Appreciate it Pensfan and AngusThermopyle...I realize as a new dealer even with no more action to come I should do the sidepots first before I deal the board out. Just wondering idk if you two are dealers but do the really experienced dealers deal the board out with no more action to come to save time or do they always make all the sidepots first?

For the record, I'm not a dealer, I've just spent a lot of hours in the poker room. An experienced dealer can answer this question directly, but IMO I would get the pots straight first as a matter of habit.

There are a few responses to this question and I'm not super thrilled with any of them. Let's start with the most important part of the question, which is "I'm a fairly new dealer".

Any dealer should do at least the main pot before he continues the hand. Especially when the amounts are relatively manageable and the dealer isn't manipulating multiple stacks of chips around the table. And any new dealer should do the side pot as well before revealing the turn and river (and this is a good idea for plenty of veteran dealers as well).

This is the procedure I want to see, particularly for a new dealer.

1. Identify the amount of the 2nd biggest all-in amount, which in this case is Player B with $100.

2. Count out that amount ($100) from the biggest all-in player (Player A) and return the rest of the money to him. Now Player A and Player B both have $100 in play and Player A's extra $150 is safely in front of him, out of the way.

3. Count the amount of the smallest all-in, which is $40 for Player C.

4. Figure out the amounts for the main pot and side pot. There are plenty of good ways to do this and the dealer should do it in the way in which he is most comfortable. Make sure to clearly announce what he's doing as he does it so that the players on the table are confident that their money is being taken care of in the proper manner. Whether the dealer goes the route of:
a) pulling $40 from each player and adding that to the main and then putting the rest on the side pot, or
b) Announcing that 3 times $40 is $120 and putting that in the main and the rest in the side pot, or
c) Announcing that Player A and B both have $60 more than Player C's all-in and that 2 times $60 is $120, which is the side pot amount, and the rest goes in the main... are all perfectly good solutions.

5. Reveal the turn and river, tell Player C to wait until you determine the side pot winner. Then pay the side pot to Player B.

6. Have Player C reveal his hand. Then chop the pot and give half to Player B and half to Player C.

If I'm sitting at a table with equity in a pot and I see a new/inexperienced dealer skipping these steps in the spirit of speeding up the game, I'm going to lose my mind and I'm going to speak up and make sure that everything is done by the book. All too often, inexperienced dealers lose track of where the money needs to go and then mistakes happen. And this is only made worse when players make confusing suggestions all in the spirit of trying to help.

Thanks for the detailed response bolt2112. I agree its important to develop the right good habits. I plan on following your guide!

There are 2 different ways you can look at this technically, and neither is wrong. Sometimes it's easier to do it one way or the other all depending on what the individual amounts are.

In your example:

A = 250
B = 100
C = 40

C can only win from each player equal to what he is in for. So 40x3 = 120. Take 40 from each player into the main pot. Then you can match up the stacks that A and B have left. B has 60 left, so take 60 from A and there's your side pot of 120.

Sometimes it's easier to do the reverse of that.

A = 100
B = 95
C = 80

A keeps $5 that he has both covered. Now A and B have C covered by $15, so the side pot is $30. Everything else goes to the main.

Yes Aurora Tom..im guessing that's what the best experienced dealers do..if the short stack is a reasonably small number you can figure out the main pot really fast or you can figure out the sidepot first if the short stack is a larger number.

In my experience as a player, the really good experienced dealers know their regs and will make the pots right first if an easily confused idiot is in the hand, but sometimes deal out the board if non-stupid regs are all in.

I've seen a few people in this thread saying that table games dealers make more money, my question is where? Everywhere here in the Midwest the poker dealers make more. Working 40 hour weeks in table games I was making between 30-35k a year. This past year working part time in poker with ~30 hour weeks, I made 55k. I would gladly go back to table games if I could make comparable money, dealing hold'em to the same degens day after day after day without a crew of dealers to BS with while you're doing it is such a god damn grind, but I can't pass up the money I'm making now, especially with a few full time positions looming just around the corner.

As a player, one of the things I see a lot is a new dealer getting flustered divvying up the side pots, which causes three guys to jump in and try to help, each with a different method. Which ultimately leads to incredible confusion.

If you are newish, take your time, and let the players know not to make any suggestions, as it will just confuse you.

When I have have dealers at the table who have admitted they were still green, no one was concerned about how fast they went as long as they paid attention and tried to get it right.

Agreed, until you are comfortable dealing with side pots you should make things right before putting any more cards out or attempting to do any splitting. It will take longer and some may object but you can tell them getting it right is more important and it's happening.

I rarely do this any more myself but once in a while it feels necessary. Split pot game with 3 people sharing the high and 2 sharing the low with 8 people yelling contradictory instructions at me I'm going to take as much time as I need.

I've been dealing 14 years and I still make the pots right (I will leave the last sidepot in front of the players). And sometimes the players complain ... but I don't care. I'm going to do it the right way so when there is a question or an issue its easy to see.

As a player who mainly plays MTT's (where speed matters a bit more than cash), let me just say that I appreciate any dealer who makes the pot right before going to the next step. Not making change, not pulling in bets, not making sidepots right, that is just asking for confusion. I've seen irreparable mistakes occur from dealers trying to mutitask and creating too much confusion, all in the name of trying to save a few seconds.

There are certain scenarios where you can run the board out first, but there are more scenarios where you absolutely better not even think about it.

For example in your scenario you could run the board out and realize B and C are tied. You could:

Push B and C's bets back to them and then take $100 from A and give $20 to C and $80 to B. Then split the what's left in the main between B and C, but that would be a terrible idea and could cause too much confusion even if you are 100% sure you are correct.

While you can still deal the board out first in your scenario to see what happens, it is best to do it the way Angus describes once you see that A or B did not win...
Had A won, you could just push him everything. Easy and you saved time.
Had B won you could've taken $100 from A and pushed everything to B after giving A his change. Also easy and saved you time.

While I am ok with dealers running the board out first in easy spots like your scenario, it really doesn't save enough time to make it worth it. I recommend making the pots right 100% of the time in multiway pots. Heads up always run the board out first.

Hi- I’ve been dealing for about 18months, so still consider myself a new dealer. But I faced the very same question about whether to make all the side pots first or sort it out at the end as you mentioned. Here’s how my experience went, and the issues mostly occured in our PLO game where they can run it twice.

The first time I went to build multiple side pots, I got vocal pushback from the players about saving time. So I stopped after getting the main pot right, even though I wasnt comfortable about it. We had about 4 or 5 all ins, and we ran it twice. So after the board was dealt, multiple players started shouting out hands at the same time, and differing opinions on who gets what. Then a player shows his hand to a player and mucks it without me even seeing it. So as the pots are getting sorted out, with me attempting (but largely failing) to keep the players focused on each pot separately, the player who mucked realizes he actually would have won a side pot had he not mucked. Of course, he then blames me for not telling him he had a side pot, even though we hadnt gotten that far in sorting it all out before he mucked

He called for rhe floor, who fortunately told him it was his fault for mucking. After that experience I was uncomfortable not building the pots ahead of time. So I started building them most of the time while ignoring the player bitching. Then I was dealing a 10/25 PLo game where the same situation with multiple all ins came up. I started to pull in the short stack, and a player (who was a WSOP main event final table guy) said “we’ll sort it out at the end” and I deferred. They did work it out, but after that push I went to my manager. I said that the truth is that I was not confident that I would have correctly sorted out those pots (with some being quartered) without the player help. I asked him if sorting it out at the end was a skill I should study and acquire in my development or is making the pots correct first OK.

He said that he routinely gets called to tables to unscrew mistakes when it is sorted out at the end, even with experienced dealers. And he said that I run my table, not the players, so I have to do what I need to do to ensure that everything is correct, as I am the only one responsible if it goes wrong. I don’t get to use “but the players said...” as an excuse.

So after that, I decided that I would always make the pots right. At first I got some pushback, but now players know that’s how I operate, and actually assist. I will say “I’m pulling in 375 from each” and as I do it from the short stack, they will count it out from their stacks and I can quickly confirm and pull it in. It takes little extra time, and I have had some players away from the table tell me they actually prefer to see exactly where their money is going before the river hits and everyone starts yelling out stuff.

Sorry for the long post, but the bottom line is that I decided that I would always build the pots first, and it has worked for me. I am confident in doing it, I state what I am doing out loud so everyone can see what I’m doing, and then it is easier to control the showdown by saying “you players show me for THIS pot”. I still get the occasional complainer, but I just quickly say while there are other ways, that I do it this way. Plus, I pull in the first bet right away, so it’s too late to stop me anyhow.

TLDR: do it the way you are most confident in, no matter the pushback, because if something goes wrong, you are the only one whose job is on the line.

This is how I like to think of sidepots. You have to distribute from the top, or it would all collapse. In the case of my little image, C has the most so he gets back some, then decide between players B and C for the side, then do the main.

Not a complicated issue, but I like to think of it this way.


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We also think, but it's best to think more about this. After all, it is not always possible to fully understand what is difficult.

Like understanding that post?

The only time you build sidepots is when there is an all-in plus additional action on remaining streets. If there is no additional action on remaining streets because you're at the river or everyone in the hand is all-in, then you don't build any more sidepots (you don't need to and it slows down the game). You then put out whatever cards need to be put out and resolve everything at showdown.

Resolving everything is fairly straight-forward from there but can be time consuming if there are multiple boards, high-low hands, or ties.