So a much more simple answer than the 1st guys.

Player A raises the pot to $500

You call but you only have $300. $200 of his money goes to a side pot

Player B calls the 500. $200 of his goes to the side pot (now $400)

If you win you triple up, and the best of their hands wins the side pot. if one of them has a better hand than you they take it all.

check out the pokerschool here:. for more info on how the side pot works

what he said

You’re correct! In fact, you can have multiple side pots depending on people’s chip stacks.

Examples can get sort of tough, but I’ll try. I’ll use a simple example of the last four people at the table. The blinds are $200 and $100.

Player A starts the hand on the button with $600. Player B is in the small blind with $1000, COUNTING the $100 he just posted (meaning he has $900 left). Player C is in the big blind with $500, counting the $200 that he just posted (meaning he has $300 left). Player D has $400.

Player D is the first to act before the flop. Let’s say he pushes all in for $400. That makes the pot at this point BB ($200) + SB ($100) + player D’s all in ($400) or $700. Player A then pushes all in. Now, since player A had $600 to start the hand and player D only had $400, that leaves $200 that player D cannot win from player A. So, player A’s $600 all in is divided two ways:

$400 (to match player D’s chip stack) into the MAIN pot, bringing its total to $1,100 and $200 in the side pot.

Now, player B has the most money of all! He had $1,000 to start the hand, has posted $100 already, leaving him $900. Since no one has more than player A’s $600, the most player B can bet is that $600. Even if he says “all in,” he doesn’t shove in his remaining $900. He would do exactly like player A did. He would divide his $600 between the main pot ($400) and side pot ($200). REMEMBER, he’s already put in $100 for the small blind; so, he owes $300 more to the main pot, bringing it to $1,400 and the side pot to $400. Let’s say that player C folds.

The main pot breaks out this way:

Players A and B put in the same amount as player D, which is $400. That is $1,200. Player C had posted the big blind for $200. Player D can win that too! So, they are all playing for the main pot, best hand wins. And players A and B are playing for the side pot of $400, best hand wins. They decide the side pot first; so, players A and B show their cards first. Then the winner of that showdown has a showdown with player D for the main pot.