No Mercy Monday: The Dry Flop

In this strategy series, CoinPoker’s Chief Community Manager and pro poker player Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier walks you through the basics of the game. Each No Mercy Monday comes with expert advice on how to play,  and it all starts with starting hands.

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After covering starting hand strategy and position, we will continue to explore the fun concept of bluffing in poker. We started by looking at the story you are telling while playing a poker hand, and we are now going to continue going over some classic bluffs.

How to Take Advantage of a Dry Flop

Over the last couple of weeks, we took a look at some common and easy bluffs including “stealing the stealer” and “the squeeze play”.

This week we will study another standard, easy and straightforward bluff that is very effective in poker and that is called “the dry flop”.

The possibility of making this bluff will present itself almost every time you see some trashy cards on the flop. Indeed, players are usually raising pre-flop when they hold premium hands such as A-K, A-J or K-Q.

Unless someone holds a big pair, this pot will most of the time go to the first player firing at it.”

Thus, when the flop comes with cards like 9-6-3 in three suits or a rainbow 7-4-2, chances are that the raiser did not connect with these flops. So unless someone holds a big pair, this pot will most of the time go to the first player firing at it.

We call these flops “dry flops” because they do not offer many possibilities for great hands. Disparate small cards that can’t make a straight and that are in three different suits fall into that category.

Most of the time, throwing a bet there will be an easy way to win the pot without too much resistance.”

Another flop that will make it easy for you to win the pot will be when the board is paired. When you see a flop such as 7-7-2 or 5-5-8, the chances that one of your opponents made trips are actually quite small. Most of the time, throwing a bet there will be an easy way to win the pot without too much resistance.

Keep your eyes open to find those spots and take advantage of them. However, keep in mind that a number of factors will influence the outcome of your bluff attempts, such as:

1. The number of players that you are facing
2. The size of their stacks
3. The amount of your bet versus the pot size
4. Your table image, and many more!

We will look more deeply into the factors to consider when making your bluffs over the upcoming weeks. Don’t forget to join me twice a week in the Hubble Bubble tournaments to practice your skills and try to win my 5000 CHP bounty! 

– Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier