A bomb pot is a poker hand in which each player at the table contributes a predetermined amount of money to the pot before the hand is dealt.
The preflop betting round is omitted, and all players view the flop immediately.
On today’s poker cash game scene, bomb pots are becoming increasingly popular. Bomb pots, a Texas poker room staple like The Lodge, guarantee wild action, big money, and unpredictable results.
For every orbit around the table, some poker games require at least one bomb pot hand.
As a result, cash game players should learn how bomb pots function and what to expect when sitting down at a table where bomb pots are used.
Which Poker Games can you Play Bomb Pots with?
While playing No Limit Hold’em, Bomb Pots are the most popular. Bomb pots are growing popular in various poker types, including Pot Limit Omaha.
With four hole cards in PLO, the possibilities of multiple players reaching the flop increase dramatically.
It is almost as if the Texas Holdem poker game was designed specifically for the bomb pot poker
Poker Bomb Pots Rules
To initiate a bomb pot, each player at the table agrees to place a particular amount of money in the middle, similar to an ante.
The amount of this ante might vary depending on what the players agreed to or the card room’s rules.
The dealer then deals a flop and play resumes with the player seated to the left of the button. When that betting round is over, the dealer burns and turns, followed by another betting round, the river, and a final round of betting.
Assume you’re playing a $1/$3 No-Limit Hold’em game with bomb pots every time the dealer changes.
The ante for this game is $15, and every time a dealer changes, the new dealer’s first hand is dealt as a bomb pot.
Each participant contributes $15 to the bomb pot at the start. There is no other preflop action, and the hand moves directly to the flop.
The flop, turn, and river betting rounds begin in the same manner as in a typical game of No-Limit Hold’em. With $120 already in play and eight players heading to the flop, the post-flop action in a bomb pot usually plays out very differently than a typical poker hand.
Any player in this family pot can hold any two cards, so you never know who might have the best hand.
The flop, turn, and river all play out as they would in a normal Texas Hold’em hand, and the best hand at the end wins the pot.
Different poker rooms use different rules for bomb pot hands. At the Lodge’s Card Club for example, a special button goes around at bomb pot tables which is different from the standard dealer button.
The player holding the bomb pot button takes the position of the dealer button during the bomb pot hand.
A double board variant of the Bomb Pot may be seen in some card rooms. You will be playing two flops, turns, and rivers instead of one.
In this case, you may discover that you strike one board hard and the other not at all, adding an added degree of strategy to your play.
The player who wins on the first board receives 50% of the pot, while the person who wins on the second board receives 50% of the pot. Of course, if one player is successful in convincing all other players to fold, they will capture all boards and the whole pot.
When Do Bomb Pots Happen?
The specific regulations vary depending on the game. Certain casinos, for example, may run bomb pots on every dealer change.
Bomb pots frequently occur at random periods in online games.
A bomb pot may occur in a home game if everyone agrees.
Bomb Pot Strategy
In a bomb pot, you shouldn’t get too enthusiastic about large cards like AA or KK, which are usually strong favorites to win. In conventional poker, you can raise before the flip and only face one or two opponents.
No one folds out before the flop in a bomb pot. Hands like two pairs are suddenly possible on even the driest of flops, making those massive pairs difficult to play.
On a wet board with flush and straight draws, it’s likely that you’ll have to abandon those large hands.
Hands such as suited connectors or powerful flush draws will gain value while playing bomb pots.
Be warned that some of your lesser opponents will be in these hands with the intention of ‘gambling’. The bloated pot puts logic to one side, with many recreational opponents vying for the pot.
As a result, whatever fold equity you may have in a typical hand may be non-existent. In such instance, only bluff if you have a very strong sense that someone will fold.
Taking advantage of he high variance factor is another way to make bomb pots work when you play.
Expect to see a lot of chips in motion with bomb pots. To be true, there are instances when everyone misses and a really poor hand (or bluff) wins a little pot. Yet, with patience, you will be able to flip a hand powerful enough to commit your whole stack.
As if that weren’t enough, some players like participating in “double board” bomb pots. In this variation, two sets of community cards are dealt simultaneously, and the best hand based on each board wins half of the prize.
Following the collection of the ante(s), the dealer will throw out two flops, followed by a round of betting. Next, on each board, a turn card is added, followed by additional betting. Finally, the river finishes each board.
Are Bomb pots profitable?
Since each person is forced to pay a lot of extra rake and join the pot with any two cards, bomb pots are often less profitable than conventional pots in the long term. In certain situations, this disadvantage may be so severe that the entire table ends up losing on bomb pots in the long term, with the house the lone winner.
What to note?
Bomb pots are also particularly volatile since those who play are frequently compelled to put our whole stack in postflop while going up against many opponents.
