Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 16 January 2009 / Leave a comment

This a common term used by poker players when discussing how they played a specific hand. The term 'texture' in this context refers to what combination of cards have come down on the board, as it will nearly always have massive effects on how the hand should be played. Thinking about texture and how it impacts on your play is critical to becoming good at flop based games.

Analysing the texture of flops is critical to being able to make the best choices when playing, by thinking careful about not only your hand, but the possible hands the board allow, you can increase your win rate dramatically

A great example of how important texture can be is when playing big pairs in hold'em. Imagine that you find your self with pocket kings and get involved in a pot with one other player. The flop comes out Qh7c2s and your opponent bets into you. On a board like this, where the cards are spaced far apart, of different suits and with no pairs on the board, you can usually be happy just trying to get your money in - most of the time your opponent will have a hand that you crush, like king queen or queen jack.

Compare this to the same situation, only the board comes out 10hJhQh and you do not have a heart in your hand. If your opponent makes a big bet into here, you face a much harder set of decisions in terms of what to do with your hand. There are a myriad of hands that can have you crushed on a board like this. Your opponent may have two pair, a made flush or straight, or a monster draw that is at worst a coin toss against your hand. It is spots like this where good players really have a big edge, as through analysing the texture of the flop and drawing on past experiences they can make calls/folds that weaker players simply can't.

The really difficult decisions that you will face when playing flop games come on boards where the texture is in between these two extremes. Boards that are partially connected, such as Qh7c8c or QhJh4c, can pose significant problems if there is heavy betting into you - often you will be up against big draws or made hands.

Analysing the texture of flops is critical to being able to make the best choices when playing, by thinking careful about not only your hand, but the possible hands the board allow, you can increase your win rate dramatically.

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