Poker's Friendly Flop and Unfriendly Flop Explained
Know your poker game....
FRIENDLY FLOP For the benefit of new players just starting out online let’s look at a good example of a friendly flop. You’re dealt Ace of Spades-King of Hearts and the flop delivers Ace-Nine-Three, all of different suits. The flop is telling you there’s no flush draw out there and there’s no straight draw out there. What’s more you’ve paired your Ace into the bargain. Your only threat would come from three-of-a-kind or two pair. The odds are heavily stacked in your favour and if you land a King at the turn or the river (or a third Ace) you’re home and dry. This is a friendly flop and you would want to bet it aggressively under most circumstances.
UNFRIENDLY FLOP Okay, your hole cards remain exactly the same. Your’re holding the “Big Slick” (Ace of Spades-King of Hearts) just as the previous example. This time however the flop delivers a more challenging Ace-Nine-Eight of Diamonds. Now, despite having a strong starting hand and having improved it no end by pairing your Ace, this time you’re sadly looking at an unfriendly flop. Why? Because an all-diamond flop is pointing to a very strong possibility of someone other than yourself drawing to a diamond flush. There’s also a potential open-ended straight out there which would run away from your King. With some support from the turn and the river an opponent might be potentially looking at Five-Six-Seven-Eight-Nine or Eight-Nine-Ten-Jack-Queen (Hence the term: Open Ended Straight). Proceed with caution. If you’re in late position you will have the luxury of waiting to see what everyone else does before you have to decide whether to fold or join the party. If there’s a good few players left in the hand and there’s heavy betting ahead of you, I’d be out of there. If you’re left with one limper I’d play the Aces anyway with plenty of aggression, unless your “read” on the limper tells you he’s an experienced player. In which case he may be setting a trap for you to bet your way into.
FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS Q: What is meant by an “isolation play”? A: This is one of those terms you’ll find in Doyle Brunson’ brilliant poker master-work: Super System 2. It’s used a lot in higher limit Hold’em. The purpose of an isolation play is to set out deliberately to try to bring about a one-on-one situation and take the flop “heads up” with an opponent you’ve singled out or “isolated”. Normally you would need the advantage of late position to pull this off with any certainty.
Q: What is a “live card”? A: A card that is not yet dealt (or seen) but a card that is still in play.
