TABLE STAKES If you’re about to start playing online poker this week you’re going to want to know what table stakes are? Each player agrees to buy a pre-arranged amount of chips prior to the start of any game. It’s often called the “take out”. After this action, any player requiring more chips is forced to buy them in exactly the same amounts as they initially bought in. For example: If the agreed table stake was thirty pounds, a player wanting more funding must buy in thirty pound chunks. There is no limit to how many times this kind of block purchase can be made. However, a player is not allowed to purchase any extra chips during a deal. It is necessary to wait until any deal is completed before any buying can go ahead. On occasion this will result in a player running out of chips while a deal is in progress. A player in this situation can go all-in.
GOING ALL IN Going all-in is sometimes known as “tapping out” and is one of the great underlying rules of poker. It basically protects any player from being forced out of a game by players with bigger stacks. Obviously, a well heeled player could simply bully other players by placing bets they cannot hope to match. Here lies the beauty and the justice of the all-in principle.
HOW & WHEN TO GO ALL-IN Let’s say that during a game a player doesn’t have the funds to call the previous bet. Maybe he has seven chips left and eleven are needed to call. At this point the player is permitted to go all-in and call with his seven remaining chips. From that moment on any extra amount that the other players have put in is placed in a “side pot”. By keeping this side pot entirely separate, the main pot has become equalised. The all-in player can continue to compete now for the main pot but is obviously not in a position to take part in any extra betting. This cuts them out of any prospect of winning the side pot. Remaining players may continue to bet into the side pot until all bets are equal. If any further players need to go all-in, a second side pot will be created. When “the showdown” is finally reached every player who has not folded, including those who have gone all-in, lock horns for the main pot. The side pot or pots are only fought over by those who have contributed the full amount of chips through the entire game. If a player folds after the creation of a side pot, he or she is effectively folding from the main pot as well. He or she is down and out.
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