How To Read the Poker Board

According to the history books, some form of poker has been played for hundreds of years – there are records of a betting and bluffing game called “pochen” being a big favourite in 16th-century Germany.

However, it wasn’t until the 19th century that the game made its way across the Atlantic to the US, where it was quickly adopted, refined, and embraced by various sectors of society.

Over the years, it has gone in and out of fashion, but today it’s very definitely “in”. There are several reasons for this resurgence in popularity, but predominantly, it has been the meteoric rise of online poker.

This has introduced literally millions of new players to the game over the last couple of decades. In addition to this, there are now a number of high-profile celebrity players of the game drawn from everything from the movies to football.

So if you’re keen to get into poker yourself, this could be the perfect time.

There are, however, a number of things to learn about the game before you can hope to play it well. For a start, it has a language all of its own, from blinds to flops and from rivers to checks. It can take quite some time sitting down with a glossary of the most commonly used terms to get a grip on these.

Then, it’s time to concentrate on the game itself, and reading the board is one of the key skills that will be essential to master.

Reading the board

What, you might wonder, does this even mean in poker? Everyone knows that it’s played on a table, not a board, and the cards have symbols on them, not words. And in online poker, they’re all just pixels on the screen. 

But you can stop wondering now because what reading the board means in this context means is looking at the community cards (they’re the ones dealt face-up so everyone can see them) and working out the very best hand you can build with them.

A question of texture

The next source of confusion arises from the reference to the texture of the board. Although if we explain it a little more here, it might be clearer. The texture of the board refers to the types of hands that can be created using the community cards, and there are four main textures.

Dry board

On a try board, there are no real connections to be seen. The cards aren’t sequential, there are no pairs, and it’s a mixture of suits. So a typical example would be Js, 4h, Ac, 9d, 7s.

Wet Board

This, on the other hand, offers a wide range of possibilities to make strong hands. In this case a good example would be 7d, 8h, 9h, Ac, Ad. There are three sequential number and even a pair.

Monotone Board

This is a board where the cards laid out are all of the same suit which creates the possibility of a flush, if you can fill in the missing cards. In the case of 2h, 6h, 8h, 9h, Jh if you had 7h, 10h and Qh you’d have a very strong hand.

Rainbow Board

This is one in which the cards are a mixture of red and black so 3h, 5c, 9s, Ks, 4d. The value of this particular board very much depends what cards you and the other players have in your hands. It could be very strong for you, or the complete opposite.

Now for some guesswork

The next stage is where things get a little more complicated. Given that you know what the community cards are it’s time to use your knowledge of the cards you hold and the ones on the board to speculate about what kind of hands the opponents might have.

Carefully study the knowns and use that information to imagine the many permutations that they might make available as well as how that could start to influence others around the table.

This then leads to the betting strategy that you’re going to employ. If you think that the other hands round the table may be weaker than yours it could be time to make a bold move and up the stakes.

Or, if you feel like you’re in a weak position but are reluctant to fold, that’s when the bluffing in earnest can begin – and this is where making a study of body language, and being able to control your own, can begin.

Obviously, every hand is going to be different and you’ll have specific information that’s at your disposal, and this is where gaining experience at the table comes in. You can’t expect to be perfect from the off. But the more you play, the better you’ll get and, before very long, you’ll be able to read the board without even realising you’re doing it.