The All-In Bet

Anyone who has seen a game on television knows the all-in bet. It is one of the most exciting features of the game and should not be taken lightly. Usually the player who wins will double their chips, while the player who loses pretty much loses everything.

There are two main reasons to go all-in

• A hand is good enough to wager all of your chips on
• A bet is made that is more than your total amount of chips

All players have to bet the same amount as long as they have the chips to call bets. This is an important concept to master as many times players will be confused what to do in complicated all-in bets. An example of such is as follows

Player A goes all-in and he only has thirty chips left

Player B also goes all-in but he has fifty chips left

Player C calls and has a hundred chips in total. He only calls fifty chips.

All the players call Player A’s all-in so one pot of 75 chips total is created. Each player has given 25 chips into this pot. Since B also went all-in with 25 more chips, a “side-pot” is created that has the 50 remaining chips left in it. Each pot can only be won by players who have actually contributed money into the respective pots.

Another common side-pot circumstance is seen when a player no longer has enough chips to cover the blinds. If the blinds are 30 chips, Player A will have to bet his last 25 chips to call. He can only win 25 chips in total from any one player in the hand with him. The other players can compete for an additional side-pot, however, which may be worth much more after rounds of betting.

As shown before, if other players call the blind then two separate pots will have to be made. The first will have 25 chips from each player and can be won by whoever has the best hand. The second pot will have 5 chips plus additional betting from each player outside of A, and the hands can only be won by players who have put money into this pot.

A simple rule to remember is that the side-pot is awarded to the winner of the side-pot before the original pot is. Not a big deal but something to keep in mind.