Pot-Limit Betting: How to Calculate the Pot

Omaha is almost always played pot-limit: the most you can bet or raise is the size of the pot. It’s a simple idea with one twist that confuses everyone at first — when you raise, you first add the amount you’d need to call, and then raise by the size of the new pot. Once you learn the quick formula, you’ll be able to calculate any pot-sized bet in a second, online or live.

Key takeaways

• The maximum bet is the size of the pot.
• A pot-sized raise = your call + the size of the pot after your call.
• Quick formula: pot raise = 3 × the last bet + everything else that was in the pot before it (the 'trail').
• Preflop, a pot-sized open is 3.5 big blinds.
• The pot limit makes it hard to get all-in early, so hands usually play over several streets.

The maximum bet

If nobody has bet yet on this street, you can bet anything from one big blind up to the total in the pot. Pot is 40 → you can bet up to 40.

The maximum raise

When someone has bet, a pot-sized raise works in two steps:

1. Call the bet (in your head). The pot now includes your call.
2. Raise by the size of that new pot.

Example. The pot is 20. Your opponent bets 10.

• Step 1: you call 10 → the pot would be 20 + 10 + 10 = 40.
• Step 2: raise by 40 → your total bet is 10 + 40 = 50.

The quick formula

Pot raise = 3 × the last bet + the trail

where the trail is everything in the pot before that last bet (including earlier bets on the street).

Check it: 3 × 10 + 20 = 50. ✓

Preflop

The blinds count as bets. With blinds of 1/2:

Action	Calculation	Pot-sized amount
Open raise (first in)	3 × 2 + 1	7 (3.5bb)
3-bet over a 7 open, blinds still in	3 × 7 + 3	24
3-bet over a 7 open and one caller	3 × 7 + (1 + 2 + 7)	31
4-bet over a 24 3-bet (open 7 and blinds in the pot)	3 × 24 + (1 + 2 + 7)	82

Many players open for less than the pot — 2.5–3bb online is common — but the pot-sized raise is the maximum.

Post-flop examples

Situation	Calculation	Pot-sized raise
Pot 30, opponent bets 30	3 × 30 + 30	120
Pot 50, opponent bets 20	3 × 20 + 50	110
Pot 50, bet 20, raise to 60 (now you re-raise)	3 × 60 + (50 + 20)	250

How the pot limit shapes the game

Because bets are capped, stacks can’t all go in before the flop unless there have been several raises. With 100bb stacks:

• A single-raised pot leaves you playing post-flop with a high stack-to-pot ratio — lots of room to bet, raise and bluff over three streets.
• A 3-bet pot often gets close to all-in by the turn with pot-sized bets.
• A 4-bet pot preflop is usually all-in or nearly so by the flop.

That’s why stack-to-pot ratio is so important in Omaha — see SPR and Commitment in PLO.

Getting all-in with pot-sized bets

A useful fact: each pot-sized bet that gets called triples the pot. Starting from a pot of 10 with 95 behind each:

• Flop pot bet 10 → pot 30 (85 behind).
• Turn pot bet 30 → pot 90 (55 behind).
• River: 55 is less than the pot — all-in.

So in a single-raised pot at 100bb, it takes about three pot-sized bets to get all the money in.

Quick check

The pot is 40 and your opponent bets 20. What is the maximum you can raise to?

6080100120

Check answer

3 × 20 + 40 = 100. (Call 20 → pot 80; raise 80 → total 100.)

Quick check

Blinds are 1/2. What's a pot-sized open raise from under the gun?

4679

Check answer

3 × 2 + 1 = 7, or 3.5 big blinds.

Practise until the numbers come instantly in the pot-limit trainer: pot opens, pot 3-bets and post-flop raises.

Next up: why hands in Omaha run so close together — PLO Hand Values.