How to deal a double board bomb pot

Before the cards

• Agree the ante. Every player in the hand puts in the same amount. Count the pot out loud once it is in: eight players at $5 is $40.
• Agree the game. Hold'em or Omaha, four, five or six cards, one board or two. In some games the player with the bomb pot button chooses.
• Mark the button. The button still sets the order of action. Some games use a separate bomb pot button that moves after each bomb pot.

The deal, step by step

1. Hole cards. Deal the full hand to everyone as usual. There is no preflop betting, so go straight on once every player has their cards.
2. Burn, then two flops. Burn one card. Deal three cards face up as the top board, then three more in a row below them as the bottom board. Keep a clear gap between the rows.
3. Flop betting. The first active player to the left of the button acts first. In Pot Limit Omaha the maximum is the pot. The Venetian's tournament rules set the minimum bet at the ante; check your house minimum.
4. Burn, then two turn cards. Burn one card. Deal one card to the end of the top board, then one to the end of the bottom board. Betting round.
5. Burn, then two river cards. Burn one card. One card to the top board, then one to the bottom board. Last betting round.
6. Showdown. Read the top board first, then the bottom board.

That is the procedure in the Asian Poker Tour handbook: one burn per street, three burns in the hand, not one per board. If your room deals it another way, the room's procedure wins; what matters is that it is the same every hand.

The pot limit, in a bomb pot

On the flop the pot is all the antes, and that is the biggest first bet. To work out the biggest raise, add the call to the pot and let the raiser bet all of it on top:

• Pot of 40. Player A bets the pot, 40. The pot is now 80.
• Player B wants to raise the most. B calls 40 first, so the pot is 120, and may then raise 120 more: a raise to 160.
• The quick rule, when nobody has called in between: the biggest raise is to three times the bet, plus the pot that was there before the bet. 3 × 40 + 40 = 160. Each call in between adds to the pot: if a third player had called the 40 first, the biggest raise would be to 200.

In a bomb pot every player is still in on the flop, so the pot can be large on the first bet. Say the pot size out loud when a player asks; in Pot Limit that is the dealer's job.

The showdown and the split

Split the pot in half before anything else. Then award each half on its own board.

• Different winners on each board. Each gets half.
• One player wins both boards. That player scoops the whole pot.
• A tie on one board. That half is split between the tied hands. With two tied, a player who ties one board and loses the other gets a quarter of the pot; with three tied, a sixth.
• Omaha hands. Exactly two cards from the hand and three from the board, on each board separately. A player can use a different two cards for each board.

Odd chips, as published: when the pot does not split evenly between the two boards, the odd chip goes to the top board. When a board's half splits between tied players, the odd chip goes to the first tied winner clockwise from the button. The Venetian's tournament sheets give the same first rule: the odd chips go to the top board winner.

A worked split. Pot of 1,000. Top board: Player A alone. Bottom board: A and B tie. Top half, 500, to A. Bottom half, 500, split 250 and 250. A gets 750, B gets 250. The river math page shows what that does to a river bet.

Mistakes that stop the game

• Mixing the boards. Keep the bottom board in its own row from the first card. A card that lands between the rows is the argument of the night.
• Burning per board. Under the procedure above it is one burn per street. Pick one way and keep it.
• Forgetting who acts first. There are no blinds in the hand: the first active player left of the button starts every street.
• Awarding the whole pot to the best hand. In a double board pot the best hand on one board wins half, unless it is also the best on the other board.

Hosting a home game? Settle the ante, the frequency, the burn procedure and the odd chip before the first bomb pot, and write them on a card at the table. The rules page covers the house rules that vary.

Where to go from here

• What is a bomb pot: the format in one page.
• Bomb pot calculator: settle the "who was ahead" argument after the hand.
• The course: for the players at your table who want to stop losing them. Lesson one is free.

Sources: the Asian Poker Tour handbook pages for Omaha and Hold'em double board bomb pots (antes, deal order, one burn per street, the split and both odd chip rules), and the Venetian DeepStack 2026 structure sheet for its PLO double board bomb pot event (every player antes, minimum bet the ante, maximum the pot, action starts left of the button, odd chips to the top board winner). Pot limit arithmetic is the standard rule. Checked on 22 October 2026.

Questions people ask

How do you deal a double board bomb pot?

Collect the same ante from every player, deal the hole cards, and skip preflop betting. Burn one card and deal the top flop, then a second flop below it. After the flop betting, burn one card and deal one turn card to each board, top first. After the turn betting, burn one and deal one river card to each board. At showdown award half the pot on each board.

How many burn cards are there in a double board bomb pot?

In the procedure published by the Asian Poker Tour, one burn card per street: one before the two flops, one before the two turn cards and one before the two river cards, three in all. Some rooms use their own procedure, so follow the house.

Who acts first in a bomb pot?

The first active player to the left of the button, on every street. There are no blinds in the hand, so the flop is played like a turn or river in a normal hand.

How do you split a double board pot with a tie?

Split the pot in half first, one half for each board. Then split each half between the players who tie on that board. With two players tied on a board, a player who ties that board and loses the other gets a quarter of the pot; with three tied, a sixth. In the published rules the odd chip from the first split goes to the top board, and the odd chip from splitting a board goes to the first tied winner clockwise from the button.

What is the maximum bet in a pot limit bomb pot?

The pot. On the flop the pot is all the antes: eight players at $5 make $40, so the biggest first bet is $40. To raise, the raiser first calls, and may then add the whole pot including that call: facing a $40 bet into $40 with no call in between, the biggest raise is to $160.