Free · Side pots handled for you
Going all in means pushing every chip you have into the pot. It is the one bet in poker that cannot be raised out of your hands: because you have nothing left, no amount of pressure from anyone else can make you fold, and you are entitled to see the hand through to showdown. That guarantee is the reason the move exists and the reason the rules around it are more involved than they first look. Two of them catch people out at home games almost every time — you can call a bet you cannot cover, and being all in for less than a full raise does not always reopen the betting.
Why you can call a bet larger than your stack
How side pots are built, with a worked three-way example
The half-raise rule, and when a short all-in does not reopen betting
Three players, three different stack sizes, everyone all in preflop. The chips do not go into one pot — they split into a main pot everyone can win and a side pot only the two deeper players can win.
Player
Ana
Stack
$20
Into main pot
$20
Into side pot
—
Can win
Main pot only ($60)
Player
Ben
Stack
$75
Into main pot
$20
Into side pot
$55
Can win
Both ($60 + $110)
Player
Cal
Stack
$75
Into main pot
$20
Into side pot
$55
Can win
Both ($60 + $110)
Player
Totals
Stack
—
Into main pot
$60
Into side pot
$110
Can win
—
The short answer is that you are never forced out for being short. Table stakes guarantees you can contest the part of the pot you paid for, and nothing beyond it.
Situation
Bet is $50, you have $12
What you may do
Call all in for $12
What you can win
The main pot only
Situation
Bet is $50, you have $80
What you may do
Call, fold, or raise as normal
What you can win
Everything you match
Situation
You are all in, two others keep betting
What you may do
Nothing — you are done acting
What you can win
The main pot only
Situation
You win the main, lose the side
What you may do
Nothing to do
What you can win
Main pot; side pot goes to its winner
Players
6-8 seats
Setup
15 minutes
After game
Share results
You put your entire remaining stack into the pot. There is no separate action for it in most rule sets — it is simply a bet, call or raise that happens to use everything you have. What makes it distinct is what follows: you take no further part in the betting, because you have nothing left to bet with, and you cannot be folded out no matter how much anyone else puts in afterwards. You have bought your way to showdown for whatever portion of the pot your chips covered.
This is the rule most new players get wrong and the one that decides the most home-game arguments. If someone bets $50 and you have $12, you are not required to fold and you are not required to find another $38. You call all in for $12, and you are live for the part of the pot your $12 paid for. Nobody at the table can price you out of a hand simply by having a bigger stack — that is what table stakes means, and side pots are the accounting that makes it work.
When one player is all in for less than the others want to bet, the chips split. Everyone's contribution up to the short stack's amount goes into the main pot, which the short player can win. Everything beyond that goes into a side pot, which only the players who put chips into it can win. With three all-in players at three different stack sizes you get two side pots, and with four you get three. The order of resolution runs from the outside in: the last side pot is awarded first, then the next, and the main pot last.
An all-in that is less than a full raise does not reopen the betting for players who have already acted. If the bet is $20 and you go all in for $28, that is a raise of $8 where a full raise would have been $20. A player who already called the $20 may call the extra $8 but may not re-raise, because the action was never legally reopened. A player who has not yet acted still has the full range of options. Home games almost never apply this correctly, which is fine as long as everyone agrees in advance which way the table plays it.
Three situations account for most of the good ones. With a short stack, moving in preflop removes every later decision from a hand you cannot play profitably past the flop, and takes the blinds uncontested often enough to be worth it on its own. With a very strong hand against an opponent who has committed a lot of chips, it collects the maximum from someone already priced in to call. And as a bluff it works precisely because it is unraisable — the opponent's only options are call or fold, which is a harsher choice than call, fold or raise. Outside those, it usually means someone stopped wanting to think about the hand.
Almost always the same thing: the pot gets pushed to one winner when it should have been split into two. Someone short is all in for $12, two others build another $80 between them, one of the deep players wins the showdown and rakes in the whole middle — including the $12 that the short player, who had the best hand, was entitled to. Counting the pots correctly means counting each player's contribution before the chips are mixed together, which is exactly the thing nobody does at 1am with a beer in hand. It is also the reason this site has a side pot calculator.
Once everyone is all in there are no more decisions, so the remaining cards are simply dealt out. In a casino the all-in players usually turn their hands face up before the board completes; in a home game it is worth doing the same, because it makes a misdeal or a misread visible while the cards are still on the table. Running it twice — dealing the remaining board twice and splitting the pot between the two results — is a private-game convention for reducing variance on a big all-in. It changes nobody's equity, only the size of the swing.
FAQ
01
It means betting every chip you have in front of you. You cannot act again in that hand because you have nothing left to bet with, and no amount of further betting by anyone else can force you to fold. You are entitled to see the hand to showdown for the portion of the pot your chips covered.
02
Yes. If the bet is larger than your stack you may call all in for whatever you have. You are not required to fold and cannot be forced to add money mid-hand. Your chips go into the main pot and the extra goes into a side pot you are not eligible to win.
03
A separate pot created when one player is all in for less than others want to bet. Contributions up to the all-in amount form the main pot, which everyone including the short player can win. Anything beyond forms a side pot, contested only by the players who put chips into it.
04
You can win one full stack from each opponent who calls, but never more than you had. If you are all in for $12 against three callers, the most you can take is $12 from each of them plus your own $12. Everything they bet beyond your $12 belongs to a side pot you cannot win.
05
No. If the all-in is less than a full raise, players who have already acted may call the difference but may not re-raise. A player who has not yet acted in that round keeps all their options. Many home games ignore this rule, which is fine so long as the table agrees beforehand.
06
The chips split into a main pot and a side pot. The shorter player contests only the main pot; the deeper player can win both. Pots are awarded from the outermost side pot inwards, with the main pot settled last.
07
Not during the hand. Table stakes fixes your stack at the moment the hand begins, so you play it out with what was in front of you. Once the hand is over you can buy more chips and keep playing, up to the table maximum in a cash game.
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