Poker is a game of incomplete information. We study ranges, patterns, and the metagame. We are obsessed with discovering what is hidden from view. Unfortunately, with this attitude, it is all too easy to forget the basics and miss something obvious, hidden in plain sight: the board texture.
Community cards get far less attention than they deserve. As a result, we end up getting less information out of them than we could. In this article, we’ll go back to basics to try to answer a seemingly simple question: How do you read board texture?
Board texture types
As soon as the community cards hit the table, it is important to realize what kind of texture we are dealing with.
- Board rainbow, or rainbow. Example: :Kh :7c :2d . This is a classic. With no flush draws possible, both players miss out on a considerable number of hands where they could be more aggressive or even call a bet. Playing this type of table can be tricky at higher levels, while at lower levels they are usually synonymous with the good old “c-bet and fold”.
- Two-tone board. Example: :9s :7s :3c . This type of board is much more complicated to play because the calling ranges are much wider compared to the previous board. In addition, the possibility of a potential c-bet being raised or even checked increases considerably here.
- Board with only one tone. Example: :As :Ks :8s . In this type of texture, the relative strength of the most common hands such as top pair and second pair, or even two pair or a set, drops considerably. Furthermore, trying to go for a higher flush is usually not a profitable play, since if we do get it, it will be very obvious for our opponents to find out, preventing us from extracting what we need to make the play worthwhile.
- Board with pairs. Example: :Jh :Jd :6c . Similar to a rainbow board, the ranges available to be aggressive and to continue the hand are very limited. Thus, there is not much action at this type of board. This is especially true against players who play ABC, who will quickly give up the hand they are holding, whether it is a set or not.
Board texture and implied odds
Board texture can be very important when considering implied odds. It is very difficult to extract any money from a :Kh :7h :2h :4h :5d board holding :Ah :Qh , since the board is blocking any play beyond the flush, discouraging medium strength hands from calling any bets, since the flush is a very likely hand to hold.
It is, however, much easier to extract value on a :9c :8c :7h :3h :2h board, as it is harder for our opponent to put us on any nuts, plus there are many strong hands that villain can have, such as 99, 88, 77, JJ+, 56s, JT, flush with K-high, etc. Similarly, betting for value holding Q8o on an ATJ59 board is almost like stealing candy from a baby, while trying to do the same holding 89 on a 5627J board will be considerably more difficult.
The first table offers many options of strong hands that your opponent may have, making your draw somewhat disguised, while in the second hand the exact opposite happens.
Blockers
When we talk about blockers, we usually mean the decrease in the probability of a certain card being in the villain's range, based on the fact that this card is in our hand. What we often forget to take into account is the fact that the board is just as good as our hand, if not better, at blocking cards. One of the most obvious and valuable examples is the situation where the board with a possible flush draw also has the Ace of the same suit as the flush draw.
For example, a :Ac :2h :5c board will block some flush draw hands that villain could have, simply due to the fact that AX hands are among the most popular to play preflop. Sometimes, this decrease in probability will be extremely severe. Ultra-conservative players who open raising from UTG can have many flush draws on a :Jc :2h :5c board, and virtually no flush draw combos on a :Ac :2h :5c board.
Paired boards are also great for blocking cards in both players' ranges, as it's difficult to make a set or pair when you only have one card available to make the game with your hand.
Blockers on the turn can expose a bluff quite easily. The most obvious example is when a second Ace comes on the turn, causing the player who c-bet the flop to have to slow down the action, as the hand he was representing has become very unlikely.
Absolute and relative strength of a hand
In my opinion, one of the most common mistakes made by recreational players, or even regular players with little experience, is to blindly look at the absolute strength of the hand, without taking into account the texture of the flop. Flopping top pair with :Ah :Kh on a :Ac :4s :9d board is undoubtedly better than making top pair with :Jh :9c on a :9s :7s :6h board. Usually, the relative strength of the hand is much more important than its absolute strength, and the texture of the board is the main determinant of this difference.
Let's consider some other examples. You flop a set with :9s :9c on a :9h :3d :2c board and have the absolute nuts. The probability of losing the hand is very low. However, the same set of 9s on a :Jd :Td :9d board is no longer the nuts.
Paying proper attention to the community cards is often the first thing that separates a solid player from a recreational one, and it's a skill that will be essential throughout your poker career.
Article translated and adapted from the original: How to Read Border Texture
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