When playing with an ante, all players have to give the same amount before they are
allowed to see their 💯 cards. Thus, everyone has an equal stake in the current hand, and
folding is less common in early betting rounds. 💯 (It's the "I already paid so I might as
well stick around for another card" mentality.) Antes have the benefit 💯 of allowing
players to sit out any hand (say, to go to the restroom or take a phone call) or 💯 even
quite the game without any sense of unfairness.
Blinds are unequal forced bets usually
imposed on two players per round. 💯 After seeing their cards, the remaining players have
to call or raise to stay in the hand. Since there is 💯 initially an unequal stake in the
hand, folding is common. (Why stay in if you haven't put anything in the 💯 pot and you
have a lousy hand so far?) Also, savvy players can "over-raise" on the blind round to
force 💯 everyone into folding, thus slowly building wealth by bleeding their opponents of
the blinds. And with a blind system, if 💯 a player needs to leave the table for some
reason, the fairness of the game becomes problematic, as they obviously 💯 can't leave
when they are up for a blind, but leaving at another time would rob them of a "free"
💯 hand. Or does everyone wait however long it takes for that player to return?
(In case
you can't tell, I consider 💯 blinds to be a blight on the noble game of poker. Antes are
much more fair and superior to blinds 💯 in almost every way.)