All-in

A player is all-in when they have committed every chip in front of them. They cannot be forced out of the hand by a larger bet and they cannot win more than they have put at risk.

Table stakes: the rule behind it

Poker is played under table stakes, which means a player can only wager the chips they had on the table when the hand began. No money can be added mid-hand, and nothing beyond the table can be bet. The direct consequence is that being all-in is always allowed: a player facing a bet larger than their stack calls for everything they have and stays in the hand for the portion they can cover.

This is what stops a deep stack from simply buying pots from a short one. It also means the phrase "I call for the rest" is a complete action — no one can be bet off a hand purely for lack of chips.

Side pots

When an all-in player is covered by others, the pot splits. Chips up to the all-in amount, matched by each remaining player, form the main pot, which the all-in player is eligible to win. Anything wagered beyond that goes into a side pot that only the still-active players can win. More than one side pot can form if several stacks of different sizes go all-in in the same hand.

Betting continues normally in the side pot after the short stack is all-in. A player can win a side pot and lose the main pot, or the reverse. The main pot is awarded first.

When cards are exposed

Once all betting action is complete and at least one player is all-in with no further decisions possible, the hands involved are turned face up before the remaining community cards are dealt. This is a protection against collusion — with no more betting to come, there is nothing to be gained from concealment and something to be lost by allowing it. If live action remains between other players, the all-in player's cards stay down until that betting finishes.

Strategic reality

Moving all-in removes every future decision from the hand, for both players. That is sometimes the point: with a short stack, a shove avoids being outplayed on later streets and gives the opponent the worst possible price to continue. It is also why the move is dangerous when deep — a very large all-in usually gets called only by the hands that beat it.

The short-stack case has been studied exhaustively, and push-fold charts exist precisely because, once a stack is shallow enough, the whole hand collapses into one decision: all-in or fold.

Online all-in protection

Many online rooms return the stake, or treat the hand as void, if a player disconnects while all-in. The details vary between sites and are often limited to a set number of uses per period, so the terms matter if a player is relying on them.