Texas Holdem Poker

maiden1134 · Newbie Joined: Dec 31, 2006 Posts: 1

Hi all...new member here with a poker question.

While playing a home game last night (no limit hold'em), we ran into the following situation which we were not sure how to handle. I could not find a poker rule that addresses this situation. Any help would be appreciated.

Scenario:
3 players in a hand go to the flop. The blinds are 300-600 and the first player to act moves all-in but only has 400 chips (not enough to cover the big blind of 600). Now, with 2 players still in the hand who have plenty of chips (several thousand each), how many chips must the 2nd player call in order to continue with the hand? Does he only have to call the 400 or does he have to put out at least 600 which is the amount of the big blind? Both players remaining in the hand wanted to just call the bet to see the turn card.

We have a rule when we play that states the minimum bet must always be at least the big blind when opening a bet (which holds true for most games I believe). I understand that if there were only 2 players then the 2nd player would just call the 400 bet and it would be showdown time (since that's all the chips the first player has and there are no more players in the hand). However, with more players in the hand, wouldn't the minimum bet still be the big blind, or do the remaining players just call 400?

I can see it both ways - but the problem I have with everyone just calling the 400 is that it violates the rule of the minimum bet being the big blind. We eventually agreed that calling only 400 was OK but I wanted to find out the correct way to handle this situation for the next time we play.

Thanks,

Eric

webmaster · Site Admin Joined: Nov 26, 2003 Posts: 643

Hi Eric and welcome to the site. Happy new year to everyone.

The answer to the question is that the third person (the one with plenty of chips) has to bet the big blind to call in this situation. So you will have Big Blind of 600, an allin of 400 from the first to act and what should have been 600 from the third player. You don't mention the small blind - this may have been the third player. Assuming it was, the pot would be 1600 which actually comprises a main pot of 1200 (3*400) + a side pot of 400 belonging to the players with the blinds. This only becomes relevant if the first to act allin of 400 wins the showdown. The other 2 players are free to bet after the flop and increase the size of the side pot should they so wish.

Hope this helps.

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