Texas Holdem Rules All In Side Pot

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Side Pot - An additional pot which is created when one or more players are all in.

No Limit Texas Hold’em The No Limit part of No Limit Texas Hold’em is referring to the fact players can raise or bet all of their chips at any time during a session. Basically if you have $100 in front of you and you like what you see in your hand (and in any Community Cards) you can push all of your chips into the pot. In a Fixed Limit Texas Holdem game, you can only bet as much as the pot. But in a no-limit Texas holdem game, you can virtually go all-in any time you want. However, you'll only be eligible to win your stack multiplied by the amount of callers = the main pot. The winner of the side pot is computed based on the other players (not including the All-in player). The All-in player can only win the amount kept in the main pot. The main pot also includes the amount from players who fold during the hand. In case there are multiple All-Ins, there would be multiple side pots. Introductory series about poker. This video discusses the most basic ideas of a side pot. It can get pretty crazy but I wanted to keep it simple. How many of you have seen people playing on a free.


Virtually all casino poker games are table stakes games. This means that only cash or chips which are on the table prior to the start of the hand are in play. Some casinos even have specific rules against cash playing on the table and require a conversion to chips. A table stakes game does not allow for chips to be added to a stack while the hand is in play, and it also does not allow for chips to be removed from play (other than a nominal amount for food and sundries), for the entire session.
Since players are limited to the chips they have in front of them when the hand begins, from time to time a player will run out of chips while the hand is in play. When this happens a player is allowed to go “all-in” by placing his remaining chips into the pot. This means that he will still have a live hand, but will be unable to win any money that he cannot cover, which includes all future betting for the remainder of the hand. If a player cannot cover the full amount of the bet that he is facing, or if there is future betting he cannot cover after he is all in, the dealer must create a side pot. A side pot is separate pot which the dealer creates to allow the betting to continue after a player goes all in. The all in player would only be eligible to win the amount he could cover, which is called the main pot, while the players with chips remaining would be eligible to win both the main pot as well as the side pot. The side pot money is sometimes referred to as “money on the outside.”
If multiple players go all in for different amounts during the same hand, it will be necessary for the dealer to create multiple side pots. When this occurs, the dealer must remember which players are in for which pots. This can get confusing, so to help, the side pots are numbered in the order they were created; first side pot, second side pot, and so on. They are also arranged in that order on the table, so that the first side pot is next to the main pot, and the second side pot is next to the first, extending out toward the end of the table, for as many side pots as is necessary. Just as a side pot is sometimes referred to as “money on the outside,” a second side pot is sometimes referred to as “money on the far outside.”
The accurate construction of side pots requires the dealer to do math in his head and come out with the correct answer for the size of each pot. Dealers are human and are prone to error, and as such, if you have a vested interest in the hand, you should watch them construct the side pots carefully and do the math along with them. Depending upon the caliber of the dealer, side pots may be wrong with varying frequency, but mistakes are made often enough for you to be regularly monitoring their construction. In fact, it is a good idea for you to always verify that the amount of money going into the pot is correct at all times, and that the pot is handled properly by the dealer. Dealer error can be costly, and it is often preventable, if you can catch it before the action is complete. Obviously, these are concerns for players who play in a brick and mortar poker room. If you play on the internet, the sites software handles and distributes the chips automatically, virtually eliminating dealer error.
You may hear a common phrase, “All in always wins.” This is a belief that once a player goes all in, something magical happens, and they now have a much higher probability of winning the main pot. This is pure superstition. While going all in can affect whether or not you win the hand, if you play well, in the long run it will hurt you more than it will help you. Indeed, when you go all-in, you will win some pots that you otherwise would not have been able to call on, had you still had chips. But this is more than offset by the bets and the pots you will lose because you are all in and unable to bet you hand. Another way to look at it is to consider chips a resource which good players use to make money. In order to be successful, you need to have access to sufficient resources. That means never going all-in if you can avoid it, so that you can be eligible for every side pot created.
Usage: Third Side Pot, Scooped The Side, Dollars On The Side, Side Pots
Previous Poker Term: Showdown

Texas Hold'em All In Side Pot


Next Poker Term: Slow Play

In the early twentieth century, a new variation of poker known as Hold’em was born in Robstown, Texas. This new poker variation called for its players to share five common cards and combine them with two private hole cards to make the best possible 5-card hand. Some of the earliest players called Hold’em a “thinking man’s game” because this new way of playing allowed poker players to take control of their own fates and utilize a wide variety of strategies.

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Texas Hold’em quickly spread throughout Texas and in 1967 it became accepted in some Las Vegas casinos. For decades, Texas Hold’em was popular among professional poker players, but it remained relatively unknown to the general public. It would take three more decades before Texas Hold’em could finally exploded into the mainstream culture and become one of the most popular poker games in the world. Texas Holdem poker sites are the most common form of poker played online.

Rules for Playing Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em typically accommodates up to 9-10 players, but as few as two can play the game at a time. There is a dealer chip, known as the ‘button’, that is passed clockwise after each round to designate player position for the blinds or antes. Typically the player sitting to the left of the dealer chip pays the ‘small blind’ and the player sitting to their left pays the ‘big blind’. The big blind is generally twice the size of the small blind. Once both blinds have been posted, every player is dealt two cards, face down (known as ‘hole cards’), and the game begins.

After all of the hole cards have been dealt, the player to the left of the big blind can start the initial, ‘pre-flop’ round of betting. These first bets must be at least the size of the table’s minimum bet and the betting continues clockwise until each player has either:

Texas Holdem Rules All In Side PotSide
  • Bet as much as every other player by ‘calling’ bets and raises.
  • Bet their entire bankroll.
  • Folded their cards and withdrawn from the hand.

The two players who posted blinds can apply the value of these blinds towards their pre-flop bets. Assuming there are still two or more players remaining in the game after the pre-flop round of betting, the dealer will proceed to burn the card on the top of the deck (remove it from play) and deal the first three community cards, face up, in the center of the table. These first three cards are known as the ‘flop’ and are part of every player’s hand. After the flop is dealt, the second round of betting takes place.

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This pattern of burning a card, dealing to the community hand, and completing a round of betting continues throughout the game. After the flop, the ‘turn’ card (fourth community card) is dealt, and finally the ‘river’ (fifth and final community card) is dealt; in total there are four rounds of betting. After the final round of betting, if more than one player is still in the game, all players must flip their hole cards and the player with the best five card hand is awarded the pot. If two or more players have equally valued hands, then they split the pot evenly.

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Going All-In in Texas Holdem No Limit

If you don’t have enough money to call a previous bet or if you want to put your full bankroll on the table in the form of a raise, you can choose to go ‘all-in’. When you go all-in, you can remain in the round without having to make any further wagers. Often tournaments require any player who goes all-in to flip their hole cards face up, though cash games generally do not have this rule.

After you go all in, any further bets placed by your opponents are placed in a side pot. Only players who contribute to the side pot are eligible to win these funds. If you win a hand after going all in, players who wagered more money than you, in the form of a side pot, get the difference returned to them.