Is it an unwritten rule to check after someone has gone all-in?
Sort of, at least in a tournament. The idea is that you shouldn’t get the others out, because one of them might beat the allin, letting everyone else move up a little. It’s certainly bad strategy to bluff in this circumstance.
This is one of those times where general poker strategy and tournament strategy can bump heads. If you think you have the best hand after the flop, it’s better, I think, to bet it. It often happens that you can lose to the allin, but win the side pot, which can be bigger.
In such a situation, it doesn’t make sense to check and let 1 or more people outdraw you for free. Play poker first, play the tournament second. In other words, good poker strategy is more important than good tournament strategy, at least in my opinion.
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agreed on your post, i only like to add on this is that besides betting for value on the sidepot. bluffing for the sidepot can be right in the right circumstances as well.
i agree it’s usually a bad strategy to bluff the second person out when you won’t gonna win anyway. but when the sidepot is large enough as well, and you just feel he completely missed, you might wanna bluff him away and take the sidepot from him
Unless , your goal is to really irritate the other players…