So in this post, we are going to look at how we will want to play on monotone flops. Firstly just in case any of our readers aren’t familiar with what a monotone flop is, then it simply means a flop of all the same suit.
This is an example of a Monotone flop:
Now these are some dangerous boards and it can be a challenge to even some really good poker players in knowing how we should approach these board textures, so let’s take a look…
We Need to Think of Our Range
As we have gone over in previous posts we will want to be betting larger when boards are better for our range.
So let’s say we raise preflop from late position and the Big Blind flat calls our raise and the board comes down:
A♠ K♠ 8♣
We will have all the strong hands in our Range here, including AA, KK, AK, A8s, A8o, K8s & 88.
Whereas our opponent can’t really have any of these hands, they would surely 3bet with almost all of these holdings pre-flop apart from the combinations of K8s or A8o that will most likely flat call most of the time.
On boards like this, we can use a very large sizing and some of the best players will even just go straight to the over-bet.
Why Do We Bet Very Large with Range Advantage?
This is because we will either be able to apply maximum pressure with our bluffs and force our opponent off the pot even when they may have better hands than us.
Alternatively, we will be building the pot for max value when we do have a hand.
Some of the best players in the world will use these Range advantages to fire off huge three-barrel bluffs when it’s clear their opponent didn’t start with a strong holding.
On the flip side of this when a board is better for our opponent’s holdings then we will need to take a different approach.
Let’s assume the same scenario, we raise preflop from late position and the Big Blind flat calls our raise but this time the board comes down:
2♠ 4♣ 6♣
Well, this, on the other hand, is much better for our opponent’s range, they can have hands like 22, 44, 66, 24s, 46s, 35s, 75o, 75s and sometimes have hands like 55, 77 and possibly even 88 that would flat call pre-flop.
So whereas we might have some overpairs in our range that they cannot have, they certainly have many more combinations of hands that hit this board harder than us.
So when it comes to betting boards like this we will want to use a much smaller sizing, under 30% pot is a pretty good rule of thumb.
How does this all relate to Monotone boards though?
Monotone boards are similar to boards where we will not have a range advantage in the way that we can have just as many suited combinations as our opponent will when they are calling us.
It is going to be easier for us and our opponents to hit these types of boards as we can both have a flush draw with just a single card of the suit in our hand. We may also have many two pair combinations that we will want to bet as well as sets or strong top pairs.
So how often and how much should we be betting?
We can bet these boards around half the time using our strongest hands to make up a great deal of this percentage, along with using some of our best semi-bluffs to make up the rest.
When doing so we will want to use a small sizing as these are boards we will want to keep very weak holdings in with small bets and not allow ourselves to only get action from big hands or premium draws with a large sizing.
Some Key Hand Tips
For these tips we will use this Monotone board as our example:
K♣ 7♣ 4♣
- Consider bluffing with some of your lowest flush draws
For instance, A♠ 3♣ on this board, the reason is there are many unpaired hands that don’t include a club on this board that will struggle to call a bet, what will hands like AQ, AJ, AT without a club in their hand do on this board facing just one bet?Most likely muck, so look to bluff with hands like this as part of a balanced strategy to have some steals in your range of hands.
A♠ 3♣ is a good candidate because when called by hands that don’t contain a club we still have equity in the shape of our tiny flush draw and when we are called by hands that contain one high club we can bluff them out when the flush doesn’t come. - Look to Pot Control middling flush draw hands
Let’s say on this board we will want to keep the pot small with any clubs in our hand up to the Jack of Clubs.
Holdings like T♣ 8♠ will play much better in smaller pots where we can get value from smaller flushes and pick off bluffs when we keep the pot small. - Mix Up your game even with strong hands and draws
There are going to be times when we have the nut flush draw or two pairs on these boards but we still don’t want to be betting 100% of the time even with our very good hands, the reason is there is a lot of value to be made from keeping worse hands in the pot. So look to randomise a little on how often we bet on these boards and remember to use small sizings always!
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