Main question:
What is the position distribution logic in Texas Hold'em No Limit Rush Games?
When I say "Rush" I mean an ability instantly to change table after dealing cards, as it was in FTP.
Sub questions:
Do other rooms provide this option?
Is it still popular or I am outdated?
Pokerstars just released "Zoom". I'm quite sure there are other rooms now releasing their own versions of this format (open-market?), so I wouldn't be suprised if almost all major sites and networks created some type of quick-seat change offering. I got this from Pokerstars:
"...you will be randomly seated with a set of players from your chosen game. Your first hand will usually be from the big blind. For every subsequent hand you will be seated randomly."
"Players are seated randomly for each hand, and the blinds are then set depending on who among the players has been the big blind least often."
I've used it, and have never been sat at a table that wasn't full. I'd think that the re-seat algorithm doesn't allow for dead buttons and just waits to fill all available table space. Any less than a full table in the player pool and it's just "musical chairs" poker!
Technically, from what I've seen from the Zoom hands that people sent me from PokerStars, the small blind is always in "Seat 2" and the big blind is always in "Seat 3" (seat numbers on PokerStars starts at one, there are a few, rare, networks, where seat numbers start from 0).
The button is always the player sitting at the "Seat 1" and there's always someone sitting at Seat 1.
Note that contrary to other hand histories (the non-Zoom ones), Zoom PokerStars hand (at least as of now), do not contain any indication saying that "button is at seat xxx".
Visually you may get the impression that the small blind is not at seat 2 but under the hood that's how it works.
Here's a sample (partial) Zoom poker hand (with players name changed):
PokerStars Zoom Hand #123456789: Hold'em No Limit ($0.02/$0.05) - 2012/03/18 7:36:05 CET [2012/03/18 2:36:05 ET]
Table 'bltable.1225924912.1225932112' 6-max
Seat 1: opponentA ($3.19 in chips)
Seat 2: opponentB ($0.69 in chips)
Seat 3: hero ($5 in chips)
Seat 4: opponentC ($17.29 in chips)
Seat 5: opponentD ($15.13 in chips)
Seat 6: opponentE ($2.50 in chips)
opponentB: posts small blind $0.02
hero: posts big blind $0.05
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hero [Ah Ad]
opponentC: folds
.
.
.
etc.
In the case above the table is full. Should a deal happen on a non-empty table (I don't know if it can happen -Toby Booth- seems to say that it cannot), I'm pretty confident SB would still be at Seat 1, BB at Seat 2 and Button/dealer at Seat 1.
As to how you're seated: one would need a few hands to analyze but I'm pretty sure it's fair in that if you play, say, 600 deals of 6-max in Rush/Zoom you'll get basically 100 times at each of the six positions (just as you would if you were to play 600 regular deals at a 6-max table that would always be full). If the seating is really random and the table is always full, then it's obvious that after enough hands your positions will converge to the expected numbers.
