Texas Hold Em Poker and the Flop - A Help or Hindrance?
Along with the two starting cards the three cards revealed by the flop are arguably the most important factor in any hand of Texas Hold Em poker. Players can immediately see how well or otherwise their starting cards fit in with the three cards of the flop for making a winning poker hand, and can decide whether it is worth putting any more money into a pot based on their chances of winning it.
The Flop Can Also Help Your Opponents
However whilst the flop is a help in this case, it is also a curse and a hindrance to a person's objective of winning the pot in that it also allows their opponents to do the same, i.e. assess the strength of their hand and the chance of it becoming a winning one. So whilst there may be a reckless, "loose" player at the table who calls or raises on the strength of pretty much any hand they have, if the flop is particularly unkind it may force them to fold this time which means they do not chuck in any more of their own money to make a bigger overall pot prize. In this circumstance a player may begin to wish they were playing the opponent at another poker game such as Seven Card Stud where only one card is revealed (either to all or just to the player) between each betting round and so giving both the player and their opponent much less of an idea regarding the strength of their hand between each round of betting.
Seeing three cards out of the overall seven all at once before a betting round is a feature unique to the game of Texas Holdem, and is a factor which will be loved by some, hated by others, and probably both by the same person depending upon the cards they hold and the opponents which they are playing in this particular poker session!