3 Tips for Playing Double Board PLO Bomb Pots

Double board PLO bomb pots have taken over the poker scene in Texas and they have spread to other games throughout the world.

But despite their rising popularity, little has been shared about the proper strategies to implement.

Because of that, Upswing PLO coach Dylan Weisman posted a video to his Twitter account where he gave three tips for playing this unique form of poker. Watch the video below or keep reading for a summary of his tips.

As we all know, everything is bigger in Texas …
That includes Bomb pots.

Recently I visited @LodgePokerClub and it got me thinking: how can I help my students improve their Bomb pot game? pic.twitter.com/0AcJxhJC6W

— Dylan Weisman (@Dweisman13) March 22, 2022

What is a Double Board PLO Bomb Pot?

Double board PLO bomb pots start with each player putting in a set amount of money into the pot, say $25 in a $2/$5 game.

From there, each player is dealt a four-card PLO starting hand. There is no preflop action that follows.

The dealer then deals out two separate flops and the action begins with the player left of the Button. From there, the game plays like PLO, but where the winner of each board gets half of the total pot. If one player has the best hand on both boards or takes down the hand with a bet, they win the whole pot.

For example, let’s say the two final boards are (A♣ Q♦ T♠ 6♥ 2♣) and (8♣ 8♠ 4♠ 3♥ 2♦) and there is $1000 in the pot after the river. Player A has K♠ J♠ 5♠ 5♦ and Player B has T♣ 8♥ 5♣ 4♦. Each player would win $500 because they each won one board.

Tip #1 – Never bet on the flop out of position

In PLO bomb pots, you should never bet the flop from any position other than the Cutoff or Button. 

When you have a hand worthy of betting from an earlier position, you should instead look to check-raise.

The reason for this is that when everyone gets to the flop with four random cards, ranges are very competitive. When ranges are competitive, position plays a massive role because you get to see how other players act before you. To counteract this advantage and keep your range uncapped, it is best to check everything from the early positions and proceed from there.

Tip #2 – You don’t want to play middling combinations on both boards

In PLO bomb pots, a lot of players get into trouble when they have good but not great hands on both boards.

You are better off having the nuts on one board and nothing on the other board than mediocre hands on each.

When you have a game type where everyone sees the flop, polarity is king. You want to be able to almost always win at least one of the two boards. Because if not, the probability of getting scooped is very high since there is so high of a chance that someone has the nuts on at least one of the two board textures.

For example, if you have middle two pair on one board and bottom straight on one board, you should not be looking to put in piles of money. This is because both of your hands are mediocre and you have a high chance of losing both boards. 

Tip #3 – The more disjointed the boards are, the bigger your bet size should be

One factor to consider when choosing a bet size in PLO bomb pots is how similar the two boards are.

If you are almost guaranteed to win on one board but have nothing on the other board, you want people to fold because that is likely the only way you can win the full pot. This incentives using big bet sizes.

To demonstrate this, let’s use an example where the two flops are AKQ and 876. This hand is a good spot to use a large bet size because at this point in the hand, the two boards have nothing in common. If you have a hand like JT32 here, you benefit from trying to take the pot down so that you win the whole pot.

On the other hand, if the two boards are AKQ and 987 where JTxx makes the nuts on both boards, you actually want to bet smaller because that one combination is so powerful.

Wrapping Up

Double board PLO bomb pots are new, but since they are starting to spread across the poker world it is good to have some basic strategies like these in case your regular game starts incorporating them.

That’s it for today. Good luck at the tables this week!