In
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
it is sometimes necessary to split, or divide the
pot among two or more players rather than awarding it all to a single player. This can happen because of ties, and also by playing intentional split-pot
poker variant
The card game of poker has many variations, most of which were created in the United States in the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details ...
s (the most typical of these is
high-low split poker
In traditional poker games, the player with the best traditional hand wins the whole pot. Lowball variations award the pot to the lowest hand, by any of several methods (see Low hand (poker)). High-low split games are those in which the pot is ...
, where the
high hand and
low hand Lowball or low poker is a variant of poker in which the normal ranking of hands is inverted. Several variations of lowball poker exist, differing in whether aces are treated as high cards or low cards, and whether straights and flushes are used.
Lo ...
split the pot).
To split a pot, one player uses both hands to take the chips from the pot and make stacks, placing them side by side to compare height (and therefore value). Equal stacks are placed aside. If there is more than one denomination of chip in the pot, the largest value chip is done first, and then progressively smaller value chips. If there is an odd number of larger chips, smaller chips from the pot can be used to equalize stacks or make change as necessary. Pots are always split down to the lowest denomination of chip used in the game. Three-way ties or further splits can also be done this way.
After fully dividing a pot, there may be a single odd lowest-denomination chip remaining (or two odd chips if splitting three ways, etc.). Odd chips can be awarded in several ways, agreed upon before the beginning of the game. The following rules are common:
* If playing a high-low split game and dividing a pot between the high and low hands, always award the odd chip to the high hand.
* If splitting a pot because of tied hands, award the odd chip to the hand that contains the highest-ranking single card,
using suits to break ties if necessary (clubs ranking the lowest, followed by diamonds, hearts, and spades as in
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
).
* (Variation) Between tied hands, award the odd chip to the first player in clockwise rotation from the dealer. (Note that in a casino stud game with a house dealer and no
button
A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole.
In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, ...
this gives an unfair advantage to players on the dealer's left, so the high card by suit method is preferred).
* (Variation) Leave the odd chip as an extra ante for the next deal. This is common in home games.
Sometimes it is necessary to further split a half pot into quarters, or even smaller portions. This is especially common in community card high-low split games such as
Omaha hold'em
Omaha hold 'em (also known as Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five ...
, where one player has the high hand and two or more players have tied low hands. Unfortunate players receiving such a fractional pot call it being ''quartered''. When this happens, an exception to the odd chip rules above can be made: if the high hand wins its half of the pot alone, and the low half is going to be quartered, the odd chip (if any) from the first split should be placed in the low half, rather than being awarded to the high hand.
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Poker gameplay and terminology