How to play the Flop

In this article you’ll learn how to make your first decisions on the flop in No-Limit Texas Holdem, how to minimize your own mistakes and still play a versatile and aggressive poker.

Basic considerations and concepts

As the first three community cards are dealt on the flop, a whole new dynamic comes into play. The complexity is very different from the choice of starting hands pre-flop and makes it almost impossible to play purely by the charts. It’s important to understand the basic characteristics of the flop and to be able to find answers to the relevant questions for the rest of the hand before you take your first actions.

• Do you really want to keep playing with your hand or is it better to give up?
• Do you want to play aggressively or passively?
• What happens if your opponent defends aggressively forcing you to make difficult decisions?
• What is the maximum number of chips you’d like to play for?
• How much do you want to bet?
• and so on…

The recommendations in this section certainly don’t compare to the arsenal of skilled poker professionals, but they will at least help you sharpen your eye for the essentials of the game on the flop and minimize your own mistakes accordingly.

Criteria for evaluating the flop

For the game on the flop, it has proven to be a good idea to evaluate the flop according to two basic criteria. These criteria are the “high card value” of the flop and its connectivity in terms of its potential for both straights and flushes.

When you combine these two criteria, you have a solid foundation to evaluate the flop.

The three levels for the High Card potential can be classified as follows:

• no high cards in the bottom line
• only one high card in the middle line
• two or more high cards in the top line

The three levels of connectivity can be classified as follows:

• low connectivity (i.e. minimum straight and/or flush potential) in the first column
• medium connectivity i.e. moderate straight and/or flush potential in the second column
• high connectivity in the third column

Note, there is no real distinction between the categories. As I said, these are recommendations to help you learn how to deal with the different types of flops, not charts or specific instructions in the sense of “when those three cards come do this and when those three cards come do that”.

Now try to study the given examples to understand how the different categories differ from each other. Start from left to right and then from top to bottom:

1. A♦ A♥ J♠ in different colors consists only of high cards, but offers almost no obvious flush or straight potential
2. Q♦ 2♦ T♥ with Q and 2 in Diamonds contains two high cards with Q and T and has some connectivity in terms both flush and straight potential
3. K♣ Q♣ J♣ in one suit consists only of high cards and therefore has immense high card value and is an extreme example of high connectivity
4. 2♠ 7♦ Q♥ in different suits contains a high card but has no connectivity
5. 8♥ 5♣ A♥ with two Hearts contains with the Ace a high card and has due its Flush potential also a certain connectivity
6. J♠ T♥ 9♦ rainbow is in the middle range in terms of high card value but has high connectivity due to its straight potential
7. 2♠ 2♦ 8♥ has no high cards and no connectivity. On closer inspection, you’ll find that flops with a pair often have no connectivity, but have either high or low high card values
8. 2♠ 6♠ 9♣ with 2 spades does not include high cards but does have some connectivity and
9. 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ of the same suit does not include high cards but does have high connectivity due to its straight and flush potential. The flush potential can be weighted even higher, because you rarely get to the flop with low cards, so you can’t hope for a straight on this flop to often.

Game Plan for the Flop

Now that you’ve classified the flop in terms of high card heaviness and connectivity, you can decide how you want to play. Before you get to know a possible way of playing against only one remaining opponent, here are a few basic points for your game plan and the game against two or more opponents.

Basic game plan (incl. flops with two or more opponents)

1. If you decide to bet, bet about 2/3 of the pot, or if you have less than 50% of your chips left after your bet, go all in.
2. Avoid any Donk Bets, meaning you only bet yourself if you were the pre-flop aggressor.
3. Bet against two players with only top pair or better. If you have a pair that is not a top pair, then bet only if you have at least a shot to a straight or flush in addition to your pair.
4. With the recommendations given in this section you will automatically bluff from time to time, try not to add more bluffs.
5. If you encounter further resistance after your bet, you should only consider an all in if you have at least top pair with the best possible kicker, preferably with further potential to flush or straight.

In the following sections you will find concrete recommendations on how to proceed in the most common situations. You were the pre-flop aggressor, and now there’s only one other player on the flop with you.

Game plan on the Flop against one opponent

Recap with which cards you typically find yourself at the flop. You’ll find that your range is made up of high cards and pairs, you hold an ace relatively often, and you play mostly suited hands, that is, cards of the same suit.

Why is that important? In the following you will learn how to design your playing style not tailor-made for your specific hand, but plausibly for all possible hands of your particular position. In this way, your game is flexible and you make it difficult for your opponent to draw conclusions about your hand based on your betting behavior. If you can’t remember what criteria is used for hand selection before the flop, take a look at that article again.

The game plan on the flop is primarily based on the category of the flop and, if necessary, uses the strength of your specific hand to make decisions. Please note, this game plan only applies if you were the pre-flop aggressor.

1. high high card value and low connectivity: you simply always make a continuation bet. You’ve hit the board many times, so you can make a credible bet even when your hand doesn’t give you anything.
2. high high card value and medium connectivity: you always bet, because of the high cards you have hit the board often and can make a plausible bet.
3. high high card value and high connectivity: Of course you bet 100%. You have hit often and a bet from you is correspondingly plausible.
4. medium high card value and low connectivity: you bet 100%. The high card makes your bet plausible and your opponent often hit nothing.
5. medium high card value and medium connectivity: You only bet if you hit top pair or better, or at least hold a strong draw (i.e. a strong shot to a flush or straight). You’ll find that this is less of an exclusion criterion, since you’re still betting relatively frequently, but rather an optimization of your betting behavior.
6. medium high card value with high connectivity: Your opponents have very often hit something here, so you can’t drive them away with your bet. So you only bet when you’ve hit something and are holding a draw. This situation will be so common on these boards that you can consider betting 100% from MP3 on.
7. low high card value with no connectivity: you bet as soon as you hold at least Ace high Often you’re holding the best hand even without hitting, and you want to make your opponents fold. If you don’t hold the A, it’s more probable that one of your opponents has an A on the flop. Especially in recreational games, players with an Ace on these flops will be happy to look at another card, so it’s not worth betting.
8. low high card value and medium connectivity: You bet as soon as you have top pair or better or a strong draw (i.e. a strong shot at straight or flush). If you haven’t hit anything, you’d better give up and wait for the next hand.
9. low high card value and high connectivity: you only bet if you are holding an overpair with JJs or better or if you are holding a top pair or better with Draw. You can rarely make a credible bet on these flops, and you’ll often run into opponents who have hit something and want to continue playing accordingly.

Finally, a word of warning: If you encounter resistance, reassess the situation in any case. For this purpose I especially recommend The Study of the Concept of Odds and Outs.

Summary and prospects

In this article, you’ve learned a method to classify the flop into nine different categories. You do this by evaluating the high card value of the flop and its connectivity.

You also learned how to continue playing against two or more players as well as against only one remaining opponent. If you study the recommendations given, you’ll find that it’s not so much a strict procedural model but rather a guide to getting started on the flop. Therefore, you should not blindly follow the suggested recommendations, but rather delve deeper into the subject of flop play as you gain experience and make your own adjustments.