The first is by a verbal declaration, i.e., simply saying something to the effect of “I’m all in” or just “All in.” In modern-day poker games, there are two common ways of declaring your desire to move all in. Whether you should ever do it is a different matter entirely, but there is nothing in the poker rules that prevents you from doing so. You can move all-in whenever you like, even if there are just a few chips in the pot. In no-limit games, the poker all in move is always an option. Of course, you can only win $200 as well, and if you’re the only caller, the excess money will be returned to the player with the bigger stack. If you make the call, the maximum you can lose is the $200 you have in your stack. The same applies when another player puts you all in.įor example, if you have $200 in front of you in a cash game and someone with $1,000 in chips announces they’re all in, you don’t need to add an extra $800 to match their bet. You can’t reach for your pocket and add more money to your stack mid-hand. Most games these days are played with table stakes, which means that you can only bet chips that are actually in play. Simply put, it means pushing all of the poker chips you have in front of you to the pot, i.e., betting it all. To start at the top, what does it mean to be “all in” in poker? 18+ | BeGambleAware T&Cs Apply | Read full T&Cs