Pot division (primary/secondary) in poker

Side pots occur when a person involved in a hand of poker bets all of your remaining chips, but does not have enough chips to match the current bet. So if you have $75 left, and the bet is $100, you can bet all of your chips, but you will not be eligible for the full pot that is based on the $100 bet.

As a result, two pots are created: a main pot and an extra pot, called a side pot. You’ve probably seen this happen all the time during online poker games, but if you’re new to poker, you may not have noticed it, or you may have noticed it but don’t know what or how it happened. This article will explain how side pots work.

Basically, if an opponent bets 200 chips and you only have 100 chips in your stack, you can call all-in and you will still be in the hand, but you will not be competing for all the chips your opponent bet. Imagine how unfair that would be. The best way to understand how this works is with examples, so let's get started!

Example 1: Two players, one is all-in

This situation happens all the time. Alex has 2,000 chips and Minsk has 500 chips. The pot has 200 chips, Alex bets 1,000 chips, and Minsk has only two options: call with everything he has left, or fold. Minsk calls with his 500 chips, and the pot is adjusted to 1,200 chips: 200 starting chips, plus Minsk's 500, plus Alex's 500. So, in effect, Alex bet 1,000, but he immediately gets 500 chips back.

This way, when a player goes all-in, he only competes for the original pot and his opponents' chips up to the limit of how many he had. In this example, if Minsk wins the hand, he will have 1200 chips. If Alex wins, Minsk will be eliminated.

Example 2: Three players, one is all-in

Let's pretend we have three players at our poker table. Rafael and Tex have $1,000 in chips, while Vadiu is only $200 behind. The blinds are $25 and $50.

In the first betting round, before the flop, Vadiu (the shortstack) bets $50, Rafael calls the $50 and Tex checks (he is the big blind). Now we have $150 in the pot and the flop opens.

The second round of betting begins. This is where we will end up with a side pot. Rafael bets $200, Tex calls the $200. It is Vadiu's turn to act, and he only has $150 left. Vadiu then decides to go all in. Now, how does this work?

In this case, the pot will have to be split. The initial pot will contain all bets made so far, except $100, which will go to a side pot. What is the logic? If Rafael and Tex bet $200 and Vadiu only had $150 left, part of Rafael and Tex's bet will not be disputed with Vadiu. Therefore, everything that exceeds $150 goes to another pot (in this case, $50 from the first two). The main pot will then have: initial $150 (before the flop), $150 from Rafael, $150 from Tex and $150 from Vadiu (his all-in).

The side pot will be $100 ($50 for Rafael and $50 for Tex). This side pot will be contested by only these two players, while the main pot will be contested by the three. Player Vadiu can now only watch the rest of the hand, as he has no more chips to do anything.

I know this might be a bit confusing, so let's try to understand the situation in a more visual way:

Pre-Flop

• Vadiu (button, stack $200) bets $50
• Rafael (SB, $1000 stack) completes $50
• Tex (BB, stack $900) checks $50

Main pot: $150

Flop

• Rafael bets $200
• Tex pays $200
• Vadiu calls with all-in of $150

Main pot: $150 + $150* + $150* + $150 = $600
Secondary Pot: $50 + $50 = $100

*discounting the difference for Vadiu

Turn

• Rafael and Tex check

River

• Rafael bets $300
• Tex pays the $300

Main pot: $600 (does not change, as Vadiu is already all-in)

Secondary Pot: $100 + $300 + $300 = $700

And who will win each pot?

• If Vadiu wins the main pot, he takes it all, while Tex and Rafael fight for the secondary pot.
• If Vadiu loses the main pot he is eliminated. Whoever has the best hand between Tex and Rafael will take the main and secondary pots.

Example 3 (hard level): Four Players, two of them all-in

Now let's see if you understand how this works.

In this example, we have four players:

• Rosi (R), with $1000
• Petrillo (P), with $2500 (button)
• Don (D), with $3000 (SB)
• Anselmo (A), with $150 (BB)

Pre-Flop

• Rosi increases to $150.
• Petrillo re-raises to $500.
• Don pays $500.
• Anselmo calls $150 all-in.
• Rosi calls $350, completing the re-raise.

Main pot: $150 (R) + $150 (P) + $150 (D) + $150 (A, who went all-in) = $600

Secondary Pot: $350(R) + $350(P) + $350(D) = $1050

Flop

• Don bets $700.
• Anselmo has no more action as he was already all-in before the flop.
• Rosi calls with the rest of his chips $500 (all-in).
• Petrillo pays $700.

Main pot: $600 (this does not change until the end)

Side pot: $1050 (previous value) + $500 (D) + $500 (R, who went all-in) + $500 (P) = $2550

Tertiary pot: $200 (D) + $200 (P) = $400

Turn

• Don bets $2000.
• Anselmo and Rosi do not act again until the end of the hand, as they are all-in.
• Petrillo calls $1300, the remainder of his chips, and goes all-in.
• $700 goes back to Don as there are no more players to form a new pot.

Main pot: $600

Secondary Pot: $2550

Tertiary pot: $400 (previous value) + $1300 (D) + $1300 (P) = $3000

Then,

• The main pot will be contested by the four players.
• The secondary pot will be contested between Don, Rosi and Petrillo.
• The tertiary pot will be contested only between Don and Petrillo.

Confused? It's complicated, but it's important to know this rule for live games. online poker the calculation is done automatically.

Conclusion

This is basically how side pots work. They only occur when someone runs out of money while the betting is going on, and therefore cannot call the bet. Side pots can also occur when an all-in player calls the current bet (a call that uses all of their money), but after the action, someone raises. This starts a side pot as well. Occasionally, you will end up with multiple side pots, when two or more people go all-in, but cannot call the bets. The idea is the same, where each player's potential winnings are based on their own bets. This doesn't happen often, but it is a possibility.