Texas Holdem Rules Side Pot
Have you heard about texas holdem side pot? If no, this article will help you to get a clear picture on texas holdem side pot.
So, imagine the scene.
You are sat at a cash game with 6 other players, the action comes around to you and you call with a low pair.
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. Texas Hold’em Rules: Flow of a Hand At the beginning of the first hand of play, one player will be assigned the dealer button (in home games, this player will also traditionally act as the dealer for that hand). 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. If you run out of chips you announce that you are “All IN” and you will only be eligible for the money in that pot up to that point. Any additional bets made by others will be put in a side pot. You will not be eligible for this pot even if you have the best hand. No-Limit Texas Hold'em stands as just one of many games in the world of poker, however. Not all games use no-limit betting rules. Pot-Limit Omaha, aka PLO, takes its place as the second-most popular poker game in the world. Games like 7 Card Stud, Limit Hold'em, and Razz, use limit betting rules.
You flop 3 of a kind on a board with no flush or straight draw and seem to be in pretty good shape.
There are 2 others in the pot with you, one of whom has around the same number of chips as you, one of whom seems to have a lot less.
The guy with the small chip stack puts all his chips in and you and the other player call.
The turn gives you a full house as it pairs up from the flop, the player still in the hand who has chips puts all his chips in and you call to see him.
As the player with the short stack has invested less into the pot than you and the other player, it wouldn’t be right for him to win an equal share of the entire pot as you have invested significantly more.
This is where the texas holdem side pot comes into play.
After the 3 of you have bet the flop, meaning one player is all in, the chips made up the ‘main’ pot of the hand.
After this, any further chips that are bet make up a separate pot, known as a ‘texas holdem side pot’.
There can be as many of these as necessary to ensure that players who bet all their chips cannot win more than they have invested off each player in the hand.
Once the hand is over, the last active side pot, between the 2 players with the most chips, is decided, the best hand from those players wins that pot.
That winning hand is then compared with the hand of the player with the next highest amount of chips and so on, until the player who had the shortest stack to begin with has the chance to win the ‘Main pot’.
Don’t worry too much about this, if you play in a live casino the Dealer will sort this on behalf of the players, if you play online at Poker Stellar, this is done automatically, so relax and enjoy yourself! Hope this article helped you to get a clear picture on texas holdem side pot.
Because it's a little bit more complicated than a standard Limit of No-Limit betting structure we've put together a specific article on How to Calculate the Pot Bet to help you understand how it's done.
The simple rule for making a pot-size bet is:
- You can raise the amount that is in the pot after you have called the previous bet.
Here are a few examples to make things clearer.
How to Make a Pot Bet in Poker -- Examples
Pot Bet Example 1
Situation: There's $10 in the pot. You're first to act.
How much can you bet? You can bet $10.
Simple, right? Now we'll make it a little harder.
Pot Bet Example 2
Situation: There's $10 in the pot and a player has bet $3.
How much can you bet? To calculate your maximum bet, first pretend that you call that last bet. The total pot then contains 10 + 3 + 3 = $16.
This is your maximum raise. With the $3 call your total maximum bet would then be $19.
Still with us? Now let's make it a little more complicated.
Pot Bet Example 3
Situation: There's $10 in the pot, one player has bet $3 and another player has raised to $10.
How much can you bet? First, pretend that you call the last bet of $10. The pot then contains 10 + 3 + 10 + 10 = $33.
Your pot raise is $33 and your total bet is $43.
Got it? Even if you're struggling a bit to get your mind around it, don't give up. There are a couple of smart tricks you can use to make it even easier.
If you want to play Pot-Limit poker (like, say, Pot-Limit Omaha) live, you should definitely learn them as you'll need to calculate your pot bets on the fly with a table of other players watching.
If you play your Pot-Limit Omaha online, though, you'll get some help with the betting functions.
How to Make a Pot Bet - Tips & Tricks
If you're playing Pot-Limit poker on online poker sites, the poker client will tell you exactly how much you're allowed to bet. In live poker, the common way to do this is to just say the word 'pot' out loud before you bet.
This establishes that you intend to bet the maximum. Then you can take your time to figure out how much that is.
The Simple 3x Rule for Pot Bets in Poker
Here's another really helpful trick that you can use to calculate the correct size of a pot bet:
- To get your maximum bet, multiply the last bet by three and add all other bets, including the original pot.
Does that sound insane to you? That's probably a sane reaction. But the truth is, it actually works!
Let's go through the same examples from above again, this time applying the 3x Rule.
Example 1
Situation: There's $10 in the pot. You're first to act.
How much can you bet? So, 3x the last bet is zero (no one has bet yet). Add the rest of the bets including the pot, which amounts to $10.
Example 2
Situation: There's $10 in the pot and a player has bet $3.
How much can you bet? 3x the last bet is 9 (3 x 3 = 9). Add $10 from the original pot and you get $19.
Example 3
Situation: There's $10 in the pot, one player has bet $3 and another player has raised to $10.
How much can you bet? 3x the last bet (3 x 10) is $30. Add $10 + $3 and you get $43.
--------------------
Luckily, this simple rule of thumb for pot bets works just as well in the first betting round when the blinds are on the table.
Texas Holdem Rules Side Potatoes
If the small blind is $1 and the big blind $2, the max bet is (3 x 2) + 1 = 7. With two limpers before you, the pot bet is (3 x 2) + 1 + 2 + 2 = 11.
Texas Holdem Side Pot Rules
Read More:
More Poker Games Rules
Texas Holdem Rules Side Potato
Poker Tools: