The Different Board Types

Before we start thinking about how we are going to play our hands postflop, we first have to explore the different types of board we can expect in postflop situations. Rather than thinking about every single possible postflop combination, it is much easier to bunch general types of board into two categories: Wet and dry.

What is a Wet Board?

To keep it simple, a wet flop or board is one that gives our opponent more opportunity to have a good hand, whether this is made hands or draws. Wet flops usually consist of multiple connected cards and/or suited cards, giving players more opportunity to have straight draws or flush draws. These are boards that we don’t want to bluff often, as it is much less likely that our opponent will fold to our bets.

When we do bet on these boards, we want to bet bigger than on dry boards, as if we have a made hand we want our opponent to pay as much as possible to try and complete their draw, and not give them a cheap option.

You can see a great example of a wet board below.

The above is a perfect example of a wet board. This board has many draws available. If we bet on this flop, our opponent can call or raise with any J, 8, 6, T, 9, or suited Heart hand. This means that betting on this board will often see our bet called, meaning we should aim to bet with our good hands and not bet with our bluffing hands.

What is a Dry Board?

A dry board is the opposite of a wet board, one that gives our opponent little chance of having a good hand. Dry boards consist of unconnected cards, preferably with an Ace or King as the highest card (meaning our opponent can’t call with overcards hoping to hit top pair), with these cards being unsuited (a flop with three unsuited cards is called a rainbow flop).

Another way a board can be dry is if there is a pair on the board, such as a board of 55A, because the presence of the pair on the board means it is much less likely for our opponent to have one of those cards.

Dry boards are boards we can bluff effectively, as it is much less likely for our opponent to hold a hand that can continue versus a bet. We can also bet smaller on these boards, as it will allow us to bluff without risking as many chips. Since there are no draws, it is also unlikely for our opponent to fold on later streets, meaning we can bluff cheaply on the flop and bet bigger to get more money with our good hands.

A great example of a dry board is shown below.

This is a perfect example of a dry board, it has high card value, meaning our opponent can’t call with overcards. There are also absolutely no draws available, as the board is completely unconnected and rainbow. This means the only cards our opponent can call a bet with are a K and maybe a 7 (although they will probably fold this later on), so we can profitably bet this board as a bluff.

We can also bet small, as there is no need to try and make our opponent fold draws.

Summary

• Different types of postflop board affect our decisions
• These can be categorised into wet boards and dry boards
• A wet board consists of connected, suited cards where our opponent can hold many draws and continue versus our bets, these are boards we shouldn’t bluff
• A dry board is the opposite, consisting of unconnected, unsuited cards where our opponent can’t hold many draws, these are boards we can profitably bluff.