Cash Game Bomb Pot Thoughts (1 Viewer)

[emunster18]

I've been running a game for 2+ years now, and have integrated bomb pots into my cash games. Heres the structure:

0.25/0.50 blinds

Once per orbit, we high card for the bomb pot button. When the dealer button reaches the bomb pot button, we run a $2 ante double board NLHE bomb pot with a $20 betting cap. In addition to the ante, I have been throwing in additional fun things as host:

$5 Scratch-off ticket
Gift Cards (Starbucks, cookie shops, taco bell)
A couple $2 bills

My group really likes the bomb pots, and the cap keeps them relatively reasonable from a betting perspective. They end up going off every 30-45 mins or so, depending on the pace of the game and player count.

Question for the brain trust... is 30-45 mins too often? Not often enough? Is high carding to get the bomb button a reasonable method?

Maybe I am overthinking things, just always trying to find ways to improve the game and entertainment value.

 

[Eriks]

The way I think it’s usually done is having a bomb pot button move one step per orbit in the opposite direction of the dealer button. When they meet you play a bomb pot.

 

[Tonystark137]

I don't love the $20 cap post flop... but sounds good

 

[FestiveKnight]

Question for the brain trust... is 30-45 mins too often? Not often enough? Is high carding to get the bomb button a reasonable method?

Divergent question, what’s your hands per hour? Assuming you’re playing 8-handed, 30-45 min for an orbit is slow but not terribly slow. Thats where I’d look first if you feel like it should be happening on different pacing.

The more theoretical question is what percentage of the game’s action do you want taking place in the volatile bomb pot environment? Once per orbit keeps it constantly at 1/number players % of the time. Doing it by time instead of orbits/hands disrupts that.

My group that plays a lot of cash online does 5% chance on any given hand. That feels like the right frequency. In-person that might be roughly once every two or three orbits depending on player count

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

Thread 'The Official Bomb Pot Thread' https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-official-bomb-pot-thread.111212/

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Divergent question, what’s your hands per hour? Assuming you’re playing 8-handed, 30-45 min for an orbit is slow but not terribly slow. Thats where I’d look first if you feel like it should be happening on different pacing.

The more theoretical question is what percentage of the game’s action do you want taking place in the volatile bomb pot environment? Once per orbit keeps it constantly at 1/number players % of the time. Doing it by time instead of orbits/hands disrupts that.

My group that plays a lot of cash online does 5% chance on any given hand. That feels like the right frequency. In-person that might be roughly once every two or three orbits depending on player count

You also do a round of PLO bloodbaths, so I wouldn't rush the bomb pots!

 

[doublebooyah85]

We do an alarm for every 45 minutes.

There is a seperate bomb pot dealer button.

If your worried about the pot getting to big and people getting crushed you can try la cucurachie bomb pots.

$2 ante (example)
Double board plo flop
Then it’s call $18 or fold.
Turn / river no betting allowed. Just right to the river showdown.

So after the flop, you either get in or get out and there’s no more betting.

 

[FestiveKnight]

You also do a round of PLO bloodbaths, so I wouldn't rush the bomb pots!

Yes, that definitely is part of keeping it at 5%. We do 12 hands of NLHE then 3 hands of PLO.

And when the bomb hits on PLO the hand goes nuclear. If pokernow was sophisticated enough to have a max bet limit for the PLO bomb hands I would implement one…

You should’ve seen some of the hands last night after you left @NotRealNameNoSir but you can check final stacks lol.

 

[FestiveKnight]

We do an alarm for every 45 minutes.

There is a seperate bomb pot dealer button.

If your worried about the pot getting to big and people getting crushed you can try la cucurachie bomb pots.

$2 ante (example)
Double board plo flop
Then it’s call $18 or fold.
Turn / river no betting allowed. Just right to the river showdown.

So after the flop, you either get in or get out and there’s no more betting.

Oh I like that!

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Yes, that definitely is part of keeping it at 5%. We do 12 hands of NLHE then 3 hands of PLO.

And when the bomb hits on PLO the hand goes nuclear. If pokernow was sophisticated enough to have a max bet limit for the PLO bomb hands I would implement one…

You should’ve seen some of the hands last night after you left @NotRealNameNoSir but you can check final stacks lol.

Couldn't help it. Was getting off the train and didn't want to rebuy. GG

 

[TheRealStephen12]

This is just preference. If your group wants to play the same stakes with a $5 buy-in cap, that’s fine too. Ask your group what they want, since they are the ones who actually know what they like. Bomb pot button is a good help if you don’t want to draw for it, but pacing is definitely dependent on what you and your group want.

 

[emunster18]

Divergent question, what’s your hands per hour? Assuming you’re playing 8-handed, 30-45 min for an orbit is slow but not terribly slow. Thats where I’d look first if you feel like it should be happening on different pacing.

The more theoretical question is what percentage of the game’s action do you want taking place in the volatile bomb pot environment? Once per orbit keeps it constantly at 1/number players % of the time. Doing it by time instead of orbits/hands disrupts that.

My group that plays a lot of cash online does 5% chance on any given hand. That feels like the right frequency. In-person that might be roughly once every two or three orbits depending on player count

So, maybe my estimates are a little off. With the button randomized, it may be closer to every 1.5 orbits in that 30-40 minute time frame.

It's a casual home game, but I keep the pace decent. I use an automatic shuffler, rotate 2 decks, and keep things moving along. Maybe 25 hands/hour.

 

[emunster18]

We do an alarm for every 45 minutes.

There is a seperate bomb pot dealer button.

If your worried about the pot getting to big and people getting crushed you can try la cucurachie bomb pots.

$2 ante (example)
Double board plo flop
Then it’s call $18 or fold.
Turn / river no betting allowed. Just right to the river showdown.

So after the flop, you either get in or get out and there’s no more betting.

This is often what our $20 cap creates.

Flop comes, then someone caps the betting.

 

[raynmanas]

We do an alarm for every 45 minutes.

There is a seperate bomb pot dealer button.

If your worried about the pot getting to big and people getting crushed you can try la cucurachie bomb pots.

$2 ante (example)
Double board plo flop
Then it’s call $18 or fold.
Turn / river no betting allowed. Just right to the river showdown.

So after the flop, you either get in or get out and there’s no more betting.

i like this idea @Stackme

 

[TheYeti]

For the last couple years we've been triggering the bomb pots with a "all same suit" or "all same rank" flop. In a 6 hour session we will see anywhere from 2-3 to 8-10 bomb pots. Before this I would set an alarm for every hour, but my players really enjoy the randomness of this new method.

Our bomb pots have always been dealer's choice, but I noticed that we were only rotating through the same 3 or 4 variants (PLO, Pineapple, Crazy Pineapple, Hold Em), so just recently I made some modifications to @abby99's mixed-game cards and had them printed and laminated. At the start of a bomb pot the dealer picks one of these cards at random to determine what we are playing, and the dealer still has the choice of no-limit/pot-limit and double/single board. So far, my group is having a blast with the new variants!

 

[Knoxymoron]

We do bomb pots after a suited flop. We like the unpredictability of it and people love calling it out when it shows up. I'm always surprised at how infrequent it is though but I think that adds to the excitement when it finally happens. The game we play for it sometimes changes but we now deal in a ghost hand for added fun.