A friend and I were playing heads-up texas hold-em. She had $21 left in her stack. I had $229. The blinds were $16/32 and she had the button and therefore had the small blind. She put in her $16 small blind and I put in my $32 big blind. She saw her cards and then pushed all-in with her remaining $5. She claimed that I was required to put in an additional $5 so that I'd have $37 invested into the pot even though she was all-in for a total of only $21 invested. She claimed that if she won the hand, she would get my $37 even though she had only begun the hand with a total stack of only $21. I disagreed and said that the most she could win from me was only $21 and that I'd be entitled to have the excess above and beyond my $21 "call" returned to me. She insisted that I would forfeit the full $32 big blind plus the additional $5 she had "raised" to go all-in. Who is right and who is wrong?
1 Answer
You are right and she is wrong. In Texas Hold'em, you can never win more from any one player in a hand than your starting stack for the hand.