All-in and side pots.
Who wins what?

Three friends push in different amounts. The shortest stack turns over the best hand. Someone reaches for all the chips. Someone else says, “Wait.” This is where the side pot comes in.

Going all-in keeps you in the hand even when you cannot match the full bet. It does not let you win chips that you never matched. The extra betting belongs in a separate pot for the players who covered it.

That is the table-stakes principle behind the all-in rules in PokerStars’ rules of poker. Let’s put numbers on it. Our examples use whole virtual chips, ordinary high-hand Texas Hold’em and no fees taken from the pots.

One hand, three contributions

Alex has put in 100 and is all-in. Bo has put in 300 and is also all-in. Casey has pushed forward 500. Nobody else is in the hand. These are each player’s total contributions across the hand, including any blinds already posted, before returning the unmatched amount.

1. Main pot: 300. Take 100 from each player. Alex, Bo and Casey can all win this pot.
2. Side pot: 400. Take the next 200 from Bo and the next 200 from Casey. Only those two can win it.
3. Return: 200 to Casey. Nobody matched Casey’s last 200. It goes back to Casey, without a showdown contest.

The accounting is 300 + 400 + 200 = 900, exactly what the three players pushed forward. There are two pots to win. The returned 200 is not a third pot. The same separation of contributions and eligibility appears in WSOP Online’s all-in policy.

Try the chip count

Move the chips. See the pots.

Alex has the strongest hand, Bo the second-best, Casey the weakest. Change the total chips each player put in. The cards stay the same. These are contribution totals, not a sequence of bets.

Main pot · 300 → Alex. All three players are eligible.

Side pot · 400 → Bo. Only Bo and Casey are eligible.

Uncalled · 200 → Casey. These chips are returned.

900 chips contributed = 700 awarded in pots + 200 returned.

The best hand wins only its pots

In the starting example, Alex has the best hand and wins the 300 main pot. Alex has no claim to the 400 side pot. Compare Bo’s hand with Casey’s for that one: Bo wins it. Casey gets the uncalled 200 back even with the weakest hand.

Those are amounts received, not profit. Alex put in 100 and receives 300, a gain of 200. Bo put in 300 and receives 400, a gain of 100. Casey put forward 500 and gets 200 back, a loss of 300. The gains and losses balance.

If Casey instead has the best hand, Casey wins both pots: 700 in winnings, plus the 200 returned. A bigger stack gives access to more layers of betting; it does not make a hand stronger.

What if someone folds?

Folding gives up the right to win. It does not pull previously matched chips out of a pot. For a separate scenario, suppose Bo contributed 300 earlier, still had chips behind, and then folded to further action. Alex’s 100 and Casey’s 500 remain as before.

There is still a 300 main pot, now contested by Alex and Casey. Bo’s matched chips also remain in the 400 side pot, but Casey is its only eligible player. Casey receives that side pot and the uncalled 200. If Alex has the better hand, Alex wins the main pot. Bo receives nothing.

Try the fold option above. The total does not shrink when Bo folds; the list of players who can win does.

What if two hands tie?

Settle each pot on its own. If Alex and Bo tie for the best hand in the original example, they split the main pot: 150 each. Bo still beats Casey for the side pot and receives its full 400. Casey’s 200 return stays the same.

Sometimes a pot cannot divide evenly into whole chips. Use your table’s odd-chip rule. For Hold’em under Poker TDA rules 21 and 23, each side pot is settled separately and an odd chip goes to the first tied winner to the left of the dealer button. The interactive example keeps the hand strengths different, so there are no ties to resolve.

A quick check before the next hand

• Count contributions, not remaining stacks. Include chips committed on earlier betting rounds.
• Separate the uncalled amount. A return is not a pot won.
• Check eligibility for each pot. Folded players cannot win; a short stack cannot win a layer it did not cover.
• Add the results. All pot awards plus all returns must equal all contributions.

For the rest of the evening, see our guide to hosting a home poker night online. For disconnects and leaving a table, read what happens to your chips.