Fulltiltpoker.com – Protecting Hands
Category: Poker
www.fulltiltpoker.com – In poker, it is not often that you make a hand strong enough to not have to worry what card hits on the river, and so there is almost always good reason to raise in order to protect your hand. I’m sure we have all heard the stories of players who had a good hand, and all of a sudden their opponent hits their dream card on the river and shoves all in.
The reality of this situation is not that the person with the good hand was unlucky, they simply didn’t recognise the potential dangers and raise to protect their hand well enough. If we take an example of flopping a two pair with (Q,K) on a board of (Q,K,J), less experienced player might be tempted to check and hope someone else raises. If the raise never happens, and several players see a turn of an Ace, Ten or Jack, you could have just got yourself into a lot of trouble.
Although it is not ideal to pick up small pots with big hands, the fact is, that you will be far more happy doing that than letting players see two more cards and getting outdrawn. It is obvious enough that the way in which you raise to protect a strong yet vulnerable hand, is decided mostly by the texture of flop, but you are always better off playing it safe I feel.
Some hands are less vulnerable than others, depending on the flop, but remember that if you raise, and you do get a caller against your strong hand, you end up building a big pot, and if the opponent folds you have picked up a smaller pot. But either way, this is a win/win situation.