Reading Board Textures in Texas Holdem

Learning to read different board textures is a critical aspect in playing winning poker. Some players will bet and call with no regard to the board texture, which can be a costly mistake. By considering the board texture and assigning a hand range on your opponents, you are able to know with greater accuracy if your opponent has a hand.

The first thing you will need to identify is the flop board texture, however the concept of board texture can be discussed as a general concept. Once you get to the river card, you can consider the board texture with all 5 cards on the board, but there is betting and decisions which need to be made before you get to the river card, if the hand even goes that far.

When you think about and analyse board textures you should think of them in terms of being “dry boards” or “wet boards”. There are a wide variety of different flops and cards which can come on the flop, but if you simplify board textures into these two categories, you will make your actions and decisions easier to make.

Dry boards AKA dry flops if referring to only the 3 cards on the flop, refer to boards which are not very coordinated and usually only have one high card and two low cards. Examples of a dry board would be a rainbow flop of K74 or when its a paired flop such as Q44. There are just not many hands which could have connected with these type of boards.

Wet boards AKA wet flops are the complete opposite of dry boards, they are draw heavy boards which are very coordinated, so there are more straight and flush draw combos to consider. For example, a wet board would be something like 79T with 2 suited cards or JKQ rainbow flop. Both of these boards have many potential draws and likely hit your opponents range.

Reading the board texture is very important when you consider if you should make a continuation bet. Obviously, if you hit the flop hard there is not much to consider, you will bet, but luck is not always on your side and this is where poker skill play a role. By evaluating the board texture and the range of cards your opponent could be holding, you can more accurately determine if you should bet when you miss the flop, if you think you can get a fold from a worse hand.

Dry boards are likely get more folds then wet boards for the simple reason that there are fewer combinations of hands which could have connected with the flop. They are the best boards to cbet when you have missed the flop, especially against opponents who play fit and fold poker and have no understanding of board textures. You should also consider your bet sizing on dry boards even when you hit the flop, even though you are confident you have the best hand, what hand are you expecting to get called with, there are just so few hands which can call, so bet size appropriately and bet a bit smaller.

Wet boards on the other hand more then likely hit your opponents range of hands. If you don’t hit the flop hard, you should be less willing to continuation bet, because you won’t just get calls from pairs but drawing hands as well. When you do have a hand, your bet sizes should be bigger to get your opponent to pay for draws and worse hands which have connected in someway.

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