The Great Expert Blog

In Limit Hold’em, there is essentially no way to protect your poker hand from opponents drawing against you. In a cash game, the betting limits often allow a majority of the players at the table to see the flop for a very small price. Once you see the flop, you have to determine how strong your hand is, how much potential it has to improve, and also what kinds of drawing hands your opponents could be holding. If you catch top pair on a scary board that shows straight and flush possibilities, you may know that you hold the best hand, but your pair will likely have to hold up in multi-way pot through the turn and river cards. Anyone with a big draw is always “getting a price” (see calculating pot odds) to see the next card in Limit Texas Holdem, and multiple callers to a bet often entice poor hands like bottom pair to stick around and perhaps catch a lucky 2-pair by the river. Depending on what position you are in, an early raise could eliminate a lot of post-flop opponents. Holding top pair on the flop, if someone bets you should make a raise if you are in early position and there are a lot of players left to act behind you. This forces the rest of the table to call 2 bets instead of one to see the next card, often getting the poor hands and weak draws out. The fact of the matter is, it is very hard to shake a flush draw off a hand in limit poker. If they make their flush, so be it. But if you have narrowed the number of opponents drawing against you, you have increased the odds of your pair being the best hand at the end.