Going all in in poker means committing every chip you have in front of you to the pot, forcing every other player in the hand to either match your wager, fold, or call for as much as they have.
I have been in more all-in situations than I can count at this point, and the mistakes players make around this move — from misunderstanding side pots to going all-in at the wrong moment — cost them significant money that the rules would have protected had they understood them.
If you play No Limit Texas Hold’em, you are going to be all in often, so you need to know the all in rules that come into play in such situations before playing.
In this article, we will explain the basic all in rules, as well as some strategies for when to move all in and apply the maximum pressure with your chip stack.
What Does “All In” Mean in Poker?
Before you start playing no-limit poker, you need to understand what the poker terminology “no-limit” actually means and how much a player can really bet in a given hand.
If you learned how to play poker by watching movies, you may have seen players bet money that’s not on the table, ask their opponents to place their car or house keys in the pot, and other similar nonsense.
In real no limit poker games, the maximum anyone can bet at any time is the amount of chips they have on the table. This rule is known as “table stakes.”
The all in rule comes into play when a player decides to bet all their chips, leaving nothing behind. This can happen on any betting street, from the preflop to the river.
When a player goes all in, either by announcing it verbally or by putting all their chips into the pot, they have no more action in the hand.
Their cards will be active throughout the hand and will be shown at showdown regardless of other players’ actions unless everyone folds and there is no showdown.
Once a player announces they are all in, other players are allowed to call their all in bet, as well as make further raises on top of the all in. Multiple players can move all in one after the other.
When such a scenario occurs, the dealer will create side pots, as any player can only win the amount of chips he has from every other active player in a hand.
Side Pots Explained
In a scenario where multiple players move all in and get called, side pots will be created to make sure no player can win more chips than he put into the pot from each of their opponents.
For example, let us imagine the following cash game poker scenario. There is $100 in the pot on the flop, and Player A moves all in for his remaining $60. Player B announces he is also all in for $170. Player C announces he is all in for $300, and Player D calls, covering all the stacks.
Due to all in poker rules, Player A can only win a maximum of $60 from each player, on top of the $100 already in the pot, as he does not have enough chips to cover the other players.
Likewise, Player B can only win up to $170 from his opponents, while Player D can win $300 from Player D, as well as all the other chips wagered by the smaller stacks.
The dealer now proceeds to create pots. The pots will be as follows:
- Main Pot will include the $100 from preflop betting and $60 from every active player. In total, this will amount to $100 + 4x$60 = $340.
- First Side Pot will include Player B’s remaining $110 and $110 from each of the two bigger stacks. In total, this will amount to 3x$110 = $330.
- Second Side Pot will include Player C’s remaining $130, plus the $130 that Played D needs to pay to cover Player C’s all in bet, for a total of $260.
This way, all the players are in play for the $340 Side Pot, players B, C, and D are in play for the First Side Pot, and Players C and D are in play for the Second Side Pot.
The next time you find yourself in an all in situation at the poker table, remember this all in poker rule and keep in mind that each player can only pay you the amount equal to the chips you put into the pot.
One rule that catches a lot of players off guard involves reraise eligibility. If a player goes all-in for an amount that is less than a full raise, the all-in bet does not reopen the action for players who have already acted.
For example: the action is in a $1/$2 cash game. Player A bets $10. Player B raises to $25. Player C goes all-in for $30. Because $30 is less than a full raise on top of $25 (which would require $40 or more), Player A cannot re-raise — they can only call or fold. Player D, who has not yet acted, can still raise.
I find this rule creates more disputes at the live table than almost any other all-in mechanic. Knowing it cold is one of the small edges that separates experienced players from the rest.
Going All In – Physical vs Verbal
While “all in” is considered by many poker players as a separate action to actions like bet and raise, it is actually not.
In reality, moving all in just means betting all your chips. If there is an active bet in front of you, all in is simply a raise, whether a small or a big one.
The slight difference with this particular type of bet is that once you have made it, you no longer get to make any actions on further betting streets.
So, when you decide you want to move all in, you will want to make it quite clear that you are wagering all your chips.
Typically speaking, you can do this in one of two ways. One way is by moving all your chips toward the middle of the table, and another is by saying the words “all in” so the dealer can hear you.
Both of these actions will cause the dealer to announce you are all in and place the all in button in front of you if such a button is available in your poker room.
Announcing you are all in verbally is the safest way to ensure the dealer and other players understand your intention and nothing is left to chance.
Pushing your chip stack into the middle will also work, but it may sometimes cause some confusion if any chips are left behind your stack, whether on purpose or by chance, and lead to allegations of angle shooting or even cheating in poker.
Going all in by announcing it verbally is your best play, but if you want to hide any tells and don’t want to speak, pushing the chips carefully toward the dealer will also do the trick.
When to Move All In at the Poker Tables
The decision to go all-in is one of the most binary and consequential choices in poker — once those chips are in the middle, there is no adjustment left to make.
In my experience coaching tournament players, the most common all-in mistake is not going too loose with the move, but going too tight: finding a good spot and then hesitating because the outcome feels too final. Understanding the strategic cases for shoving makes the decision easier and less emotional.
All in situations are common in all formats of poker but occur much more commonly in tournament poker, where you will have to go all in or call other players’ all ins multiple times throughout the game.
If you are relatively new to poker, keep reading and find out more about some scenarios where going all in can be a good idea in both tournament and cash game poker.
When NOT to Go All In
Knowing when to go all-in is important. Knowing when NOT to is equally valuable, and it is the part most strategy guides leave out.
- When you are deep-stacked with a marginal hand: Going all-in for 150 or 200 big blinds with one pair or a draw risks your entire stack in a spot where folding or making a smaller raise accomplishes the same goal at a fraction of the cost. Deep-stack poker rewards controlling the pot size, not escalating it.
- When an all-in would fold out hands you beat: The purpose of going all-in is to get called. If the only hands that call your shove have you crushed, the move generates no value. A more common error I see from students is shoving a strong hand in a spot where a smaller bet would get more action from weaker holdings.
- When stack preservation matters more than this pot: In tournament poker, the ICM value of your remaining chips often exceeds the prize equity in a single pot. Near the bubble or pay jumps, an all-in that costs you your tournament life is a higher-risk move than the raw chip math suggests. Before shoving, I ask myself: if this goes wrong, what does my stack look like relative to the payouts? The answer frequently changes the decision.
Playing the Short Stack in Poker Tournaments
In poker tournaments, winning chips without a showdown is always preferential, as losing an all in means you are busted from the game.
Since the blinds in poker tournaments escalate over time, you will often find yourself playing a stack of 30, 20, or even just 10 big blinds as the tournament enters its later stages.
In such situations, you will not be able to speculate too much and call preflop raises with a wide range of hands. What you will be able to do, however, is exert pressure by going all in.
If you are sitting on a 10 – 15 big blind stack, going all in from late positions will often force the players in the blinds to fold, allowing you to pick up the blinds and antes and increase your stack by a significant percentage.
Playing with a larger stack of 20 – 25 big blinds, you will be able to move all in over the top of raises with a 3-bet, allowing you to pick up both the raise and the blinds and antes without a fight in many cases.
Of course, you should be aware of your opponent’s opening range in such situations and only move all in with a somewhat wide range when you believe they are likely to fold.
If you do get called in any of these scenarios, you will go to a showdown and have a chance at doubling up, although often as an underdog.
The main goal of moving all in with a short stack in poker tournaments is to win the money already in the pot without a showdown, so make sure to pick your spots carefully.
4-Betting or 5-Betting in Cash Games
In a typical cash game, players usually sit with more chips compared to the value of the big blind, which means preflop all in confrontations are less common.
However, there are some situations where moving all in for 100 big blinds or more can make sense even before the flop.
For example, imagine a scenario where you are dealt AsKs in the cutoff, playing a $1/2 cash game with a $200 stack.
You open the pot to $6, and the player in the big blind re-raises to $45. While calling this raise can make sense, moving all in outright for your $200 is a play that can also work and even maximize your fold equity, as the big re-raise size is more often weak than strong.
In a different scenario, you will move in for $200 as a 5-bet when the button opens to $6, you re-raise to $20, and they play back at you for $50. If you want to make further raises, moving all in is really the only play you have left.
Moving all in at the cash game table ensures you realize the full equity of your hand and also possibly run it twice in games where such an option is available.
This way, you may get a chance to reduce your variance or win on the turn or river in hands that might otherwise end with you missing the flop after investing a big chunk of your overall stack.
At the end of the day, your ultimate goal when moving all in should always be to get at least some folds, as winning chips without a showdown is always a good result.
Final Word on Poker All In Rules
While it may be a scary thing to do at first, moving all in at the poker table is something you will have to learn to be comfortable with.
If you want to be a high-level poker player, you will need to learn when to move all in with your value hands, as well as with your bluffs, as all in always gives you the maximum leverage.
At the end of the day, remember that all in is just another bet sizing and that you can only lose the chips you have on the table, so be mindful of bankroll management, and playing for all the chips will become a whole lot easier.
