When a board deteriorates

Poker Strategy / Marcus Bateman / 27 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

Understanding the likely changes in board and how it affects not only your hand but your opponents is one of the key hallmarks of good players.

One of fundamental features of all good flop poker game poker players is their ability to fully understand how changes in the board affect the flow of the hand. As poker is a game of relativity, where your hand is only as strong as the likely possible hands out there, fully understanding just how profound an effect board changes can have is absolutely crucial to winning play.

Say you raise red aces 3x the blind from under the gun and get called by a solid loose aggressive player on the button. The flop comes out 8c7c5h and you fire 2/3 of the pot and get called again. This is a spot where a huge number of turn and river cards can make your life much harder. Any club, any card which puts four to a straight out, and even any pairing of the board may well make getting to showdown very expensive for you, and being able to slow down considerably in these spots can save you a fortune in the long run.

Now imagine the situation reversed. You see a tight aggressive player who you have seen make numerous big lay downs late in hands, raise from under the gun, and you decide to call with a hand like pocket fours. The same flop comes out and the tight player fires again. You decide to call with just a poor gutshot draw, not because you think you may be ahead (although you may well be against hands like ace king etc.), but that you know how narrow their range is, and how wide yours can appear.

So many turns and rivers open up immense bluffing opportunities for you in this spot, and against a player who you know will not just automatically stack off with aces, the combination of board and previous action frequently opens up an opportunity too good to miss.

Compare this with a spot where you call with pocket fours and the flop comes down AcQh3s and you face a bet. What possible turn and river cards are going to make this player consider folding here? There are basically zero turn cards and just a few possible rivers (mainly runner runners to a four straight) where you will have any chance of bluffing successfully.

Understanding the likely changes in board and how it affects not only your hand but your opponents is one of the key hallmarks of good players. Many inexperienced players fire wildly at terrible boards and shut down too early on great ones - a set of mistakes which both loses you money on one set of hands, as well as failing to win you money on the other - a terrible combination from any point of view.

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