Readers' Write: Hold'em Fold 'em Question

Dear Frank:

A player (Player A) was all in for $300 of a $5000 pot. The only other player (player B) left in the hand mucked his cards (thinking no one else was in after he made the original bet of $4000 or so) when it came to him. The player (Player A) with the $300 in the pot said he should win the whole pot, since Player B no longer has cards. I said Player A could only win his stake in the pot, and that Player B was basically "playing against himself" for the bigger side pot since he originally was in and everyone folded against him. He was mucking against himself.

What's the call?

Frank

Dear Frank:

I asked Bill Burton author of Get the Edge at Low-Limit Texas Hold'em to answer your question. Bill is also the lead instructor in our Golden Touch Texas Hold'em seminars.

Here is his answer:

You are correct. An all in player is only entitled to the portion of the pot which he contributed to. If a player bets $4000 and the all in player can only call 300 then the $3700 is an over bet if there are no other callers and returned to the bettor. Many times when a player goes all in with a short stack another player with a large stack will raise all in to drive out the other players in order to go heads up with the short stacked player. The extra money that he raised with is returned to him.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete