The Complete Guide › Module 5: Mixed Games — Omaha, Stud & Lowball

The Pot-Limit Betting Formula Every Dealer Needs

True Poker Dealer · Module 5, Lesson 2

Pot-limit games — most commonly Pot-Limit Omaha — intimidate new dealers more than almost anything else in this guide, and it's almost always because of one moment: a player says “pot,” and the dealer feels like they're supposed to produce the exact number instantly. You're not. There's a simple formula that gets you there reliably, and it's completely normal to work it out loud at the table.

The rule behind the formula

In a pot-limit game, the minimum raise works the same as no-limit — at least matching the previous bet or raise. The maximum is what's different: the biggest raise allowed is the size of the pot after the player calls. That's the whole rule. The formula below is just a fast, reliable way to get to that number without having to mentally rebuild the pot from scratch every time.

The formula: triple the bet, add the pot

When a player wants to raise “to the pot,” the total amount they need to put in — call plus raise, all together — is: three times the bet they're facing, plus everything else already sitting in the pot. “The bet they're facing” is whatever the most recent bet or raise was. “Everything else in the pot” is every other dollar in the middle that isn't that bet — earlier streets, dead money from folded players, all of it.

Here's a clean worked example. Say there's $100 already in the pot from earlier action, and a player bets $20. The next player wants to raise to the pot. The bet they're facing is $20 — tripled, that's $60. Add the $100 already in the pot: $60 + $100 = $160 total. That $160 is everything that player puts in, call and raise combined, not an additional raise on top of a separate call.

You can always check this against the plain-English version of the rule if you want to prove it to yourself: after calling the $20, the pot would hold $100 + $20 + $20 = $140. The max raise is the size of that pot, $140, on top of the $20 call, which is $160 total — same answer, longer way to get there. That's exactly why the formula exists: it gets you to the same correct number without rebuilding the whole pot in your head under pressure.

It's okay to work it out loud

A lot of new dealers assume they're expected to blurt out the number the instant a player says “pot.” You're not. Say the formula out loud as you go — “three times twenty is sixty, plus the hundred in the pot, that's a hundred sixty” — right in front of the table. It keeps everyone following along, it gives you a chance to catch your own mistake mid-sentence, and it looks far more professional than a long silent pause followed by a number nobody can verify.