Side pots and all-ins

corblimey

I'm v.confused about split pots, from the dealer's point of view, sorting out who gets what, who's in each pot, who gets the blinds etc.

I'm hosting a home game on Friday, and I envision a lot of lunatic all-ins in the first half hour, so a comprehensive but easy to follow guide would be great.

As an example:

A SB 100
B BB 200

C calls 200
D raises to 500
E calls 450 all-in
F raises to 1000 all-in
A call
B raises to 1500
C fold
D call
A call

Now who is up for what, and who's playing against who in each pot? Where do the blinds go? I know this is rather convoluted, but if I get this, I should be able to handle any situations

Crumbs

Player E is all-in for the least amount, so take his 450 into the centre and add to it at most 450 from the others, ie. take 450 from F (leaving 550 still in front of him), take 450 from A (leaving 1050), 450 from B (leaving 1050), 200 from C (who folded) and 450 from D (leaving 1050). That's the main pot, which is closed for betting and which is the only pot that E can win.

Then looking at the remaining chips in front of players, you see that F is all-in for the next least amount, so take his 550 as well as 550 from each of A, B and D. This makes up side pot 1. F is in for this pot and the main pot.

Now there should be 500 left in front of A, B and D. This 1500 makes up side pot 2, which only A, B and D are in for (as well as side pot 1 and the main pot).

There can be further betting between A, B and D after the flop. These bets are added to side pot 2 and if one of them ends up all-in, there may be a third side pot for the remaining two players.

Side pot 2 is between A, B, D
Side pot 1 is between A, B, D, F
Main pot is between A, B, D, F, E.

To see who wins what pot, award each pot seperately, starting with side pot 2. Assume that A has a better hand than B and D, so muck the hands of B and D and give that pot to A. Now award side pot 1 to either A or F. Assuming that A wins that one too, muck F's hand and give the pot to A. Lastly, the main pot is between A and E. A wins again, E and F are knocked out and A stands up on the table and shouts "hammertime!".

The main point is to create the pots starting with the smallest into the main pot and working upwards but when awarding the pots, work backwards. Follow this and you'll be fine. Just explain clearly what you're doing as you do it and tell any railbird dealers to stfu. After a couple of times, you'll pick up shortcuts to working it all out quicker.

NickyOD

The easiest way to handle things is to stop people splashing the pot. i.e. everybody keeps there bet in front of them and the chips only go into the pot/sidepot whent hebetting round is complete. That's the mistake a lot of noobs make, they just move all in and push there chips in the pot that's already there and it gets damn confusing.

corblimey

Excellent thanks crumbs. Nice and clear.

amp

I find it a lot easier when I say what I'm doing as I'm doing it. Much like sex.