Pot-limit maximum raise: call first, then count the raise

A pot-sized raise starts with the call you owe. Count that call into the pot on paper, then use the new pot as the largest raise increment. You add the call and the raise together. If you already have chips in front of you on this betting round, your announced raise-to total will be larger than the amount you add now.

Start with 40 in the pot before an opponent bets 15. The current pot is now 55. Calling would make the pot 70. You can raise by 70, so you add 85 altogether and raise to 85. The difficult part is keeping those labels attached to the numbers. The worksheet below prints each quantity separately.

Here, “call first” describes a calculation. In a live game, putting out a call and then reaching back for a raise can create a different action. State your intended raise clearly and follow the venue’s betting procedure. When the count is uncertain, ask the dealer before committing chips.

Name the amounts · Work through 40 and 15 · Try the worksheet · Check raising rights · Test the receipt

Name the amounts before multiplying anything

Use P for the current pot. It includes the money carried from earlier streets and every wager already made on this street. Use B for the highest current-round contribution you face and A for your own contribution already on the table. The extra amount needed to call is C = B − A. Keep your remaining stack separate from all three.

After a full call, the pot would be P + C. That is the pot-sized raise increment, meaning the increase above the current wager. The most chips you add now are C + (P + C) = P + 2C. Your final contribution on this betting round is A + P + 2C.

There is a second useful way to check the final total. Add the new raise increment to the highest contribution you face: raise-to total = B + (P + C). That must agree with your existing contribution plus the new chips you add. When the answers differ, check whether one is an amount to add and the other is a total.

The current-pot convention matters. In the opening example, a display showing 55 after a bet of 15 is already counting that bet. Entering 40 into a field labeled “current pot, including existing wagers” leaves out 15. Entering 55 and adding the visible bet again counts the same chips twice. Resolve what a client display includes before using its number.

All worksheet amounts use one fictional chip unit. The exercise is for an ordinary postflop pot whose count is known. It asks you to supply the last full increment and your raising-right state; it cannot reconstruct action history, side-pot eligibility or a venue’s special rules from a few totals. An incomplete opening bet below the normal minimum needs a separate action-history review.

First example: nothing committed on this street

There is 40 in the pot from earlier action. An opponent bets 15. You have contributed nothing on this street, so the current pot is 55 and your call costs 15. Add that call on paper: 55 + 15 = 70. You may then raise by 70 under the pot-size ceiling. Your new chips are 15 + 70 = 85.

Both “raise by 70” and “raise to 85” describe that same pot-sized action. “Raise to 70” describes a smaller action. A raise to 70 meets the minimum here, but the pot-sized maximum is 85. A number without a label is an invitation to misunderstand each other at the table.

After you add 85, the actual pot is 140. The opponent already has 15 in front of them and needs another 70 to call. If they call, the final pot is 210. You can also count it as the original 40 plus your 85 plus their total of 85. Those routes should agree.

If nobody has bet, the same pot arithmetic has a simpler starting point. With a pot of 90 and no chips committed on this street, the call is zero, so the maximum opening bet is 90. If the ordinary minimum opening bet is 2 and you have enough chips, full opening bets range from 2 through 90. Calling it an opening bet keeps the action description clear.

The ceiling tells you how large the rules allow an action to be. It does not tell you whether making that action is a good poker decision. Hand strength, ranges, position and the purpose of a bet are separate questions. Learn the count without treating the largest available button as a recommendation.

Your earlier bet changes the amount you add

Start with 60 carried from earlier streets. You bet 10 and an opponent raises to 30. The current pot is 60 + 10 + 30 = 100. Your call costs 20 because the 10 already in front of you remains part of your contribution. After a full call, the pot would be 120.

The maximum raise increment is therefore 120. You add 20 + 120 = 140, and your final contribution becomes 10 + 140 = 150. Check from the other side: the opponent’s current 30 plus a raise increment of 120 also gives 150. Announcing 140 as the total would describe a smaller raise.

If the opponent calls, they add another 120. The final pot is 360 = 60 + 150 + 150. Your original 10 appears in the pot count and in your final contribution, but you do not pay it again. The reconciliation is a useful habit when reviewing a hand history because it exposes that double count.

Follow a second pot-sized raise

Return to the first example just after you raise to 85. The pot is now 140. The original bettor has 15 committed, faces 85 and has the right to raise. Their call is 85 − 15 = 70. Calling would make the pot 210, so their next pot-sized raise increment is 210.

They add 70 + 210 = 280 new chips and raise to 15 + 280 = 295. The cross-check is 85 plus the new increment of 210, again 295. If you call, you add 210 and the final pot is 630 = 40 + 295 + 295.

Multiplying 85 by three gives 255, which does not describe this maximum. The earlier pot and the bettor’s existing contribution still matter. For each new decision, update the current pot and the two current-round contributions. The labels keep working even when a memorized shortcut stops being convenient.

A caller adds to the pot but does not change your call

There is 60 from earlier streets. One player bets 20 and another calls 20. You have not contributed on this street. The current pot is 100. Your call remains 20 because the highest wager remains 20. A call would make the pot 120, so you can add 20 + 120 = 140 in total.

Without that caller, the current pot would be 80, the pot after your call would be 100 and your maximum new chips would be 120. The extra caller increases your ceiling by 20. It does not increase your required call. This distinction is easy to lose when someone counts players instead of contributions.

After your raise to 140, each original player needs another 120 to call. If both call, the final pot is 480 = 60 + 140 + 140 + 140. If the bettor calls and the earlier caller folds, the final pot is 360 = 60 + 140 + 140 + 20. The folded 20 stays in the pot.

A folded contribution is different from an uncalled excess returned to a player. One is money committed by someone who leaves the contest; the other is a portion nobody has matched. If a hand history includes a returned bet, reconcile that return before reusing the displayed final pot in a later calculation.

The familiar shortcut has a limited but useful form. With one bettor, no caller and none of your own chips committed, let Q be the pot before the bet and b be the bet. The maximum raise-to total is Q + 3b. For 40 and 15, that is 85. Using the current pot of 55 as Q produces 100 and counts the opponent’s bet twice.

Let the stack limit the payment

Use the first example again: current pot 55, call 15 and a pot-only ceiling of 85 new chips. Now change the chips still behind. Assume you have the right to raise and the last full increment is 15. The mathematical pot ceiling stays 85; your stack changes which action you can complete.

With 50 behind, the call uses 15 and leaves a raise increment of 35. That meets the full minimum of 15. With 20 behind, the raise increment is only 5, so it is a short all-in raise. With 12, you cannot complete the 15 call at all. Those are different actions even though each leaves no chips behind.

A short all-in raise does not automatically reopen raising for a player who already acted. That question belongs to the action history. Keep it separate from the observation that the all-in player has put more chips in than the current wager. The raising-right examples below show why the two questions need different answers.

Your earlier contribution also stays separate from the stack field. In the 10-to-30 example, suppose you have 100 left behind. You add that 100 and finish with 110 on this street. Of the new chips, 20 complete the call and 80 make the raise. Entering 110 as the remaining stack would charge your earlier 10 twice.

Keep the minimum raise beside the maximum

Under Poker TDA’s 2026 no-limit and pot-limit tournament rules, a full raise must be at least the largest previous full bet or raise on the current betting round. A short all-in does not simply replace that increment with its smaller increase. Use the named rules for the game you are actually reviewing.

In the example where you bet 10 and face 30, the raise from 10 to 30 was a full increment of 20. The smallest full raise-to amount is therefore 30 + 20 = 50. Because your 10 is already committed, that full minimum requires 40 new chips. With enough chips, the pot-sized maximum is a total of 150, requiring 140 new chips.

The interval is 50 through 150 in raise-to totals, or 40 through 140 in new chips. Keep one representation throughout the comparison. The lower endpoint from one and the upper endpoint from the other would look plausible while describing the wrong range.

The current highest wager alone does not establish the last full increment. A wager of 30 might follow a 10 bet and a full raise of 20, or a different sequence involving a larger previous increment and a short all-in. Write down the sequence before choosing the minimum. If it is missing, retain that uncertainty.

In live play, clarify an intended raise before moving chips in separate stages. TDA rule 44 describes accepted raising methods, and rule 45 covers raise amounts. A written worksheet can separate a hypothetical call from a raise for teaching; your physical action still has to follow the table’s procedure.

When your right to raise is closed or unknown

The worksheet has three raising-right states. Choose open when the action history and governing rules establish that you can raise. Choose closed when your available action is a call, short call or fold. Choose unknown when you have not established the answer. The pot arithmetic still has a result in all three states.

For the 55 pot and 15 call, the mathematical ceiling is still 85 new chips when raising is closed. You cannot use that ceiling as permission to raise. In the closed state, the action receipt limits its amount to the call your stack can cover. In the unknown state, it withholds a legal maximum-action claim.

The same sequence can leave different players with different rights

Use this named TDA tournament example with enough chips and a pot large enough to permit the opening bet. A bets 100. B goes all-in for a total of 150. C calls 150. D goes all-in for a total of 200. The largest prior full increment remains 100. The two later increases were each only 50.

When action returns to A, A has put in 100 and now faces a total of 200. A is facing a full increment of 100 more. Under TDA rule 49A, A can raise. If A chooses a full raise, the minimum raise-to total is 300.

Suppose A only calls to 200. C previously called 150 and now faces another 50. C has not faced a full increment since acting, so C cannot raise under the same profile. C can call or fold. If A had instead made a full raise to 300, the later action facing C would be different.

There is no single table-wide “reopened” flag in that example. Each player’s previous action matters. A calculator with only a current pot, a highest wager and your contribution cannot infer who acted when. Use the unknown state until the action history resolves the right for the particular seat.

Preflop has a rule-profile trap

The main worksheet uses actual postflop pot amounts. Poker TDA rule 56 applies a different counting detail preflop: full nominal blinds are used for pot-limit calculations even when a blind is dead or short all-in. The same rule says postflop calculations use the actual pot. A correct formula still needs the right pot definition.

For an ordinary unraised tournament hand with blinds of 50 and 100, no ante and no straddle, the nominal pot is 150. A first player with nothing committed calls 100 on paper, making 250, then may raise by 250. The pot-sized raise-to total is 350.

If the small blind is dead, the named TDA preflop rule still uses the full nominal blinds, so the ceiling in that example stays 350. A bare physical count of 100 would suggest a total of 300 instead. That difference is the reason the postflop worksheet should not silently be reused for this preflop situation.

Cash-game procedures, straddles and house rounding conventions need their own confirmation. A live dealer’s count and a particular online client’s rules are more useful than a universal shortcut built from assumptions. Identify the venue, blind structure and applicable rule before changing the arithmetic model.

The named tournament references on this page are Poker TDA 2026, version 1.1 dated September 21: rules 44 and 45 for raising, 49 for reopening, and 56 for pot-limit counts. Those references explain the examples’ scope. They do not make every poker room or private app a TDA tournament.

Read the worksheet like a receipt

Enter amounts in the same unit, using a decimal point and no more than two decimal places. “Current pot” includes existing wagers. “Already committed” means your chips on this betting round. “Chips behind” means the stack still available before this decision. The last full increment and the raising-right state must come from the action history.

Try each stack preset before changing several inputs together. Predict whether it produces a full raise, a short raise, an all-in call or a short call. Then change the raising-right state. Notice which arithmetic values stay the same and which action is no longer available. Reset returns the original 55-pot example.

Decimal chip units work the same way. An earlier pot of 7.50 and a bet of 2.25 make the current pot 9.75. A call makes 12.00. The pot-sized raise adds 14.25 in total. If the bettor calls, the final pot becomes 36.00 = 7.50 + 14.25 + 14.25.

Keep the unit consistent. Entering 225 cents as “225” beside a 7.50-unit pot mixes two scales. A neatly formatted result cannot repair that input error. First label the unit, then reconcile the contributions.

Test the receipt before looking at the answer

Work these out before opening the explanations. In the first drill, there is 80 from earlier streets and an opponent bets 30. You have nothing committed and enough chips. Find the current pot, call, raise increment and final raise-to total.

In the second drill, there is 70 from earlier streets. You bet 15 and an opponent raises to 45. Find the same quantities, then find the smallest full raise if the last full increment was 30. Write both the new chips and the total so you can check their difference.

If called, the maximum raises produce final pots of 420 in the first drill and 480 in the second. In the second drill, the minimum full raise is to 75, requiring 60 new chips.

When an answer is wrong, trace the first quantity that changed meaning. Did the current pot leave out a bet? Did a call count your earlier chips again? Did a raise increment become a raise-to total? Correct that input or label, then do the reconciliation. A score alone would tell you much less.

Betting arithmetic is separate from building a valid Omaha hand. The six-card Omaha rules guide lets you practice the exactly-two-hole-cards rule with worked hands. Use the Info & Tools index for the current learning pages, or the poker-app guides when you need to identify the platform whose rules you should check.

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