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Have you played online poker and noticed two separate virtual piles of
chips in the middle of the table? Have you seen an all-in situation where
one player clearly wins the hand, but two (or more) players receive chips
after the showdown? Perhaps you’ve played live in a casino and seen this
phenomenon. The explanation is the “side pot,” and this article explains
the rules for calculating and distributing side pots.
It is the “table stakes” aspect of poker that allows a player to continue
playing in a hand even if they run out of chips. Although minimum and
maximum buy-ins are established for most poker games, after a player sits
in, the size or their stack is not limited, either on the high or low
side. Instead, each hand is played for “table stakes,” meaning an
individual player can only risk what they have in front of them.
If the betting and raising of a particular hand means that the player will
run out of chips before calling the bet, they are permitted to go all in
with only their remaining chips. The other players are not limited in
their betting by this; they may continue to bet and raise as long as the
rules of the game allow. Instead, the dealer (or poker site software)
creates a side pot for the other players with chips remaining.
Side Pots in Fixed-Limit Games
Side pots should be relatively rare in limit games; fortunately for
regular poker players, they are not. Because of the fixed betting
structure, a player will never need more than 12 big bets to play out a
hand in a limit game. (This assumes a standard three-raise cap on each
betting round; some casinos have different rules.)
A player with proper awareness and bankroll discipline will not ever allow
their stack to drop below 12 big bets. This is so they can win the maximum
in every hand in the odd case of a fully bet hand. If they have a
temporary loss, but wish to remain at a good table, they use the “add more
chips” feature of the online poker software to replenish their stack.
If a player has less than twelve big bets at the table, they are probably
playing above their bankroll and gambling, are multi-tabling and not
paying attention, or just lost a big hand and haven’t re-bought yet. Two
of these three players can be taken advantage of. You should be alert for
short stacks at limit tables.
Unlimited heads-up raising is another reason for the all-in at a limit
table. Some sites and cardrooms allow two players to raise each other
repeatedly if that round of betting began with only those two. These
situations are relatively rare. A typical situation for it might be
straight flush versus ace-high flush, or quads versus nut full house. Make
sure you have the absolute stone-cold nuts before you commit your entire
stack in one of these situations.
Side Pots in Pot-Limit and No-Limit Games
All-ins are relatively common in these games. A good player should have
the maximum allowable buy-in at all times. Most poker rooms allow a buy-in
of 100 times the big blind, or $200 in a $1/2 blinds game. If a player
loses more than a few dollars of this $200, they are costing themselves
the opportunity to win the maximum if they can get action on a monster
hand.
Side Pots in Tournaments
Side Pots are also quite common in tournaments. If a small stack goes
all-in for a small amount of chips, two larger stacks might then tangle
for a side pot that might be much larger than the main pot. Even if you
think the small stack will win the main pot, is may still be advantageous
to attack the side pot aggressively.
One situation to watch out for in a tournament is making a stealing move
with a short stack in the blinds. If you are tempted to make a steal with
a short stack in the big blind, compare their remaining chips to the size
of the pot. They might just call with any two cards because the pot odds
will be there. Consider your ideal table image carefully here. You want to
avoid showing down bad cards if you are trying to appear tight, so don’t
make this move if you suspect you will be heads-up against an all-in.
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