Updated November 2026
A side pot appears when a player goes all-in and others keep betting. The all-in player can only win as much from each opponent as they put in themselves. Everything above that goes into a separate pot for the players who are still betting.
Because of table stakes: you can't be forced out of a hand for not having enough chips, and you can't win more from someone than you were able to match.
So when you're all-in for $50, you can only win $50 from each player in the hand. Anything they bet beyond that is between them.
Amy has $50, Ben has $100 and Cal has $200.
$50 from each. All three of them can win this.
$50 more each from Ben and Cal. Only they can win this.
Nobody can match Cal's last $100, so it goes straight back to him.
Amy takes the $150 main pot. Ben and Cal compare hands for the $100 side pot, and the better of the two wins it.
The method doesn't change. Sort the stacks from smallest to largest and take one level at a time.
Say four players get all their chips in with $20, $50, $100 and $200. The smallest stack sets the first level, so $20 comes from each player, which makes a main pot of $80.
The next level is $30 more from the three players who had it, for a side pot of $90. The level after that is $50 more from the last two, for a second side pot of $100. The final $100 of the biggest stack can't be matched, so it goes back.
The total is $370, which is every chip that went in. Adding the pots back up is the quickest way to check that you've done it right.
If the $20 stack has the best hand, it wins $80 and nothing else. The other pots go to the best hands among the players who put chips into them.
Dealers settle the side pots first and work back to the main pot. That way the player who was all-in earliest shows down last, and the side pots go to the players still fighting for them.
They stay in whichever pots they had reached. If someone calls $20 and then folds, that $20 is in the pot, and the winner takes it. A player who folded just can't win anything.
Each pot is decided by itself. Two players can split the main pot while one of them wins the side pot outright. Each pot gets split evenly among the best hands that could win that pot.
A good dealer builds the pots as the chips go in. Each player's chips get stacked to the level of the smallest all-in, those stacks go into the middle, and the leftover chips start the next pot.
Do the same in a home game. Stacks that are physically apart are much harder to argue about than one big pile.
Only with a reason. Once one player is all-in and two of you are still betting, the all-in hand can't fold. So bluffing the other player out doesn't help you beat it.
A side pot with nothing in it yet is called a dry side pot. Players often check it down, because the only thing a bet can do is fold out hands that might have beaten the all-in player. If you have a very strong hand, bet it, because then you want the chips.
In a tournament, the player who started the hand with more chips finishes higher. So with a big pay jump close, a slightly bigger stack can move up a place even when both lose.
If two players started with exactly the same stack, they share the prize money for those two places.
Each pot gets settled on its own. Two players can split the main pot and one of them can win the side pot outright. Any chip that can't be split goes to the first player left of the button, and that's decided separately for each pot.
No, the software does it. Knowing how it works still pays off, because the size of the pot you can win changes the price you're getting. If you're the short stack, your price comes from the main pot alone, and anything the bigger stacks bet after you're all-in doesn't count.
If you're the short stack, you only get a price on the part you can match. Say the pot is $20, another player bets $200, and you have $40. You can call for $40 and win that player's $40 plus the $20 in the pot, so a final pot of $100.
You need to win 40% of the time. Anything bet above your $40 doesn't count for you.
Twelve spots in three rounds, with new stacks each time.
No. They can only win the pots they put chips into.
They win the main pot, and the side pots go to the best hands among the other players.
One for each different all-in amount, so several in a big hand.
That player gets those chips back. There's nobody to play against.
Only if that player also put chips into the side pot and has the best hand among those players.
Yes. It happens all the time when the short stack is very short.
The calculator sorts the amounts and takes each level in turn from everyone who reached it, which is how dealers build the pots. Rules can differ slightly by cardroom, and our rules page covers the common ones.
Send them the calculator.