A bomb pot is a hand where everyone antes, nobody bets before the flop, and the action starts with the flop already on the table. It makes a big pot out of nothing, which is why it shows up in a lot of home games.
How a bomb pot works
- Everyone puts in the same agreed ante.
- The dealer deals the hole cards as normal.
- There is no preflop betting. The flop is dealt straight away.
- Betting starts on the flop and carries on as usual through the turn and river.
That's it. The only thing that changes is what happens before the flop.
What the ante should be
Antes are usually set as a multiple of the big blind. Two to five big blinds per player is a common range. At $1/$2 blinds, that means $4 to $10 each, so a six-player bomb pot starts at $24 to $60.
Pick a number that doesn't scare anyone. The ante is mandatory, so it needs to be an amount that every player is comfortable losing on the spot.
How often
Common choices:
- Once per orbit. Every time the button goes round.
- Once per dealer change. Works well if your game rotates dealers.
- On request. A player calls it, and the table agrees. Simple, but it can be gamed by someone who wants to play only when it suits.
Having a fixed rhythm is fairer, and it stops the table drifting into "bomb pot every hand".
Rules to settle first
- Can you sit out? The usual format treats the ante as mandatory. If your group lets people fold before the flop, say so, because a pot with a few antes is much smaller than the idea intends.
- Short stacks. What if someone can't cover the ante? The simplest fix is that they put in what they have and are all-in.
- One board or two. Some groups deal two boards and split the pot between the winners of each. A player who wins both takes the lot.
- Hold'em or Omaha. Some tables switch to Omaha for bomb pots. Say which game it is before the cards are dealt.
Why groups like them
They create action without anyone having to take a risky stand preflop. Players who'd usually fold are in every hand, and the pots are bigger than the rest of the game. They also give a break from the slow preflop folding of a tight table.
The downside
They inflate variance. One bomb pot can swing a night. If your stakes are tight, or players have a small buy-in, keep antes low or run them less often.
Tracking the money
A bomb pot is part of the normal game, so there's nothing extra to settle: the ante is just chips in the pot. As long as your buy-ins and cash-outs are logged, settling up is the same as normal. If you'd like to see the other side games that people run, start here.