Protecting your hand post-flop

[BBOB]

Ive noticed few threads on this subject so I thought id start one. What do I mean by protecting your hand. Lets say for instance you have top pair or better and think your opponent has a flush draw on flop. How do you play it. I usually do one of 3 things. 1)Bet enuff to price my opponent out of calling.In order to do this you must bet enough to make it impractacal for them to call. (in order to be getting the rite odds to call it should be atleast aprox. 3 to 1 on ur money as thats about their chances of hitting the flush 2) if I think my opponent wont fold easily no matter how much I bet ill let a card come off and if its not the card to make flush ill push hard on turn as id rather them not see the river and at this point im a huge favorite and dont mind a donkey call with less than 20% chance of hitting. or 3) being a favorite with top pair or better I mite bet smaller amounts pricing them in, this is to build the pot of course this is my least favorite option because ur asking for a bad beat although the odds are in your favor and also if they miss their flush betting on end is now useless unless they stumbled into 2nd pair or such along the way and u also have to be carefull of controlling the pot size in this situation. This ofcourse can be applied to other drawing hands ur up against aswell. Id love to hear others opinions on this subject. I know these are by no means the only way to play in these spots and are just my own mad ramblings but these techniques have helped me improve my game. It really comes down to your opponent and ur chipstacks. While some players will quickly fold if u price them out others will not fold a flush draw no matter how much you bet so obviously this is the biggest factor. But I really like to protect my hands and rarely if ever use the 3rd option ive laid out. Ofcourse in tourney situations you often just push with your hand, draws be darned depending on your chipstack. I find the 2nd option is best for cash games when your not wanting to gamble off ur stack up against a draw. I hope this gets the ball rolling and our strategy section will pick up. Please chime in with your opinions,suggestions, or post hands that illustrate these situations where protecting or not-protecting your hand can be paramount to the outcome.

[TIDDLYW1NK]

WHEN PLAYING FOR MONEY DOWN AT THE CASINO, IT'S OPTION ONE EVERY TIME. PRICE THE DRAWERS OUT OF THE POT ON HERE THOUGH, I DOUBT IF IT EVEN MAKES ANY DIFFERENCE, YOU CAN'T GIVE SOMEONE THE WRONG ODDS TO CALL IF THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT POT ODDS ARE. PEOPLE ON HERE CALL OFF THEIR ENTIRE STACK ON A THREE OUTER WITHOUT EVEN THINKIN'.I WOULD SAY CHOOSE YOUR OPPONENT WELL, IF YOU RATE YOUR OPPONENT, PRICE HIM/HER OUT. IF YOU THINK YOU ARE UP AGAINST A TOTAL DONK AND YOU PROBABLY ARE, CONTROL THE POT AND HOPE THEY DON'T GET LUCKY. IF THEY DO GET LUCKY AT LEAST IT'S ONLY FOR A SMALLER PERCENTAGE OF YOUR STACK. ON THE FREE SIDE IT'S INSANE, SOME OF THE PLAYS YOU SEE DEFY BELIEF. THE REAL SALT IN THE WOUND IS EVERYONE TYPING IN N1, GH, WP, WD AND ALL THAT OLD PONY. IT'S FREE, POUR ANOTHER DRINK AND RELAX. YOU CAN'T PROTECT A HAND FROM A LOON OR A DONK

[future2112]

for me there are to many variables to say exactly what to do to pretect your hand post pre-flop. one may think they have the best hand against whoever is in the round, but theres always a risk to show strength by betting big. it all depends on stack size, postion or the size of the blinds, but personally i think it comes down to read or how the current table is playing. and then there is always that risk. however, in the long run, taking a risk or showing strength to pretect a hand pre-flop by raising will pay off more oftern than not. so regardless of the variables its always worth concidering to pretect a strong hand.

[OP66fozzy]

BBOB

That was hard to read, try using a paragraph now and then.

For me, keep it simple, if you think you are in front, BET, and not a min bet, it has to be appropriate to the size of the pot. You play the odds and if the other player doesn't know them, they WILL lose in the long run.

[BBOB]

just trying to get the ball rolling in our stratagy section, not become a professional writer. Rarely is it used. The point is to get players actually thinking about such things instead of blindly playing without cosidering different factors.

[Tb1rd]

Really the way to play it is completely situational.

If there is more than one person in the pot you have to bet big enough to get one call really. You don't wanna throw the hand away just yet. 1 on 1 the bet size would be based on the size of the pot to give the opponent a poor risk/reward ratio, however if you have more in the hand, you wanna bet big enough to commit all but one of the players (this is because a call from one person improves the pot odds for the rest of the table), if the player that isn't commited from a call decides to fold then you win the pot, if not, you can rule out him chasing the flush and put him on either an over pair to the board or top pair high kicker/two pair. (as the size of the prior bet should have given him really poor pot odds to chase)

This makes playing the hand on the turn a lot easier, if a flush card comes up, I would actually ignore it and continue playing the hand as it were the flop, if however the board pairs, or an over card to flop comes, that's when I'd be worried. but still I would bet quite high as a feeler, if he calls, I'm checking on the river (unless I've made a set or something like that.)

I mean really, if you all but flop the nuts you can happily let the guys at the table do the work for you.

I suppose a tricky situation would be flopping a straight with flush drawn board, but still, I would play that the way I said above.