All-in is Double or
Nothin
19 January 2004
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I need further clarification on how "all-in"
works in Texas Hold'em. This happened on
television the other night while I was watching
a poker tournament: Player "A" with a massive
amount of chips bet a substantial amount of
money, and player "B," with far fewer chips,
consequently went all-in. Do I understand that
if player B had won he would only have received
the portion of the pot that he could cover? If
so what happens to the rest of the pot? Maribeth
K.
To go "All-in," Maribeth, is to bet all the
money you personally have on the table. A player
who is all-in cannot be forced out of the pot,
but can win only that portion of the pot that he
or she is eligible for.
In your example, player B did not have enough
table stakes to cover future raises, so he went
all-in. He was simply contesting that portion of
the pot that his money would cover.
Had other players still been active in the hand,
wagers could still have been made, but those
bets would then comprise a side pot. At the end
of the hand, the side pot is decided first, then
the main pot. Player B would not be eligible to
win the side pot since he had no money invested
in it, and it would therefore be distributed
among the surviving players as though there had
been no Player B.
Dear Mark,
Where I play, they just introduced single deck
blackjack. As a trade-off, you do not get a full
payoff for a blackjack. The dealer said you make
up for it with the single deck. Was he right?
Jim B.
The dealer dealt you erroneous information, a
bad deal, one might say. On these single deck
games, blackjacks are paid at 6 to 5 odds ($6
for $5 bet) instead of the usual 3 to 2 odds
($7.50 for $5 wagered). This one rule change,
making for a 12-to-ten payoff in place of the
customary 15-to-ten, raises the casino edge
around 1.5 percent. Two thumbs down!
Dear Mark,
I was playing Texas Hold'em with my wife and got
a pair of Kings. Nothing that followed, the
flop, fourth or fifth street, helped either of
us. As this was the final hand of the evening,
we decided to bet dinner at our favorite
restaurant on the outcome. Wouldn't you know it,
she had aces. What were the odds of her having
aces? Clay B.
You'd think, Clay, with a starting hand of
Kings, dinner would be on your spouse, but
against your wife's pocket rockets (aces), you
only had a 17.82% chance of winning.
As to the odds of your wife having aces, there
are 1326 two-card combinations that can be made
from a 52 card deck, with six combinations for
each pocket pair. 1326 divided by 6 equals 221,
therefore, the odds of your wife being dealt
pocket aces, or any other pocket pair (your
Cowboys for that matter), are 220 to 1. In some
happy marriages, the wife always wins on the
last hand.
Dear Mark,
What are your thoughts on machines that
constantly shuffle cards? Jay P.
No fan here, Jay. My hang-up is that continuous
shuffle machines have a negative effect on the
typical blackjack player, primarily because the
casino gets 20 percent more hands dealt per hour
by using them. With more hands per hour, the
player's hourly loss increases, since the casino
already holds an edge over the average player.
Gambling quote of the week: "How long does it
take to learn poker, Dad?" "All you life,
Son."-Michael Pertwee
|
