[StellarWind]

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Second, all of this raising may drive out other hands, which benefits the guy with the best hand at your expense.

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Eh?

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This is an important concept that does not always get its fair share of attention in this aggression-driven forum.

You have a vulnerable made hand in a multiway pot under attack by a hand that may be better, but you have outs when you are behind. That's the situation in this example where you are hoping your middle pair is good but you may be drawing against an overpair.

When you are ahead you generally want to be very aggressive to force out as many drawing hands as possible.

But when you are behind this strategy may be terrible. Your outside opponents may be drawing virtually dead against the hand you hope to make. Keep them in the pot and a share of their money is yours. Force them out and you are spending extra bets to get nothing in return.

The needs of the made and drawing halves of your hand are in conflict. Striking the correct balance is the art of poker and requires careful consideration of the likelihood that you are ahead, your ability to protect your current hand, and the strength of the hand you are drawing toward.

The example in the article is hard and your read on the PFR definitely matters. You certainly don't want to be raising without a reasonable chance of having a better hand than PFR. Two special considerations for this hand:

1. The straights and other redraws floating around your two-pair outs mean there is some value in protecting your draw.

2. The possibility that an untouchable flush draw is controlling a big share of the pot equity is a reason to just call. Against a flush draw, 35% of the time you currently have the best hand you are actually doomed and have nothing to protect.