The Art of Going “All-In”

Gambling is an extremely popular and exciting form of entertainment, but it isn’t without its risks. However, as long as you know there are no certainties when it comes to online gaming and you approach it responsibly, there is a heck load of fun to be had when you play at the Best US Poker Sites.

Once you understand all that, the next thing to do is to learn all the poker basics, rules and strategy – one of which is the art of going “All-On”.

So What Exactly Is It?

Going all-in gives the player and his opponents an opportunity to bet only what’s in front of them, meaning giving whatever chips or money you had on the table at the beginning of the hand. The amount you put “all-in” at the table is the only stake one has; therefore, no additional amount is to be added, which could be both an upside or downside, depending on how good your hand is. The most important thing to bear in mind is that once you go all-in, it is an all win or an all loss kind of pact.

When to Go All-In?

So, when is it right to do it? Well, your brevity highly counts, as an all-in bluff is pretty sure to get you out of pocket if not with the best hand. Also, when you see yourself getting out of the game given you don’t have enough chips and odds are against you, going all-in could probably save you as long as you have a winning hand. A bluff at this stage is inadvisable. It’s also not worth it to go all-in when most of the other players have already folded and/or the pot is low.

How Is the Pot Split Between Multiple Players?

When there’s only you and another player left in the game, the rules around this move is pretty straight forward. The most important thing to remember here is that the player with the least chips cannot be bet out of pot by the other player. If one player has $50 worth of chips and goes all-in, the other player with only $20 can also go all-in, and then the first player will have to take back $30 worth of his chips. Then, the winner takes the pot.

When there are more than 2 players, however, the rules are a little bit more complex. There’s the involvement of side pots which are each assigned to different players according to the value of money or chips provided. The “main pot” has all the players obligated to match the amount the smallest stack has contributed to it.

For example, if the smallest stack was $50, each player has to provide an equal or above amount of $50. The “side pot” is assigned to respective big stack players according to the number of players and their stacks. Say there are three players X, Y and Z. X, the short stack, goes all-in with $50 whereas players Y and Z both go in with $100. The main pot now consists of $150 ($50 from each of the player), and then there’s a side pot for player Y and Z that’s worth $100.

Now, player X is only eligible to win the main pot, whereas player Y and Z can win both the main pot and the side pot. So, what happens to the side pot if player X wins? Well, the player with the better hand between players Y and Z will take the side pot.

The rules change when there are even more players involved as there will be more “side pots” depending on the number of players and their individual contributions. But overall, it follows the same pattern as when there are 3 players, so shouldn’t be too hard for you to wrap your head around.

Poker does seem to have a bunch of rules to it and without the best guide; you could lead yourself to a slippery slope. For all the best poker guides, make sure to check out OnlinePokerAmerica.com.