Deal around a player who busted and hasn't rebought

The most ordinary thing that happens in a home game: somebody stacks off, and they
don't buy back in that second. The table dealt them in anyway, and the result was a
hand nobody could finish.

Three players, two of them busted:

  bar before dealing:
    "Pot $0 | 3 players | All-in - running out the board (3 players)
     | Cal posts $1, Ann posts $2 | Post blinds & deal"
  after dealing:
    Cal posted nothing -- no chips to post with
    Ann posted $2 and was asked to check or bet against her own money
    liveSeats 3, isStreetComplete false, isHandOver false

Every line of that is wrong. It announced a board being run out over a felt with no
cards on it, promised a small blind from a seat that couldn't post one, took it from
nobody, and then sat on a hand with no way forward.

So a seat with no chips and nothing in the pot is dealt around. Their seat, name and
buy-in record are untouched -- sat out, not folded, because they didn't muck anything
-- and adding chips puts them straight back in the next hand.

  four players, Ben busted, button on Ann:
    "3 players | Cal posts $1, Dee posts $2
     | Ben has no chips - sitting out this hand. | Post blinds & deal"
    -> Ben inHand false, folded false; blinds exactly as promised; Ann to act

Said before it happens, for the same reason the button move is: a dealer shouldn't
find out from the felt. And the preview computes it on a view of the table rather
than by changing it, so the promise and the deal ask the same question -- the fault
these two lines exist to prevent.

When it can't be dealt at all, it says who has to buy in rather than pretending it's
a seating problem:

  "Only Ann has chips - Ben and Cal need to buy in."
  "Nobody at the table has chips left. Add a buy-in to deal."

Two smaller things fall out. The run-out banner is now gated on the betting actually
being open -- before the deal, a table of busted players is indistinguishable from a
table of all-ins to that test. And the bar's player count reads the table as it will
be dealt, so someone waiting on a rebuy isn't announced as one of the players.

Not the same as all-in, and the code says so: an all-in player has money riding on
the hand. A seat with no stack recorded isn't broke either -- those fall back to the
table's starting stack.

13 tests (198 total), and 5 of them fail with the sit-out and the run-out guard taken
back out.

Driven through the UI at seven viewports in both states: layout and contrast clean
everywhere but the landscape phone already known from #63, and no console errors.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015bnp7xKUPFFSpwkYNFaPgb

JoshHeaps.Net/wwwroot/js/casino/holdem/actionBar.js

@@ -129,8 +129,12 @@ const ActionBar = {
         row.appendChild(pot);
 
         // How many are still in the hand — part of the standard per-street
-        // announcement, and the number a dealer is asked for most often.
+        // announcement, and the number a dealer is asked for most often. Before the
-        const remaining = Betting.liveSeats(this.state).length;
+        // deal it counts the table as it will be dealt, so a busted player waiting on a
+        // rebuy isn't announced as one of the players. Read-only: the sitting-out
+        // itself happens when the hand is dealt, not while the bar is being drawn.
+        const counted = this.state.bettingOpen ? this.state : Betting.tableAsDealt(this.state);
+        const remaining = Betting.liveSeats(counted).length;
         const players = document.createElement("span");
         players.className = "actionPlayers";
         players.textContent = `${remaining} ${remaining === 1 ? "player" : "players"}`;
@@ -503,22 +507,35 @@ const ActionBar = {
 
         const preview = Betting.blindPreview(this.state);
         const seated = Betting.liveSeats(this.state).length;
+        const broke = Betting.brokeSeats(this.state);
+        const name = i => HoldemState.displayName(this.state.seats[i], i);
+        const listNames = indexes => indexes.length === 1
+            ? name(indexes[0])
+            : `${indexes.slice(0, -1).map(name).join(", ")} and ${name(indexes[indexes.length - 1])}`;
 
         const line = document.createElement("p");
         line.className = "dealPromptLine";
 
         if (!preview) {
             // Two players is the least you can deal. Say what's missing rather than
-            // offering a button that would quietly do nothing.
+            // offering a button that would quietly do nothing — and say the *right*
-            line.textContent = seated === 0
+            // thing: "only one player is dealt in" is wrong when four are sitting there
-                ? "Nobody is dealt in yet. Tap a seat to add a player."
+            // and three of them are just out of chips.
-                : "Only one player is dealt in — a hand needs two.";
+            const withChips = seated - broke.length;
+            if (broke.length > 0 && withChips < 2) {
+                line.textContent = withChips === 1
+                    ? `Only ${listNames(Betting.liveSeats(this.state).map(s => s.index).filter(i => !broke.includes(i)))} has chips — ${listNames(broke)} ${broke.length === 1 ? "needs" : "need"} to buy in.`
+                    : "Nobody at the table has chips left. Add a buy-in to deal.";
+            } else {
+                line.textContent = seated === 0
+                    ? "Nobody is dealt in yet. Tap a seat to add a player."
+                    : "Only one player is dealt in — a hand needs two.";
+            }
             line.classList.add("dealPromptBlocked");
             wrap.appendChild(line);
             return wrap;
         }
 
-        const name = i => HoldemState.displayName(this.state.seats[i], i);
         line.textContent =
             `${name(preview.sbIndex)} posts ${Money.format(preview.smallBlind)}, ` +
             `${name(preview.bbIndex)} posts ${Money.format(preview.bigBlind)}` +
@@ -536,6 +553,16 @@ const ActionBar = {
             wrap.appendChild(moved);
         }
 
+        // Dealing sits out anyone with nothing behind. Said before it happens, for the
+        // same reason the button move is: a dealer shouldn't find out from the felt.
+        if (preview.satOut.length > 0) {
+            const out = document.createElement("p");
+            out.className = "dealPromptLine dealPromptAside";
+            out.textContent = `${listNames(preview.satOut)} ${preview.satOut.length === 1 ? "has" : "have"} no chips — ` +
+                `${preview.satOut.length === 1 ? "sitting" : "they sit"} out this hand.`;
+            wrap.appendChild(out);
+        }
+
         const row = document.createElement("div");
         row.className = "actionButtons";
         row.appendChild(this.button("Post blinds & deal", "actionDeal", () => {

JoshHeaps.Net/wwwroot/js/casino/holdem/betting.js

@@ -32,23 +32,59 @@ const Betting = {
     // Who would post if the hand were dealt right now. Used to preview the blinds
     // while the table is still being set, so a dealer can see where they'll land
     // before any money moves.
+    // A seat that is dealt in, has nothing in the pot, and has no chips behind.
+    //
+    // Not the same as all-in: an all-in player has money riding on the hand. This is
+    // somebody who busted and hasn't bought back in yet, which a home game produces
+    // about once an hour. A seat with no stack *recorded* isn't broke either —
+    // stackOf falls back to the table's starting stack for those — only an explicit
+    // zero counts.
+    brokeSeats(state) {
+        const broke = [];
+        state.seats.forEach((player, index) => {
+            if (!player.inHand) return;
+            if (this.handTotal(player) > this.EPSILON_CHIPS) return;
+            if (this.stackOf(state, player) > this.EPSILON_CHIPS) return;
+            broke.push(index);
+        });
+        return broke;
+    },
+
+    // The table as it will be once the seats that can't post are dealt around. A view,
+    // not a change: the preview has to ask the same question the deal will answer, and
+    // asking it of a different shape of table is how the two came apart last time.
+    tableAsDealt(state) {
+        const broke = this.brokeSeats(state);
+        if (broke.length === 0) return state;
+        const skip = new Set(broke);
+        return {
+            ...state,
+            seats: state.seats.map((player, index) =>
+                skip.has(index) ? { ...player, inHand: false, folded: false } : player),
+        };
+    },
+
     blindPreview(state) {
         // Dealing relocates a button parked on an empty chair before it works out who
         // posts, so the preview has to answer for the button where it *will* be. Asking
         // from where it currently sits gave a different pair of blinds than the deal
         // produced — the preview promising one thing and doing another is exactly the
-        // guessing this whole step exists to remove.
+        // guessing this whole step exists to remove. Same reason the broke seats come
-        const buttonIndex = HoldemState.buttonSeatForDeal(state);
+        // out first: the preview once promised a small blind from a seat with no chips.
-        const asDealt = buttonIndex === state.dealerSeatIndex
+        const dealt = this.tableAsDealt(state);
-            ? state
+        const buttonIndex = HoldemState.buttonSeatForDeal(dealt);
-            : { ...state, dealerSeatIndex: buttonIndex };
+        const asDealt = buttonIndex === dealt.dealerSeatIndex
+            ? dealt
+            : { ...dealt, dealerSeatIndex: buttonIndex };
 
+        const satOut = this.brokeSeats(state);
         const { sbIndex, bbIndex, headsUp, manual } = HoldemState.getBlindSeats(asDealt);
         if (sbIndex === null || bbIndex === null) return null;
         return {
             sbIndex, bbIndex, headsUp, manual: !!manual,
             buttonIndex,
             buttonMoves: buttonIndex !== state.dealerSeatIndex,
+            satOut,
             smallBlind: this.round(state.smallBlind || 0),
             bigBlind: this.round(state.bigBlind || 0),
         };
@@ -303,6 +339,11 @@ const Betting = {
     // True when the hand is still live but nobody can bet again — the dealer is just
     // running the board out.
     isRunningOut(state) {
+        // Only while a hand is actually being played. Before the deal, a table of
+        // busted players who haven't rebought looks exactly like a table of all-ins to
+        // this test, and the bar was announcing a run-out over a felt with no cards and
+        // no chips on it.
+        if (!state.bettingOpen) return false;
         return this.liveSeats(state).length > 1 && !this.canStillBet(state);
     },
 
@@ -340,6 +381,21 @@ const Betting = {
         state.currentBet = 0;
         state.lastRaiseSize = 0;
 
+        // Deal around anyone with no chips, before anything else reads the table.
+        //
+        // A busted player who hasn't rebought used to be dealt in anyway, and the
+        // result was a hand nobody could finish: the table promised a small blind from
+        // a seat with nothing to post it with, took it from nobody, put the action on
+        // the big blind with only their own money in front of them, and announced
+        // "3 players — all-in, running out the board" before a card was dealt.
+        //
+        // Sitting them out is what a dealer does. Seat, name and buy-in record are
+        // untouched, so dealing them back in is one tap when they buy chips.
+        this.brokeSeats(state).forEach(index => {
+            state.seats[index].inHand = false;
+            state.seats[index].folded = false;
+        });
+
         // Position is read off the button all through the hand, so it has to be on
         // somebody before the blinds are worked out — not on the empty seat 1 a
         // brand-new table starts on.

tests/holdem/brokeSeats.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+// Dealing around a player who busted and hasn't bought back in.
+//
+// A home game produces one of these about once an hour. The table used to deal them
+// in anyway, promise a blind from a seat with nothing to post it with, take it from
+// nobody, and then sit on a hand that could never finish.
+const test = require("node:test");
+const assert = require("node:assert");
+const { Betting, HoldemState, makeTable, chipsOnTable } = require("./load");
+
+const postedBy = state =>
+    state.seats
+        .map((player, index) => (player.committed > 0 ? { seat: index + 1, amount: player.committed } : null))
+        .filter(Boolean);
+
+test("a seat with no chips and nothing in the pot is broke", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[2].stack = 0;
+    assert.deepEqual(Betting.brokeSeats(state), [2]);
+});
+
+test("an all-in player is not broke — they have money riding on the hand", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[2].stack = 12;
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+    Betting.allIn(state, 2);
+
+    assert.equal(Betting.stackOf(state, state.seats[2]), 0);
+    assert.equal(Betting.isAllIn(state, state.seats[2]), true);
+    assert.deepEqual(Betting.brokeSeats(state), []);
+});
+
+test("a seat with no stack recorded falls back to the table's and isn't broke", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.defaultStack = 200;
+    state.seats[2].stack = null;
+    assert.deepEqual(Betting.brokeSeats(state), []);
+});
+
+test("a chair nobody is sitting in isn't broke, it's empty", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    assert.deepEqual(Betting.brokeSeats(state), []);
+});
+
+test("dealing sits the broke seat out and leaves everything else about it alone", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[2].stack = 0;
+    state.seats[2].name = "Cal";
+    state.seats[2].buyIns = 100;
+
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+
+    assert.equal(state.seats[2].inHand, false);
+    assert.equal(state.seats[2].folded, false, "sat out, not folded — they didn't muck anything");
+    assert.equal(state.seats[2].name, "Cal");
+    assert.equal(state.seats[2].buyIns, 100);
+});
+
+test("the blinds skip the broke seat and land on players who can post", () => {
+    // Button on seat 1, so the blinds would be seats 2 and 3. Seat 2 is busted.
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], stack: 100, dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+    state.seats[1].stack = 0;
+
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+
+    assert.deepEqual(postedBy(state), [
+        { seat: 3, amount: state.smallBlind },
+        { seat: 4, amount: state.bigBlind },
+    ]);
+});
+
+test("the preview promises what the deal produces", () => {
+    // The fault this whole step exists to prevent: the preview once read a table the
+    // deal was about to change underneath it.
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], stack: 100, dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+    state.seats[1].stack = 0;
+    state.bettingOpen = false;
+
+    const preview = Betting.blindPreview(state);
+    assert.deepEqual(preview.satOut, [1]);
+
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+    const posted = postedBy(state);
+    assert.equal(posted.find(p => p.amount === state.smallBlind).seat, preview.sbIndex + 1);
+    assert.equal(posted.find(p => p.amount === state.bigBlind).seat, preview.bbIndex + 1);
+});
+
+test("asking for the preview doesn't sit anybody out on its own", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[1].stack = 0;
+
+    Betting.blindPreview(state);
+
+    assert.equal(state.seats[1].inHand, true, "the preview is a view, not a change");
+});
+
+test("with only one player left holding chips there is nothing to preview", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[1].stack = 0;
+    state.seats[2].stack = 0;
+
+    assert.equal(Betting.blindPreview(state), null);
+});
+
+test("no chips move when the broke seats are dealt around", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[2].stack = 0;
+    const before = chipsOnTable(state);
+
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+
+    assert.equal(chipsOnTable(state), before);
+});
+
+test("the board isn't running out before the hand is dealt", () => {
+    // Two busted players and one with chips looks exactly like a table of all-ins to
+    // the run-out test, and the bar was announcing one over an empty felt.
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[1].stack = 0;
+    state.seats[2].stack = 0;
+    state.bettingOpen = false;
+
+    assert.equal(Betting.isRunningOut(state), false);
+});
+
+test("buying back in puts them in the next hand", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[2].stack = 0;
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+    assert.equal(state.seats[2].inHand, false);
+
+    // What the dealer does when they hand over cash: chips, and back in.
+    state.seats[2].stack = 100;
+    state.seats[2].inHand = true;
+    HoldemState.startNextHand(state);
+    Betting.beginHand(state);
+
+    assert.equal(state.seats[2].inHand, true);
+    assert.equal(Betting.liveSeats(state).length, 3);
+});
+
+test("the table dealt around them counts the right number of players", () => {
+    const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], stack: 100 });
+    state.seats[3].stack = 0;
+
+    assert.equal(Betting.liveSeats(state).length, 4);
+    assert.equal(Betting.liveSeats(Betting.tableAsDealt(state)).length, 3);
+    assert.equal(state.seats[3].inHand, true, "the view didn't touch the table");
+});