Good Flop / Bad Flop

[wacki]

In Hold'em Poker, sklansky says A66 and KK6 are good flops if you have AK. I would normally think A66 and KK6 would be bad flops because someone might have a 6 or a K. Am I wrong, or am I right?

Also KT9 is listed as a fair flop for AJ. I would think 9TQ would be better because of the open ended straight draw, instead of the gutshot.

He says QT3 is a good flop for KJ, better than K/images/graemlins/spade.gifT/images/graemlins/spade.gif4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif or K88. Straight draw better than 2 pair or pair of Kings?

He also seems to infer that seeing a pair(866 when you have AK) on the flop is better than seeing all the same suit on the flop. I understand that flushes are higher rank, yet trips are much more common. If a pair falls on the flop, I would think it would be much more dangerous than three suit. Obviously Q's on flop would be much more dangerous than 6's on flop. But I still would think flushes are rarer than trip 6's.

[Ed Miller]

The "Flops you want" section is a little outdated. It was written for a game played with a smaller blind structure. In that game, people played tighter, and pots were much smaller than they are now.

To adjust this chapter for the newer blind structure, move flops that give you BIG hands UP (move AJ6 for AA, KK6 for AK, and especially AA6 for AJs up to "Excellent") and move flops that contain a small pair DOWN. His assumption was that it is quite unlikely that your opponents would play a hand with a small card in them... this assumption is no longer true.

Finally, I think it is better, if you hold a hand like AT, to flop top pair with an ace than with a ten. If you flop an ace, you will get plenty of action from ace-rag players... and you are much less likely to be drawn out on (since 3 overcards can beat tens, but none can beat aces).