Puzzles
#13
Board Reading
Advanced
20-40bb aggregate

Which band is this flop?

Three flops, no hand. Every flop in hold’em falls into one of four donk-bet frequency bands, and you can read which one from the board alone — its rank, the straights it makes, and its suits. All three flops here are ones the book names individually; classifying a flop it does not name is a judgement, and this puzzle says where that line falls.

  1. Flop

Hand info

Seats
BB vs BTN
Street
Flop
Pot
5.5 bb
Effective stack
27.5 bb

Single raised pot, blinds 0.5 / 1, no ante. The pot and stack on the felt are one illustrative spot so the table can be drawn — the bands themselves are aggregated over 20bb, 30bb and 40bb, against both the button and UTG. Your cards stay face down throughout.

Pot5.5 BB
HERO ·BB
27.5 BB
UTG
FOLD
HJ
FOLD
CO
FOLD
D
BTN
27.5 BB
SB
FOLD

FLOP · 27.5BB EFFECTIVE

FLOP · FIRST TO ACT

6-max table. Hero is BB with 27.5 big blinds effective. FLOP: As, 7h, 6d. FLOP · FIRST TO ACT.

Hand history

Pre-flop

  • BTNRaises to 2.5 bb
  • SBFolds
  • BBCalls 1.5 bb

Flop

  • A♠ 7♥ 6♦ — pot 5.5 bb

The button opened, you called from the big blind, and the flop is A♠ 7♥ 6♦ — rainbow. You are first to act. Do not choose an action: this puzzle deals you no cards, and the only question is what kind of flop this is.

Which donk-bet frequency band does this flop belong to?