I know the small blind is posted firstly and big blind secondly, but what about the missed blinds.
Say the current hand has players which missed the small and/or the big blind and they all join the hand. Who posts first and what? Are the missed blinds posted first? What about dead blinds (aka missed small blinds)? Are all blinds posted clockwise starting from the dealer button regardless of the blind type (missed or not)? Is there even a rule regarding the order of posting the missed blinds?
To answer the question:
Are all blinds posted clockwise starting from the dealer button regardless of the blind type (missed or not)?
Action would be clockwise regardless, each player who posted will have an option. I have seen this happen recently at Crown Casino (Melbourne, Australia) where four players returned at the same time.
Dead blinds will have wait for the button to pass...
Very interesting discussion RE: players opting to post dead blinds based on other players in the hand. Either way all players make their decision before they are dealt in - I have found no evidence of a pre-hand order rule, you are either dealt in or not.
It will cost each player both missed blinds to return to the game. They are collected by the dealer and taken into the pot. I believe they also serve as that player having limped in for the current hand. So if no one raises, they can check and see a flop.
It matters! Explanation:
Read about positions in Poker. It is an important matter. Since positions count with respect to them being as near as possible to the dealer position (going to the left), your position matters. The worst position for you is to be to the immediate left to the dealer, while your best position is being the dealer (you play last and get more information), and the almost-better position is the cutoff (i.e. having the dealer to your immediate left).
In practice you will count your position based on the active players (in this context, players who pay and post the blinds, and players not in blind positions).
The less active players preflop, the better your position gets if you are originally in the worst ones (you can discount the risk of your position if many "better" positions suddenly disappear or become inactive).
Now you have to pick whether you want to play or not, given that in order to play you must pay another, abnormal, non-regular blind due to not participating earlier in the bb.
Odds tell me that I'd like to play the BB only if I am in good position, or if it is my turn to post bb (which is actually the best position preflop, but bad position after), and knowing beforehand which players will not post BB that would be in better position than me could me help to decide whether I post or not (the most players posting in better position I know beforehand, the lesser odds for me to post).
Blinds are no different being regular or posted, even dead blinds. They are played clock-wise (before the card dealing starts) in every case since it is a regular poker action anyway.
Conclusion: not only on posting, but on every poker action does the order count! Better for you if you don't angle-shoot.
It matters. Assume 6 players sit down at an 8 player table starting at the BB+.
If I am #6 I want to know if the other 5 are going to sit and wait for the BB. If they are going to wait then so am I. It is silly to pay a BB to come in on the BB+1 when the BB is the next hand.
The most fair way is starting at the SB and going clockwise have the player declare / post if they are in or not.
Player 1 knows where they are relative to the BB. But player 2+ does not know until the player(s) in front of them declares.
You're over thinking this problem. Whenever a player misses a blind, when they return to the seat, they may post the blinds they missed or wait until the blind reaches them and post it like normal. However many players all sit back down at once has no bearing. They may all post to get a hand, some may post to get a hand, none may post to get a hand. It is optional and up to the individual player. There is no order because if they choose to post a blind they post the blind before the hand is dealt. The term blind is simply short for blind bet. A blind bet by definition is always posted before cards are dealt.
There is one small exception here and that is when two people with missed blinds are between the button and the blinds. They may both post but only one of them gets the button on the next hand.
