A tie goes to the runner in baseball, but a tie in poker results in a split of the pot. Just what constitutes a tie can be confusing. Before you join a Sit-n-Go or play live poker you should brush up on what constitutes a tie, so let's look at some examples.

Is this a Tie at Texas Hold'em?

Suppose there are two players left in a pot. The five community cards showing on the board are 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, two clubs, two hearts and a diamond. Player 'A' turns over their starting hand and shows a 3 and 4. He had two pair before the river, but now the board is a straight.

Player 'B' turns over their cards and shows a King and a Queen of clubs. They had four clubs and missed the flush on the river. So, who wins?

Poker Winnings Split Numbers

1. Unreported Split. In general the IRS only requires you to report income that is yours. If lottery winnings you receive are split with other winners and you are the only person who receives a W2-G.
2. $ 3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (Event #31) 46th World Series of Poker - WSOP 2015, Las Vegas 6th $ 52,324 30-Jun-2014: United States $ 3,000 Omaha Hi/Lo (Event #59) 45th World Series of Poker - WSOP 2014, Las Vegas 37th $ 5,888 24-Jun-2014: United States.
3. If You're Playing With a Backer, How Should Winnings Be Split? April 6, 2009 5 min read. E-mail your poker questions and comments to email protected for use in future columns.
4. In most cases, poker comes off as a zero-sum game in which one player takes the winnings while all others would lose. However, split poker differs significantly from this well-established tradition or conventions. In this case, split pot poker allows more than one winner, which means that the chips would be divided among the different winners.

Poker Winnings Splits

In Texas Hold'em, the highest combination of five cards wins the pot. So, regardless of the fact that player 'A' had two pair or that player 'B' had higher cards, the best five cards are the straight of 2-3-4-5-6, and since the game includes five community cards available to every player still in the pot, both players will use all five cards on the board to make the same hand, a 6-high straight. Thus, this hand becomes a split pot.

Of course one of the players may bluff at the pot, trying to convince the other that they hold a 7 or even a 7-8 and a higher straight. That's just advanced play and not much you can do about it.

Poker Variants: Split Pot Games This page lists poker games in which the pot is normally shared between two or more winners according to different criteria. Sometimes these are the highest and lowest hand, and sometimes other criteria are used such as highest concealed spade, and so on. In some split pot games the pot is simply shared.

Poker Winnings Split Game

Another Tie Example

Suppose three players call pre-flop, which shows 6-6-8. Player 'A' has pocket aces and bets, called by player 'B' who holds Ace-King suited and a four-flush, and player 'C' who flopped four to a straight. The betting is heavy. On the turn, another 6 hits the board. Now player 'A' has sixes full of aces, player be still has a 4-flush, and player 'C' folds.

The river is another 6, leaving a board of 6-6-8-6-6. Now the best hand is quad 6's with an ace, and both players remaining split the pot. Bummer for player 'A' who's full-house dominated on the turn, but turned into a split on the river!

When Kickers Play

In the last example, both players used their Ace-kicker to claim a split of the pot. Other times kickers can be even more confusing. Suppose the final board is all spades: Ace-K-6-5-4

Poker Winnings Spreadsheet

Player 'A' has two spades in their hand, Jack and 6. Player 'B' has a pair of queens, one of which is a spade. In this case, player 'B' wins because their final hand of Ace-K-Q-6-5-4 spades is higher than player 'A's' hand of Ace-K-J-9-8 spades.

If the players had each held just a single spade in their hand, player 'A' the 2 and player 'B' the 3, this would be a split pot, as the final community cards of Ace-K-6-5-4 would be the highest hand. You'll start to understand these concepts quickly as you learn more advanced strategies.

One Last Example

Now suppose there is an all-in wager preflop and two players call. Player 'A' holds pocket Jacks and player 'B' hold's pocket Tens. The board comes Ace-King-Queen. Player 'A' leads and both have a straight draw. The turn is an Ace and the river is another King, for a final board of:

Poker Winnings Split Lines

Ace-King-Queen-Ace-King

Poker Tournament Winnings Split

Looks like player 'B' caught-up! Now it's a tie because the board plays and those pocket jacks and tens aren't going to be used! It's simply two-pair (Aces and Kings) with a queen kicker!