to bet after you are all in can still bluff each other out of the side pot, which is also to your advantage since they reduce your competition without risk to you. But these advantages are more than offset by the disadvantage that you cannot win any more money than what your stake can cover. After all, the object of poker is not to win hands—it is to win money.
If a player goes all in with a raise rather than a call, another special rule comes into play. There are two options in common use here: pot limit and no limit games always use what is called the full bet rule, while fixed limit or spread limit games use either the full bet rule or the half bet rule. The full bet rule states that if the amount of an all in raise does not equal the full amount of the previous raise, it does not constitute a "real" raise, and therefore does not reopen the betting action. The half bet rule states that if an all in raise is equal to or larger than half the bet being raised, it does constitute a raise and reopens the action.
For example, a player opens the betting round for $20, and the next player has a total stake of $25. He may raise to $25, declaring himself all in, but this does not constitute a "real" raise, in the following sense: if a third player now calls the $25, and the first player's turn to act comes up, he must now call the additional $5, but he does not have the right to reraise further. The all in player's pseudo-raise was really just a call with some extra money, and the third player's call was just a call, so the initial opener's bet was simply called by both remaining players, closing the betting round (even though he must still equalize the money by putting in the additional $5). If the half bet rule were being used, and the all in player had raised to $30 instead of $25, then that raise would count as a genuine raise and the first player would be entitled to reraise if he chose to (this would create a side pot for the amount of his reraise and the third player's call, if any).
When all players are all-in, or one player is playing only against opponents who are all-in, no more betting can take place. In a casino, when this occurs, it is required that all players still playing flip up their hole cards even though the game may not be over yet. Likewise, any other cards that would normally be dealt face down, such as the final card in seven-card stud, are dealt face-up. These rules discourage collusion.
"Going light"
Because these rules are complicated (especially when more than one player goes all in, or there are pots to be split because of ties), informal home games often allow players to temporarily borrow money to add to their stake during a hand when necessary, which is called going light. This is never allowed in casino games.
Showdown
In all poker games, if more than one player remains after the last betting round, all of the players expose and compare their hands to determine the winner or winners. This is called the showdown.
All players should expose their hands immediately, and each player is entitled to see every other player's hand. Because exposing a losing hand gives information to an opponent, many players are reluctant to expose their hands until after their opponents have done so. To avoid this deadlock, casinos often have a rule specifying which player is required to show his hand first (usually the one who made the last raise), and then each player after that is required to show his hand in turn. Some players may choose to discard their hand and forfeit their interest in the pot rather than show their losing hand. If this happens, any other player involved in the showdown may demand that the hand be shown.
Because the act of folding a losing hand rather than showing it down is so common, some players can take advantage of others who do this with a rare play called a "call-bluff". For example, if you know that a player always folds rather than showing his hand if he was bluffing, you might call his last bet even with a hand inferior to the one you suspect him of bluffing with, expecting that he will simply fold before he sees that you don't actually have him beat.
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