In poker, table stakes refers to the maximum a player can bet and possibly lose during the course of a single hand. It is the money he or she has on the table at the beginning of that hand. This is in contrast to the classic poker notion from the movies of a player "betting the wagon wheels" when a good hand comes along.

When playing with table stakes, if a player runs out of chips during the course of a hand, he or she is considered "all-in". This means he can neither purchase more chips in the middle of the hand to continue betting, nor can he or she be forced to fold by other players in the hand. As others continue to bet, the player who is all-in stands to win a fraction of the total pot proportional to the amount he or she has risked. Subsequent bets made by the players who are not all in go into a "side pot". When the hand comes to an end, the players who were not all in first turn over their hands to see who wins the side pot. Then, the person who was all-in turns over his or her cards. If he or she holds the best hand on the table, he or she wins the main pot.

Table stakes is the method of choice for virtually all casino settings and "serious" poker environments. When playing no-limit, after all, the lack of table stakes would allow a very rich player to make a large bet on every hand that no other player would be able to call. In typically lower stakes home games, players may be allowed to buy more chips in the middle of a hand. One method, called "pulling light", allows a player who has run out of chips to begin taking chips out of the pot equal to the value of each of their subsequent bets. If they win the pot, they may simply take it, and if they lose they must match the chips they have pulled out of their next buy in.

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