Side Pots

Can someone please explain side pots to me? I get the side pot created in an all in situation due to different stack sizes. But I don’t understand the others and how/why they are created. In a ring game I was playing, at showdown I won main pot with a flush and another player won a side pot(almost equal to my share of the total pot) with 3 of a kind. I researched the faq before posting this but could not find anything other than the all in situation mentioned above. Thanks, Finn007.

So, Let’s say you have smallest stack at the table, we’ll say 500 chips, and everyone else has 1000. If you go all in, for your 500, and you get 2 people behind you calling, the pot is 1500, you can win all the chips in the middle. Any chips that are put in after that you can not win, no matter your hand. If you had a royal flush, of course you’ll win everything in the side pot, but, another player could win the main pot with just a straight or a flush. Hopefully this clears things up for you, if not I can try to help you with what more you need to know.

SIMPLY PUT: The shortest stack at a table can only win as much chips as they started the hand with from each player.

“SIMPLY PUT: The shortest stack at a table can only win as much chips as they started the hand with from each player.”

Yep, that’s right! We also recently updated our article on side pots in our KnowledgeBase, if you’d like to take a look: http://help.replaypoker.com/knowledge_base/topics/how-side-pots-work .

If you have any questions about specific hands, you can message us at Support@ReplayPoker.com with the hand # and we’ll be happy to take a look and explain what’s going on.

Hand #303610447. I think I figured it out. lorex70 wins Asti69 excess(less my total contribution to the pot) chips w/ 3 5’s. Amirite ? If I am right, side pots are ONLY used so the winner never wins more than the total he put in ? In this case the 2nd best hand wins all chips over and above what I contributed to the pot,even if it was just a high card? If this is so it has cleared up (I hope) my confusion. Thanks to all that answered and/or will answer to confirm my understanding. Finn007.

Yes, if someone is all in, and someone raises, getting other players to fold, that money will go into the side pot and go back to them. If a middle player stack were to call, there would be three pots, the main the pot would the “excess” as you called it.

Exactly right!