Buy the Button

1. To post the amount of the small and big blind when returning to the table after a break when the button is one to a player's right.
2. Primarily a limit hold 'em concept that involves raising in the cutoff or hijack in order to drive the late position players out of the hand. This is a move done to gain good position (equivalent to the button) throughout the hand.

E.g.

In a game of $10/20NL at the Commerce, you come back from a walk in the parking lot having just missed your big blind. This means the action at the table puts the button one player to your right. In some games, the rules dictate that you must wait for the button to pass before you can "post" and then play another hand.

In games with a "buy the button" rule, a player presented with this situation may post the amount of both blinds ($30 in this example, $20 of which acts as the big blind and $10 which goes into the middle of the pot as "dead money") and then get the button on the next hand. So, the movement of the button is identical to the times a player plays (or misses) both of his blinds.