Poker stake rules IV
With all-in a strategic form of play in poker games allowed by the table stake rules, sometimes players deliberately enter games with a chip stack that is lower than the stakes that are currently being played so that they can go all-in following the flop. While this frees him from having to take any further part in the betting action, it also limits his winning and hence this tactics is not followed by skillful poker players aiming to win highly over a long term period.
There can be a situation where a player has to go all-in even before dealing takes place. This happens when he does not have enough dough to place the compulsory ante and blind wagers, thereby becoming an all-in player by default. The money which he stakes is considered as part of the ante bet and if his stake covers the full value of the ante wager then the rest of his stake is paid as part of blind wager. If the player’s whole stake covers only a portion or the entire ante bet, then the main pot is formed by each of his opponents also contributing equal value. If any portion of ante wager remains to be paid, then that amount, combined with the blind bets and all future wagers together constitute the side pot. Again, if the player’s stake has covered a portion of the blind, then ante wager by all the players in the game becomes the total value of the main pot. Now even though the all-in player may not have paid the full amount of big blind, other players has to call the total amount of that bet. When the round of betting gets over with its usual betting action comprising calling and raising, the total bet gets divided among the main pot and the side pot according to the table stake rules.
