Poker Term: ‘Play the Board’
In poker variations, a player must ‘play the board’ when the best five card hand he can make is comprised entirely of the community cards. In the instance that all remaining players left in the hand at showdown play the board, the pot is split among them.
An example of a board in poker in which the players would play the board regardless of what they hold would be: K K K K Ace, where all players hold four kings with an ace kicker. It is impossible for any other player to hold a card in this spot that would be the five cards on the board.
Another example of playing the board would be if you held pocket fives and the board held 8 8 8 9 9. In this case your best hand is comprised of the 8’s full of 9’s full house on the board. If another player, though, held the fourth 8 or a 9, they would have a hand that beats the board (four of a kind or 9’s full of 8’s).
For this reason, certain more aggressive players will bet heavily into boards where it seems obviously a split in hopes of convincing their opponent that they have ‘the nuts’ and thus getting to take the whole pot for themselves rather than splitting it. This may be more difficult in online poker, where the game is less intimate and readable.
