the small blind is all-in, what can he win?

played in a home game tonight, here's the situation...

blinds were 50/100 (no antes) - small blind had exactly 50 chips left, so he was all in for his 50 as the small blind. i was big blind, so i attempted to split the pot and match his 50, then put my other 50 from my big blind into a side pot...

at which point small blind and two other players at the table started an argument with me, that he could also win my big blind because it's a forced bet. i know that if a player is all in for the big blind he can win the entire blinds (obviously), but i was always under the assumption that any player can only win the amount they have in the pot times the number of players...in other words, if everyone else folded there's no way he could win my entire $100 big blind because he only had $50 in the pot to begin with.

who's right in this case? i haven't been able to find a definitive rule online for this particular situation...

You are right.

Normal rule is he can only win the amount of his SB times the number of players in the pot pre flop. Everything above that is a side pot.

But house rules (if they exist) always trump.

The extra 50 just comes back to you just like it happens online. Like said in the post above though if the place you are playing at has it's own rules then the rules should be posted or explained prior to the start of the game.

It is pretty much explained on wikipedia. scroll down to "All in"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betting_(poker)

In a case where the blinds are 400/800 and the small blind only has 350 in chips how is it called and what does it do to the big blind. I called the small blind "all in" at 350 and told the big blind to ante up the 800. I told the small blind player he could only win what he wagered, 350. Because it was a blind and not a bet. Had it been an all in bet he would have been able to win the pot at that time, It was a blind, a small blind, matched by a player who could make the big blind. His all in of 350 could only be matched by a win of 350. It was a tough call and I would appreciate an answer as to what the rule is. If either blind is short, how does it affect the rest of the play??

Answer: The player with 350 is considered all-in from the start. He can only win as much from each player as he himself wagered -- 350 multiplied by the amount of players who called preflop. Also, there is no difference between an all-in bet and an all-in blind.
The big blind still posts the 800. If the action is just heads up, then the big blind just matches the 350 and whatever hand wins, takes the 700. If there is more than one player, then you'll have to have a main pot and a side pot.

this is where i got that from
Small Blind Not Enough Chips

only the big blind is live at the start of a game. the small blind is still to act. hope this helps.

thanks guys, i can take this back to my friends now so they know what's going on from this point forward...

this definitely wasn't a house rule, this was them arguing that these were the rules of hold-em and that they do it this way everywhere, including the wsop. i didn't feel like arguing so i just left it go (and then won the tournament anyway later

crackers8199 said:

but i was always under the assumption that any player can only win the amount they have in the pot times the number of players...

Click to expand...

Bingo. Your friends are wrong.

Yeah I agree with Mortis, your friend has no clue what he is talking about. He can only win from each player what he has in front of him.