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There is nothing more exciting in a poker game than pushing all your chips into the middle of the table, announcing all in, and waiting for your opponent to make their choice.
These situations in poker are what gets the blood rushing and the adrenaline pumping, but how exactly does it work, and what all in poker rules should you be mindful of?
If you are relatively inexperienced at poker, we will teach you everything you need to know about this move in this guide. For the more experienced players, we will discuss when to go all in and what kinds of situations to use this play in.
Let’s start with talking about some of the most basic all in rules and the things you must not forget when playing in real money poker games.
The idea of going all in can be a bit scary to new poker players, but that’s only because of the mystery that surrounds it, often created by TV poker.
Moving all in simply means betting all your chips on the table, and it is simply another bet or raise in a given situation.
The most important of all poker rules related to all in is that poker is always played with table stakes. This means you can never be asked to call for more money than you have on the table.
Long gone are the days when a rich player could announce a bet of a million dollars out of the blue, and you would have to fold if you didn't have the money to cover that.
In all legal and even illegal poker games these days, table stakes play, which means that announcing all in simply means you are betting the chips you have on the table.
If another player announces they are all in, you will never need to call more than you have in your stack. Of course, you cannot win more than that either.
For a quick example, let's imagine there is $1,000 in the pot, and a player moves all in for another $700. However, you only have $250 in your stack.
In this situation, you will have the option to call. If you call and win, you will receive the $1,000 in the pot, plus another $250 from your opponent’s all-in, enough to cover your chips. If you lose, you will give up your $250, and that’s it!
All in poker rules also dictate that you can’t make any further plays once you have put your last chips in the pot, even if you have not verbally announced all-in.
The dealer should announce you as all in when you bet your last chips. You will not have further action on later betting streets, but other players may still get to act. In such a situation, a side pot is created.
When one player at the table moves all in, they may get called by more than one other player. If there are further betting streets to be played out, the remaining players still get to bet their chips if they have any left.
In such a situation, a side pot must be created.
The player who is all in does not compete for this pot, as they do not have enough chips to make or call any further bets.
However, other players can still make bets with the money placed in a separate side pot, which only one of them may win.
In some situations, when multiple players end up all in during the hand, the dealer must also create multiple side pots. Each player can only win the chips they were able to cover in the first place.
Let’s take a look at an example:
With $500 in the pot on the turn, Player 1 announces they are all in for their last $200. Player 2 and Player 3 call this all in, while they both have more money left behind.
The dealer will take $200 from each player, making the total pot $1,100. This money will go into the main pot, as the all-in poker rules dictate.
The river card is then dealt. Player 2 and Player 3 still get to make further bets. In this example, Player 2 bets another $600 on the river, and Player 3 calls him.
If Player 1 has the best hand at the showdown, they will win the main pot of $1,100. However, Player 1 does not compete for the side pot at all.
The best hand out of Player 2 and Player 3 will win the side pot of $1,200, which was created after Player 1 was already all in.
While all this may seem slightly confusing right now, you should be able to catch on to how all in works in poker after a few sessions of playing. Remember, there is no shame in asking the dealer what’s going on and which pot you are eligible to win at any point.
Going all in often seems very scary to new poker players, as they don't look at it as just another bet or raise but rather a standalone play altogether. While jamming or pushing all-in has a certain place in the poker folklore, you must remember that it is just another bet.
When the time is right, and the situation is favorable, you should certainly push all your chips into the middle and see what happens.
There are scenarios in which you should go all in for value and those when you should do it as a bluff. We will discuss some of the most common situations and their merit next.
Poker all-ins are much more common in tournaments than in cash games, as stacks tend to get a lot smaller compared to the blinds in tourney play. In fact, there are some very simple spots in tournament poker where pushing all in is the only play you should be making.
One of the most typical situations to do so is when you are sitting in a late position with a stack of 5-15 big blinds, and you have an opportunity to steal the blinds and the antes.
In such a situation, you should often go all in with a very wide range of hands, even if those hands would not be good candidates to be all in for 100 big blinds.
For instance, sitting on the button with 12bb in a tournament and holding Ts9s, going all in is always a profitable play.
Your opponents will not be able to call you off with many hands, and when you do get called, you will still have plenty of chance to win the hand and get a full double-up.
Similarly, stacks of 15-25 big blinds work well for re-stealing, which means going all in on top of another player’s min-raise.
When a late position player makes a raise trying to steal the blinds, your all-in move will have a lot of leverage, and they will only be able to call off with very strong hands. Once again, all in will work like a charm.
Tournament play is specific in that players cannot simply rebuy if they lose all their chips, especially in the later phases. For this reason, putting players to the test by betting enough to put them all in, or come very close to that, is often a good idea.
While many recreational players will gladly call off a big portion of their stack with marginal holdings, they may end up folding if you simply say the two magic words.
Announcing you are all in often even deters players from calling you if you don’t have many chips, as not everyone actually waits for the proper chip count.
The money and the final table bubble are especially good moments to turn up the heat and bet it all.
There are some situations in which you will make a raise and commit the rest of your stack if your opponent calls. In such situations, going all in is usually the better option unless you are trying to trap your opponent with AA or KK exactly.
Let’s imagine an example of a $1/2 cash game in which you have $200 in your stack. A player from the button raises to $6, and you have AsKs in the big blind. You make it $20, only to have the other guy make it $52 over the top.
If you decide to go for another raise here, all in is your only play. Many players make the mistake of raising to $110 or similar in this spot, giving their opponent the actual odds to call with various hands.
By betting your entire $200, you give yourself the best shot at winning the pot outright and taking down the $52 from your opponent without seeing any more cards.
If the opponent does call your all-in, you may even be able to run it multiple times in cash games, which will reduce your variance.
The all-in play can be especially powerful in tournament poker when you have a big chip stack. In such scenarios, announcing all in means you are putting your opponents all in, while remaining relatively safe yourself.
Betting all your chips when you are the big stack will make your opponents fold a lot, especially in the late stages and at the final tables.
The implications of the independent chip model (ICM) will actually force middling stacks to fold to your all-in shoves even when they have strong hands if there are several short stacks still at the table.
Tournament players always use this strategy to put pressure on middling stacks and maximize their EV by winning many uncontested pots while short stacks are still in play.
Going all in can be incredibly effective in many ways, but you should be mindful of several important factors before doing so.
Every time you think about going all in, you should consider the following:
There are many situations in poker when all in is the best play to make, but it’s one you should not make too rashly.
Always consider all the relevant factors and move all in when this play yields the best results, whether you are looking for folds or calls.
The most important thing to remember is not to be afraid of an all-in but rather to consider the reasons to do it and why your opponents may be pushing all in instead of making a smaller bet.
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