A player will go "all-in" for one of two reasons: -they wish to bet all of their chips on a hand -the bet or raise they wish to call is more than their remaining chips.

When someone goes all-in remember the basic poker rule is that "all players must contribute to the pot equally". To do this when a player is all-in you create a side pot to use for the rest of the betting between the remaining players in a hand. For example: Player A goes all-in, betting his last 25 chips. Player B raises 25, making it 50 to call. Player C calls with 50 chips. Since all players must contribute equally to the pot, and player A only has 25 chips, you create a second pot for the rest. Pot one, has 75 chips in it; 25 from player A, 25 from player B, and 25 from player C. This pot will be won by the best hand among the three players. Pot two, the side-pot, has 50 chips in it; 25 from player B and 25 from player C. This pot will be won by the best hand held by the two players who contributed to it.

One other time that a side pot is used is when a player goes all-in on the blind bet. For example, if a player is on the big blind, which costs 100 chips, but only has 75 chips, he/she goes all-in. All other players have to bet normally in the round, there is no change for the rest of the players simply because a player doesn't have enough chips to cover the big blind. All the other players wishing to see the flop must match the $150 big blind.

In order to comply with the rule that "everyone must contribute to the pot equally" if any player calls a second pot will be created to use until the end of this round of betting. One pot contains $75 from each player and can be won by any player and another pot which contains all the remaining bets and can only be won by one of the players who contributed to it.

The side pots are usually paid out first. The newly created side pot with less players contributing to it is paid out first, and then the original pot is awarded last.