Button must get a hand?

[Headhunter13]

[ QUOTE ]
Dealer's right - the button gets a hand.

He is just wrong about who the button is, the prior button (who would have been cutoff) keeps it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the guy who had just been the SB stood up and walked out to take a smoke. Had he stayed, he would have been the button. Instead, they had a dead button, and the (would have been) cutoff is essentially the button (last to act).

But why does the button (or button seat) have to be dealt a hand? If MP gets up and leaves, the dealer just skips him. Why must two cards be dealt to the seat occupying the button ... only to have the dealer muck the hand (almost) immediately?

--Headhunter