Explanation of Texture
In Hold’em and Omaha players use the following expressions to describe different types of board textures.
Rainbow – Indicates that every card on the flop is of a different suit.
(Can also be used to describe the turn.)
Two-tone – Indicates that two of the cards on the flop are of the same suit.
(Can also be used to describe the turn.)
Monotone – Indicates that all of the cards on the flop are of the same suit.
(Can also be used to describe the turn.)
Ragged – Opposite of “connected”. Implies there is little to no co-ordination between the cards on the board. “Rag” is also the term in poker used to describe a low uncoordinated card.
Dry – Similar to ragged. Indicates that there is little in the way of flush or straight connectivity.
Drawy – Indicates that there are a large amount of possible straight draws of flush draws available on the board.
Paired – Indicates that there is a pair on the board
Example of Texture used in a sentence -> The flop texture was Ten Seven Four two-tone.
How to Use Texture as Part of Your Poker Strategy
The correct strategy postflop in any game of poker will be heavily dependent on the board texture. What might be considered a drawy board texture in one variant of poker won’t necessarily be considered a drawy board texture in all variants.
It’s also important to remember that the drawiness/dryness of a board texture is not necessarily an inherent property of the board itself but has more to do with how players’ ranges interact with that board. A board may give the appearance of being drawy but function like a dry board since neither player connects with the board texture.
The relative strength of various holdings also change along with the board texture. In Hold’em top-pair-top-kicker might be a decent holding on a dry rainbow texture but loses a lot of its value on monotone textures assuming it doesn’t hold the flush redraw.
Understanding the subtleties of different types of board texture takes a while to master. Only expert players have a strong understanding of how to modify their strategy across a wide range of different textures.
See Also
