Learning Poker Terms: What Does it Mean when a Player is All In?

The game of poker can be a fairly tricky game to understand for people that are new to the game. It is full of different lingo, and understanding it is important to understand what other players are talking about at the table. One term that comes up quite a bit, especially in tournaments, is the term all in. When a player goes all in, it means he or she is risking all of the chips the he or she has on the table. While a hand is taking place, a player is not allowed to reload or top up his or her stack, so only the chips that were on the table at the start of the hand will be considered as part of the all in.

In a no limit poker game, a player is free to go all in at any point during the hand, assuming the action is on him or her. If another player at the table decides to call the all in bet, then he or she must match the same amount of chips to the other player has bet. If he or she has less than the original all in, and no other players call the all in as well, and the player with more chips will take back the additional ones, and the other player with less chips will be considered all in.

However, in a fixed limit game a player may not go directly all in, but instead must cap the bet until all of his or her chips are in the center of the pot. Additionally, pot limit poker games also limit the amount of chips a person is allowed to bed at one time. If a player has more chips than a pot sized bet, then he or she may not go directly all in, but must wait until later streets or until the bet is raised by another player.

All ins are seen more frequently in tournaments then in cash games. This is because lines and entities make a player stack seem much smaller in tournaments. In cash games, the blinds never change, and a player is free to reload more chips on the table any time hand is not currently in progress.

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Poker Dealer Training Lecture