02-16-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Short Stacks And All-in

Question: I also have enjoyed your site. I have been playing many no limit home tournaments.

One question about being short stacked. I was under the impression that were you short stacked and had to go all in, that you could only win the amount of chips you had left, times the number of opponents in the pot.

Yet it seems to me I have seen different on televised tournaments.

Let's assume the blinds are $500 / $1000. You are playing three handed. Maybe you just lost a hand for most of your chips and are down to $300 and you are now the small blind. The dealer calls $1000, you are all in for $300 and the big blind calls $1000. Are you now limited to winning only $900 (your $300 plus $300 each from the dealer and big blind) OR are you entitled to $2300 (your $300 plus the $1000 from each of the other preflop bettors) OR, lastly, are you maybe only entitled to $1600 (your $300, the $1000 from the big blind since that is a forced bet, and $300 from the dealer, since that wasn't a forced bet?

Appreciate it.

Andy

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

Answer: You have it correct, if you were to go all-in with $300 -- at any point in the game whether that be preflop, the turn, showdown, etc -- and the other 2 players called, you could potentially win $900 ($600 from them and your $300).

On TV you may not see how much they are in for preflop because they don't usually show people posing their antes. Most large tournaments have antes in addition to blinds. So if the ante was $50 and I put the rest of my $300 in, I could then get $350 multiplied by the number of players who called and lost.

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