Single-board side pots and uncalled bets

A side pot holds chips that only some of the remaining players can win. An uncalled amount goes back to the player who put it in. Keep those entries separate, and a crowded all-in hand becomes a set of smaller contests with clear limits. The shortest stack can win the main pot without having any claim to the money above its contribution.

Start with the completed contributions for one hand on one board. Keep folded players in the chip record, remove them from the eligible hands, and build the pots before reading the showdown. This lesson uses whole chips and no rake. The practice desk checks contributions and eligibility; it does not evaluate cards or decide whether a betting sequence was legal.

Ace: “The biggest stack has the biggest pile to win?” Victoria: “First tell me who matched each part of that pile. We can read the hands after we know which pots they can win.”

Record what each player put in

Imagine A contributed 40 chips, B contributed 100, and C contributed 150. All three hands are live. These are their totals for the hand, including earlier streets, rather than the size of their latest bet. The first 40 from each player makes a main pot of 120. A, B and C are eligible for that pot because each has contributed through that level and still has a live hand.

After taking that first 40 from each contribution, B has 60 left in the record and C has 110. Match the next 60 from B with 60 from C. Those 120 chips form a side pot for B and C. A has no chips in that level. Even if A eventually shows the strongest hand at the table, A cannot collect this side pot.

C has another 50 above B’s total. Nobody matched those chips, so C receives them back. They are not a third pot and C does not need to beat either hand to recover them. The receipt accounts for all 290 chips: 120 in the main pot, 120 in the side pot, and a separate 50 return. Returning the excess changes the amount left to award, not the strength of C’s hand.

Write down contributions by player before trying to add the center of the table. A total pot of 290 does not tell you how much A can win. The individual amounts do. If a hand history already shows an uncalled bet being returned, use the corrected contribution or reconstruct the original total with care. Do not subtract the same return a second time.

Build contribution layers from the bottom

Sort the distinct positive totals in ascending order. In the example they are 40, 100 and 150. The gaps are 40, then 60, then 50. At each gap, count every player whose contribution reaches its upper boundary. Multiply the gap by that number of contributors. That gives the amount in the layer without needing to move or count the same chips twice.

For the 0-to-40 layer, three contributors supply 40 each, making 120. For the 40-to-100 layer, two contributors supply 60 each, making 120. For the 100-to-150 layer, only C supplies 50. A one-contributor top layer is the unmatched excess in this simple record. Matched layers belong to pots; the unmatched live top amount belongs in the return column.

Track two lists beside each matched layer. The contributor list includes everyone whose chips funded it, including folded players. The eligible list includes only the live hands among those contributors. Those lists often overlap, but they answer different questions. One explains where the chips came from; the other tells you whose hands must be compared for that money.

Several all-in amounts can create several genuine side pots. With live contributions of 20, 50, 100 and 150, the main pot is 80 for A, B, C and D. The next pot is 90 for B, C and D, followed by 100 for C and D. D receives the unmatched 50. The pots total 270; adding the return accounts for the full 320.

Folded chips stay in the accounting

Now return to A at 40, B at 100 and C at 150, and add D, who put in 20 before folding. D’s cards no longer compete, but D’s committed 20 stays. Do not erase D’s contribution or distribute it according to D’s discarded hand. That money joins the matched chips the remaining eligible players can win.

The first raw layer now contains 20 from A, B, C and D, for 80. The next contains another 20 from A, B and C, for 60. D appears in the first contributor list and in neither eligible list. Both layers have exactly the same live eligibility: A, B and C. Combine them into one main pot of 140.

The B-and-C side pot remains 120, and C still gets 50 back. Adding a folded 20 changed the main pot by 20. It did not enlarge A’s contribution limit, give D a claim, or change which hands compete for the side pot. The new total is 310, accounted for by 140 plus 120 plus 50.

Ace: “D folded, so should I take D’s chips away too?” Victoria: “Leave the chips. Cross D off the eligible-hand list. Folding changes the claim to the money already committed.”

Merge layers only when eligibility matches

A contribution boundary is useful for explaining the arithmetic. It does not always create a separate pot to settle. Folded contributions can add boundaries while leaving the same live hands eligible on both sides. Combine those layers before splitting a tie. Otherwise, you may create several odd-chip decisions where the actual pot needs only one, or none.

Consider clockwise seats A, B, C, D and E, with the button at E. A and B each contributed 10 and their live hands tie. C folded after contributing 1, D after 2, and E after 3. There are 26 chips. The raw layers are 5, 4, 3 and 14 chips, but every layer has the same eligible hands, A and B. They form one 26-chip pot, so each player receives 13.

Splitting those four layers separately and repeatedly giving the extra chip to A would produce A 14 and B 12. The sum still equals 26. That is why a chip-conservation check alone is not enough: a calculation can preserve every chip and still award them incorrectly. Correct eligibility and pot boundaries must come before tie settlement.

Keep the genuine main pot and side pot separate in the 40 / 100 / 150 example. Their eligible lists differ. The main pot includes A, B and C; the side pot includes only B and C. The same person may happen to win both, but that coincidence does not turn them into one contest. Contributions establish the boundaries before the cards establish winners.

Compare hands within each pot

Suppose A has the strongest hand, B the next strongest, and C the weakest. A receives the 120 main pot in the original three-player example. B receives the 120 side pot after beating C. C receives the separate 50 return. Calling A “the winner of the hand” hides the fact that B also wins a pot and C gets an amount back without winning a pot.

If A and B tie for the best hand while C is weaker, A and B split the main pot, receiving 60 each. B still beats C for the side pot and collects its 120. A’s tie with B in the main pot does not carry into a pot A never entered. Read each eligible list again before applying the hand comparison.

If C instead has the strongest hand, C can win both matched pots, because C is eligible in both. C also recovers the unmatched 50. Keep the return separate even when all those chips end up in front of one player. In a review, “240 awarded plus 50 returned” explains the hand more accurately than “C won 290.”

The practice desk stops before this stage. It has no hole cards, board, game-specific hand-construction rule or declared showdown ranking. Its output therefore asks you to compare the eligible hands rather than naming a winner. A single eligible live hand in a matched pot is shown as an uncontested claim; a pot with several eligible hands still needs their results.

Keep ties and odd chips inside their own pots

When eligible hands tie, divide that pot among its tied winners. Settle each genuine side pot separately. A player might tie in one pot and be the only winning eligible hand in another. Check the smallest chip unit in play before calculating the equal shares and any remainder. Chip colors alone are not a unit if the denominations differ.

For the TDA board-game procedure discussed here, an odd chip among tied winners goes to the first tied winning seat to the left of the button. In clockwise seats A through E with the button at E, a 27-chip pot tied by A and B gives each 13, with the extra chip to A. Move the button to A, and B receives the extra chip instead.

Pass over folded players and live players who did not tie for the winning hand. Position selects among the tied winners; it does not create a new winner. The rule described here concerns board games under that tournament procedure. Other formats and house procedures can differ, so confirm the applicable rule before resolving a real odd chip.

The desk does not ask for a button or apply an odd-chip policy. It gives you merged pot amounts and eligible hands for a separate settlement. If the house procedure is unknown and a pot does not divide evenly, record the equal shares and leave the remainder unresolved until the procedure is confirmed. Do not quietly award it to the first name in an input form.

A return is different from an uncontested pot

A unique live top contribution leaves chips that nobody matched. Return that excess. A matched pot with only one eligible live hand is different: other players contributed to it and then folded. Those opponents’ chips remain part of the pot. The surviving eligible hand has the claim even though no hand comparison is needed for that pot.

For example, A contributes 20 and remains live, B contributes 100 and remains live, and C contributes 100 before folding. The main pot is 60 for A and B. The upper 160 is matched by B and C, with B as its only eligible live hand. B has an uncontested matched pot of 160. There is no uncalled return because B’s entire contribution was matched by C.

A folded player shown as the sole highest contributor needs more history than this model accepts. An uncalled amount may already need correction, or an action and discard may require a floor ruling. The desk rejects that input rather than inventing a settlement. It also rejects a matched layer with no eligible live hand. A form can hold numbers that do not describe a resolved hand.

Try the contribution desk

Enter up to four player totals, using zero for an unused seat, and mark each folded hand. Use one whole-chip unit throughout. At least two players must have positive contributions and at least one contributing hand must remain live. The desk accepts totals up to 1,000,000 per seat, enough for the arithmetic exercises without introducing rounding.

Start with 40 / 100 / 150. Check the 120 main pot, 120 side pot and C’s 50 return. Then choose the folded-20 example and inspect the raw layers. The first two layers combine into a 140 main pot because their eligible lists match. Change D from folded to live: the lowest pot now includes D and stays separate from the next layer.

Try four live stacks of 20 / 50 / 100 / 150, then reduce D from 150 to 100. The unmatched 50 disappears and the matched pots still account for every chip entered. Change a folded checkbox or a total after calculating; the old receipt clears so you do not mistake the previous result for the new hand. Reset restores the first example.

Audit the receipt before awarding chips

Check the structure first. Every committed chip must appear in a matched layer or a justified return. Folded contributions stay in the amounts but never in the eligible hands. A live player’s eligibility stops where that player’s own contribution ends. Combine layers with identical live eligibility, keep different eligible lists separate, and show the unmatched top excess outside the pots.

Then check the showdown. Apply the correct hand rules to the eligible players in each pot. Split ties within that pot and use the applicable procedure for any odd chip. Only after those checks should you add awards, returns and unresolved remainders. Together they must equal the supplied contributions. The desk verifies the narrower identity: pot amounts plus returns equal total contributions.

Ace: “The totals match. Are we finished?” Victoria: “Check the names beside each pot too. A perfect total can still send chips to a player who was never eligible.”

Keep the original hand history when something disagrees. A missing blind, a duplicated bet or a return counted twice can look like a pot-building error. Record the action, contributions, folded hands and showdown results separately so the disputed step is visible. At a live table, ask the dealer or floor to resolve the record before moving chips on the strength of a worksheet.

This lesson covers one board with ordinary player-attributed contributions and no deductions. Shared big blind antes, special dead money, rake, jackpot drops, multiple boards, high-low splits and tournament prize calculations need additional rules. The contribution desk does not infer those rules from a total. Use it for the stated scope, where each input chip has a named contributor and each matched pot has a clear eligible set.

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