In poker, the term “main pot” is used when one of the players goes all-in (bets all their chips), and there is at least one opponent who can keep playing with other players.

This is how it works:

Player A goes all-in, betting all their chips.

Players B and C decide to keep playing.

When this happens, all the chips bet by Player A form the “main pot”. If Player B and Player C want to bet more than Player A, they can form an additional pot - the “side pot”.

The main pot can only be won by the player who went all-in or by a player who matched their bet and who has a better hand of cards. The side pot is only played between Players B and C. As a result, if Player A has the best hand, they only win the main pot, and the side pot goes to the next strongest player.