Don't deal the hand when the dealer names a blind

The seat menu's "Make small blind" / "Make big blind" / "Blinds follow the
button again" all re-posted the blinds whenever `Betting.onlyBlindsIn(state)`
was true. That condition means "nothing has happened in this hand except the
blinds" — which is true of a hand one second old and equally true of a table
sitting in setup with no cards out and nothing committed.

So naming a blind before the deal ran repostBlinds -> beginHand: betting
opened, two stacks docked, the action bar up and waiting on the seat after the
big blind. The dealer had said where the blinds go and the tool heard "deal".

Betting.blindsArePosted() is the question these three actually wanted — the
blinds are down only once a hand is open — and it's the guard makeDealer was
already using by hand. Before the deal, naming a blind now moves a badge and
nothing else; the toast says "Dee has the small blind next hand." rather than
claiming she posted it. Mid-hand behaviour is unchanged: chips come back and
go in again from the new positions, and the chip count stays straight.

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

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

@@ -459,6 +459,25 @@ const Betting = {
         return (state.street || "preflop") === "preflop" && state.seats.every(p => !p.hasActed);
     },
 
+    // Are the blinds actually down? Moving the button or naming a blind means two
+    // completely different things depending on the answer, and `onlyBlindsIn` alone
+    // cannot tell them apart: a table sitting in setup, with no cards out and nothing
+    // committed, satisfies it just as well as a hand that has only just been dealt.
+    //
+    // With a hand open, the blinds are chips on the felt. Re-aiming them has to take
+    // those chips back and post them again from the new positions, or the badges and
+    // the money disagree.
+    //
+    // Before the deal it is a marker being slid round a table with nothing in the
+    // middle. Re-posting there would *deal the hand* — betting opened, blinds taken off
+    // two stacks, action on the seat after the big blind — which is not what a dealer
+    // means by "she's the big blind this one". Setting the positions is how a dealer
+    // gets ready to deal; the cards come out when they press the button, and not a
+    // moment before.
+    blindsArePosted(state) {
+        return !!state.bettingOpen && this.onlyBlindsIn(state);
+    },
+
     // Chips the pot has been priced with but nobody has actually paid.
     //
     // Two ways a contribution gets into this tool. Tapping the action moves chips: the

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

@@ -176,8 +176,7 @@ document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
             // After it, the blinds have to follow the button or the badges and the
             // money disagree — but that's a real thing happening to real chips, and
             // the dealer gets told rather than finding out later.
-            const willRepost = state.bettingOpen && Betting.onlyBlindsIn(state) &&
-                HoldemState.unresolvedContributions(state) > Betting.EPSILON_CHIPS;
+            const willRepost = Betting.blindsArePosted(state);
 
             seatAction(index, willRepost
                 ? `Button on ${nameOf(index)} — blinds taken back and re-posted.`
@@ -204,18 +203,29 @@ document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
             if (partner === index || partner === null) partner = Betting.nextLiveIndex(state, index);
 
             const label = which === "sb" ? "small blind" : "big blind";
-            seatAction(index, `${nameOf(index)} posts the ${label}.`, () => {
+            // Only a hand that is already open has blinds to move. Before the deal this
+            // is aiming the next hand, and re-posting would have dealt it — the dealer
+            // says who the blind is well before they say "cards".
+            const posted = Betting.blindsArePosted(state);
+            seatAction(index, posted
+                ? `${nameOf(index)} posts the ${label}.`
+                : `${nameOf(index)} has the ${label} next hand.`, () => {
                 state.blindOverride = which === "sb"
                     ? { sbIndex: index, bbIndex: partner }
                     : { sbIndex: partner, bbIndex: index };
-                if (Betting.onlyBlindsIn(state)) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+                if (posted) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
             });
         },
 
-        clearBlindOverride: () => seatAction(state.dealerSeatIndex, "Blinds follow the button again.", () => {
-            state.blindOverride = null;
-            if (Betting.onlyBlindsIn(state)) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
-        }),
+        clearBlindOverride: () => {
+            const posted = Betting.blindsArePosted(state);
+            seatAction(state.dealerSeatIndex, posted
+                ? "Blinds follow the button again — taken back and re-posted."
+                : "Blinds follow the button again.", () => {
+                state.blindOverride = null;
+                if (posted) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+            });
+        },
 
         editSeat: index => Render.toggleSeatEditor(index),
 

tests/holdem/aimingTheBlinds.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+// Saying who the blind is, before saying "cards".
+//
+// A dealer sets the table up out loud — button here, she's the small blind, he's the
+// big blind — and only then deals. The seat menu offers "Make small blind" for exactly
+// that, and it was answering by dealing the hand: betting opened, two stacks docked,
+// the action bar up and waiting on the seat after the big blind. The dealer had said
+// where the blinds go, and the tool heard "deal".
+//
+// The condition it was asking is `onlyBlindsIn`, which means "nothing has happened in
+// this hand except the blinds" — true of a hand one second old, and equally true of a
+// table in setup with no cards out and nothing committed. Those two need telling apart,
+// which is what `blindsArePosted` is for.
+const test = require("node:test");
+const { describe } = require("node:test");
+const assert = require("node:assert");
+const { Betting, HoldemState, makeTable, chipsOnTable } = require("./load");
+
+describe("before the deal", () => {
+    test("the blinds are not down, however much the table looks ready", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3] });
+        assert.equal(state.bettingOpen, false);
+        // The old condition, on its own, says yes here — this is the whole bug.
+        assert.equal(Betting.onlyBlindsIn(state), true);
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(state), false);
+    });
+
+    test("a table straight out of setup, with nobody seated, is the same answer", () => {
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(HoldemState.createDefault()), false);
+    });
+
+    test("re-posting would have dealt the hand, which is why it is guarded", () => {
+        // Not a rule, a demonstration: repostBlinds ends in beginHand. Calling it in
+        // setup is the deal, and nothing about naming a blind should reach it.
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3] });
+        Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+        assert.equal(state.bettingOpen, true, "chips off two stacks and the action bar up");
+        assert.notEqual(state.actingSeatIndex, null);
+    });
+
+    test("naming a blind moves a badge and no chips", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3] });
+        const before = chipsOnTable(state);
+
+        // What the seat menu does: pin the override, repost only if the blinds are down.
+        state.blindOverride = { sbIndex: 3, bbIndex: 0 };
+        if (Betting.blindsArePosted(state)) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+
+        assert.equal(state.bettingOpen, false, "still setup — the dealer hasn't dealt");
+        assert.equal(state.actingSeatIndex, null, "nobody is being asked to act");
+        assert.deepEqual(state.seats.map(p => Betting.committed(p)), [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]);
+        assert.equal(chipsOnTable(state), before);
+
+        // And the badges say what the dealer just said.
+        const blinds = HoldemState.getBlindSeats(state);
+        assert.equal(blinds.sbIndex, 3);
+        assert.equal(blinds.bbIndex, 0);
+    });
+
+    test("and the hand that follows posts from where they were aimed", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], smallBlind: 1, bigBlind: 2 });
+        state.blindOverride = { sbIndex: 3, bbIndex: 0 };
+        if (Betting.blindsArePosted(state)) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+
+        Betting.beginHand(state);
+        assert.equal(Betting.committed(state.seats[3]), 1);
+        assert.equal(Betting.committed(state.seats[0]), 2);
+    });
+
+    test("giving the button away is a marker moving too", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3] });
+        const before = chipsOnTable(state);
+
+        const willRepost = Betting.blindsArePosted(state);
+        state.dealerSeatIndex = 2;
+        if (willRepost) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+
+        assert.equal(willRepost, false);
+        assert.equal(state.bettingOpen, false);
+        assert.equal(chipsOnTable(state), before);
+    });
+});
+
+describe("once the hand is dealt", () => {
+    test("the blinds are down, and re-aiming them moves real chips", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 6, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+        const before = chipsOnTable(state);
+        Betting.beginHand(state);
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(state), true);
+        assert.equal(Betting.committed(state.seats[1]), 1);
+
+        state.blindOverride = { sbIndex: 3, bbIndex: 0 };
+        if (Betting.blindsArePosted(state)) Betting.repostBlinds(state);
+
+        assert.equal(Betting.committed(state.seats[1]), 0, "the old small blind got their chip back");
+        assert.equal(Betting.committed(state.seats[3]), 1);
+        assert.equal(Betting.committed(state.seats[0]), 2);
+        assert.equal(chipsOnTable(state), before, "no chips created or lost in the shuffle");
+    });
+
+    test("but not once somebody has answered them", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 4, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+        Betting.beginHand(state);
+        Betting.call(state, state.actingSeatIndex);
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(state), false, "there is a call to unpick now");
+    });
+
+    test("nor on a later street", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 4, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+        Betting.beginHand(state);
+        state.street = "flop";
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(state), false);
+    });
+
+    test("and a misdealt hand goes back to being a table in setup", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 4, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+        Betting.beginHand(state);
+        Betting.takeHandBack(state);
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(state), false, "nothing is posted until the dealer deals again");
+    });
+
+    test("as does a hand that has been paid out", () => {
+        const state = makeTable({ seatCount: 4, seated: [0, 1, 2, 3], dealerSeatIndex: 0 });
+        Betting.beginHand(state);
+        Betting.sweepToHandTotals(state);
+        HoldemState.startNextHand(state);
+        assert.equal(Betting.blindsArePosted(state), false);
+    });
+});