08-10-04, LearnTexasHoldem:

Home Game Side Betting Ban

Question: I'm hosting a first time game for up to 8 players with a dealer (a great guy for doing so) and to keep it simple, can I declare no side bets or is that taboo? Great site BTW, I'm trying to read the whole site and using it as a guideline for my group.

"Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears." -Bobby Jones

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Answer: I'm not sure what you mean by "side bets." There are two definitions for side bets:

1. Side bets that have to do with all-ins (betting that happens after a person went all-in).

2. Side bets that are outside bets on hands. In other words you tell your buddy that you'll bet him $100 that player A will win. This is an outside bet off the table.

There is nothing wrong with banning outside side bets but you need the all-in side bets to play the game fairly. Without all-in side bets then you'll run into all kinds of problems because as soon as one player runs out of chips no one can play anymore in the hand. An example of how that would make things unfair is if everyone calls preflop and one player goes all-in. I flop the flush but I can't bet anymore since that would be considered a side bet. I make next to nothing on the hand.

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