Pot-Limit Betting

"What's in the pot? How much can I bet?"

When playing in a live cardroom, the trickiest and perhaps most intimidating thing to pick up for most players new to pot-limit Omaha is the pot-limit betting structure, as hold'em is most often played with either a limit or no-limit betting structure. The drawback to pot-limit play is that it requires keeping track of the money that goes into the pot. The dealers will do this for you, and will tell you the pot size and how much you can bet and raise upon request, but it is beneficial for you to be able to do this on your own.

The maximum bet that a player can make is the size of the pot; if there is $25 in the pot, the most that a player can bet is $25. However, in games in which odd chips are used, this is often rounded up. For example, in a $2-$3 blinds game in which it is understood that all of the betting except the initial blinds is done in $5 betting units, a player can bet $185 when there is $183 in the pot.

The maximum amount that a player can raise when facing a bet is the size of the pot. It should be noted that this includes the amount that a player must put in to call the bet. So, for example, if there is $25 in the pot before the flop and the first player bets $25, the next player can call the $25 and raise $75 more, to a total of $100. If there is $25 in the pot before the flop, and the first player bets $25 and the next player calls, the third player can call the $25 and raise $100 more, to $125 total. Also, if there is $25 in the pot, and the first player bets $25 and you raise the maximum to $100, he can call the $75 - putting a total of $225 in the pot - and reraise a maximum of $225 more.

In live play, it should be noted that the small blind counts as a full blind for betting purposes before the flop. In a $2-$5 blinds game, for example, the first player into the pot can call the $5 big blind and raise $15 (instead of just $12), to $20.

Some Useful Shortcuts

Here are a few shortcuts for figuring out how much is in the pot, and how much a pot-sized raise is:

Betting the pot on the flop: When trying to figure out how much is in the pot on the flop, you need to know three basic things: (1) the number of players who took the flop, (2) the size of the bet before the flop, and (3) other dead money (the blinds, or the limpers who folded to a raise). So, in a $5-$5 blinds game in which five players see the flop for $25 each, but both blinds fold, the pot is 5 x $25, plus the $10 in dead blinds money, for a total of $135. If, instead, six players - including both blinds - see the flop for $30 each, there will be $180 in the pot.

Both examples assume that nobody else put money into the pot.

Raising the full pot against a pot-sized bet on the flop: When facing a pot-sized bet with no other action in front of you, figuring out the size of a full pot-sized raise is simple: You can raise to four times the amount of the bet. So, if there is $100 in the pot, you can raise to $400.

Now, if there is a pot-sized bet and one or more callers, add a multiple for every caller. So, if there is $100 in the pot and there is a pot-sized bet and a call, you can raise to five times the amount of the bet, or $500. If there is $100 in the pot, and there is a pot-sized bet and two callers, you can raise to six times the size of the bet, or $600.

Raising the full pot against a less-than-pot-sized bet on the flop: Let's say there is $100 in the pot, and your opponent bets $50. How much can you raise?

This is simpler than it looks. When your opponent bets less than the size of the pot, you can raise to four times the size of the bet plus the difference between the size of the bet and the size of the pot. More simply, you can bet four times $50, or $200, plus the difference between the $100 pot and the $50 bet. Because $100 - $50 = $50, you can raise to $200 + $50, or $250 total.

But what if there is $100 in the pot, and the first player bets $50 and another player calls? How much can you raise then?

This is also simpler than it looks. As before, you add a multiple for every caller, and then add in the difference between the size of the bet and the size of the pot. So, in this case, you can raise to five times the bet - or $250 - plus the difference between the $100 pot and the $50 bet, for a total of $250 + $50, or $300. And if, instead, there is a $50 bet and two callers, you can raise to six times the $50 bet - or $300 - plus the $50 difference, for $350 total.

Jeff Hwang is a semiprofessional player and author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy. He is also a longtime contributor to the Motley Fool, and the publisher of Ask J. Boz: The Average Joe's Guide to Women. His second book, titled Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, is due out in mid-2009. You can check out his website at jeffhwang.com.