind and with the first position acting first by either passing, or bringing it in for either the minimum (5) or more if raising the bring in.
PTG recommends that antes should be around 20% to 25% of the big blind when converting. So a game usually played as a 10 / 20 blind game would convert to a 5 ante game. However if the game is short-handed, say five or less players, PTG recommends an ante of 40% to 50% of the conventional blind as the alternative.
