[Strange]

Folks,

does any one have a fool proof technique for calculating side pots in a tournament? i'm not looking for a definition or anything, I'm just looking to add to my confidence level and to get away from the democratic process that we seem to follow, however much fun it might be.

Cheers

Dave

[99%evil]

Whomever is small stack and goes all-in keeps their chips in front of them. If anyone stays in with him matches his bet and sticks those chips in front of him (all the blinds go here). Any further betting goes on in the center of the table, this way we know this is all that the guy can get. If someone else goes all in after the original all-in person another stack goes in front of that guy. When there's lots of people, we proceed very deliberately and make sure no chips migrate from stacks and make sure that winning hands get what they are supposed to get and no more or no less.

[gwilkx]

for a simple side pot where 1 guy is all in, this is what i do:

take whatever the last bet was that was called and subtract what the short stack has. then multiply this number by the number of players in the side pot.

for example, player A bets 1,000, player B calls, player C goes all in for $700.

$1,000 - $700 = 300. 300 * 2 = 600 on the side. everything else goes in the main pot.

in a simple case like this i find it easier to calculate what the side pot should be, as opposed to calculating what should go in the main pot.

with multiple all-ins of varying amounts, i start with the smallest stack and figure out what he's entitled to win, then the next smallest stack.

for example, player A goes all in for $500. player B goes all in for $700, player C goes all in for $1,000 and player D calls the $1,000.

player A's $500 bet was matched by 3 players, so he can win $2,000 (including his $500). player B's $200 raise was matched by 2 players, so there's $600 in his side pot ($200 x 3). player C's re-raise of $300 was called by 1 player, so there's another $600 in his side pot.


gw-

[ky70]

Match the smallest stacks chips in the main pot. Any amount above the smallest stacks chips should be put into the "side pot" (example 1 below). If previous better/raiser acted before the smaller stack and put in more than the smaller stack has, (when the smaller stack calls) take out of the main pot the amount over the smaller stacks chips and put them in a side pot (example 2 below).


Chips...Player A...1000
Chips...Player B...1200
Chips...Player C...700
Example 1:
Player A bets 350. Player B calls and puts 350 in the middle/pot. Player C raises all-in and makes it 700 to go. Player A calls and puts the additional 350 in the main pot. Player B reraises all-in and puts 350 in the main pot and 300 in a side pot (although player C has 500 in chips leftover after he calls Player C's bet, his all-in bet is only for 300 because that's all Player A has). Player A calls the bet and puts his last 300 in the side pot. Main pot = 2100, Side pot = 600

Example 2:
Player A goes all-in for 1000. Player B calls and puts 1000 in the main pot. Player C calls and puts 700 in the pot. 600 (300 each from players A and B) is then removed from the main pot and placed in a side pot. Main pot = 2100, Side pot = 600