Betting on wet boards in NLHE

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about wet boards in poker. For those of you who do not know then a wet board is one where there are many draws present. As a rule if you get called on a wet board then your opponent usually has a mediocre made hand or a draw. Like if the board is say 9d-8d-5s. If we bet 10c-10d and are called by a single player then we can likely rule out sets and two pair.

These sorts of hands would likely raise for value and to protect their holding from being outdrawn. Try to place yourself into your opponents shoes. If you held a hand like 7-6 for the nut straight or a set or a hand like 9-8 then you would probably raise on the flop.

So let us say that you bet here with A-J after being called and the turn card came a king. Here the combined nature of my opponent holding a mediocre hand or a draw would lead me to represent the king. My pot equity isn't good but my fold equity is now very good. The king has likely not hit a flop caller and the only reason why I wouldn't bet this hand would be if my opponent were a very bad calling station.

So the lesson is clear, wet boards and heads up situations mean that if you bet and get called that your opponent likely has a mediocre made hand or a draw but not a set or two pair.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk