What's a

Watching "Poker after Dark," there was a “bomb” pot. What is that?

A bomb pot is a round of poker where each player puts a pre-determined amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. This amount, similar to an ante, is either agreed on by the players or determined by house rules; either way, as a rule, it's five times the big blind, which is a sizable investment in a hand of poker.

Then the dealer pitches the players their two hole cards and turns up the three-card flop, thus eliminating the preflop betting. After the flop is seen, betting continues as normal: post-flop, turn, and river.

Thing is, with nine random hands all seeing the flop, a lot of money in the pot, and less information from the exclusion of the early round of betting, anything can happen. And it often does. Bomb pots are meant to foster big pots and hot and heavy action.

As such, a lot of players don't like bomb pots.

The pot triggers some furious betting from players angling for a big payoff or just trying to protect their ante. Commonly, two or three players wind up all in, one of whom scoops a mess of chips. But with two losers, plus the winner sometimes walking with the winnings, and all those extra chips taken from the rest of the players in one feel swoop, it changes the whole dynamic of the table.

As one poker writer put it on PokerNews.com, "It's not good for the players or the game when everyone's session results are heavily skewed by a small number of artificially massive pots — pots that eliminate a fair chunk of the skill we've worked so hard to acquire."

Still, bomb pots are gaining popularity for a reason: exciting poker.

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Comments

djm Mar-03-2023

Bomb Pot Poker Tournament

It would be interesting to see "bomb pots" used in casinos or tournaments, like World Series of Poker.

Jackie Mar-03-2023

Bomb pots are not poker

You would have better odds playing max credits on a multi line slot machine.

Kevin Lewis Mar-03-2023

It's bingo

With 45-50 times the big blind in the pot, and no information available preflop, and of course, no choice re hand selection, it ain't poker. There's definitely a skill element to it, but the variance is horrible.

The worst part is that it crushes the game. Players bust out, and one or two players get a massive amount of chips. The rounds of real poker that follow seem almost trivial.

Yecch.

O2bnVegas Mar-03-2023

another good one

This is one I knew nothing about, but very interesting.  Appreciate the question, the answer, and the comments that follow.

Candy

Lotel Mar-03-2023

Sounds great

That sounds a lot better than boring  regular poker where a lot of people  just sit and fold  until they get two good cards. Good idea to take the "skill" out of live poker it  and make it fair for average players and tourist . gambling at casinos should be  for fun,  not for some pro skilled player just taking money from tourists.   do any casinos have it

gaattc2001 Mar-03-2023

Another game to put on my "Do not Play" list...

right up there with six-to-five Blackjack.

VP Ray Mar-05-2023

Missing a feature?

When I've witnessed bomb pots at Westgate, there are two sets of boards, with, I believe, a round of betting between them. I forget how many board cards are dealt at one time.

Neal Greenberg Mar-08-2023

A true bomb pot has.....

Two flops are played with the goal of winning them both.  However, splits do occur.

Question of the Day - 03 March 2023

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