Protecting a flush draw against a large field

PokerStars 0.10/0.20 Hold'em (10 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO calls, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: (7 SB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(7 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+2 checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, MP3 checks, <font color="#CC3333">CO bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, BB folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls.

Turn: (7.50 BB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP3 checks, CO checks.

River: (7.50 BB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 bets</font>, MP3 calls, CO calls, Hero folds.

Final Pot: 10.50 BB

Notes and questions: SSH recommends playing any two suited cards from the small blind in an unraised pot. Was this correct against such a large field? How about the flop raise? Does it protect my hand? Does my hand need to be protected? How about the turn and river lines?

[McGahee]

PF, turn &amp; river are fine.
The flop is horrible. There is nothing to protect. You're not going to win if you spike a 4 or 9. You only want to protect a flush draw when you have possible overcard outs to go with it. Just bet out and hope for as many callers as possible.

[imported_CaseClosed326]

The flop is bad. You should just check call.

[Fryguy]

BET THE FLOP

[emitch]

Grunch,

Any two suited with this many opponents is fine IMO. Not much of a chance of a raise behind you and if your flush hits it will pay big.

You don't need to protect flush draw from a big field, flush over flush does not happen often. You want as many in for as many bets as you can get and your flop raise just faced the field with two cold. I never played this level, but at .5/1 this would have folded too many of them out.

You are about 1 in 3 at this point to catch your flush by the river. So if you can get more than two callers here, you are getting more than your fair share.

I would bet this flop and get a lot of callers. Get as much of their money in here as you can and the check raise is not the way to do it. You may have got lucky and had the CO raise you and face them with one bet at a time. A lot of what ifs, but you could then reraise and many would feel committed to that street and call two.

The whole hand plays differently from there, but you could have got them to put a lot more money into that pot while you still had more than your share it.

Sucks that it didn't hit, but on your flush draw and OESD hands, think about your position and how to get as many players in for the maximum amount of money using your position. If you do this, you will make money with these hands.

I have recently gained quite a bit of understanding of pot equity and have understood pots odds for quite a while. The pot equity theory really applies here and is a huge help to the drawing part of your game. If you don't understand these concepts, read and reread on these subjects while you are still playing at .1/.2 and it will help you kill the next two levels (if not more).

Sorry if this was too long.

mitch

[PokerSparky]

Hey Dr. Modern:

This post may get locked at some point (this forumn is not very noob friendly), so I wanted to give you a quick bit of advice. You should do some more reading (books and this forumn) and play more poker before you post again. Your idea of protecting a flush draw is just absurd and its obvious that you haven't comprehended the idea of hand protection (you're in essence protecting 9 high with your flop raise), wherever you got this idea.

Good luck on learning poker. It's a wild ride.

[ChuckyB]

You're not raising to "protect" you hand, because you don't have anything yet. And with this draw, you want as many callers as you can get. You're raising because you have 35% equity in the pot (provided there are no bigger flush draws out there) and if you get 3 callers, you're only kicking in 25% of the money.

[Jaran]

Just bet the flop. Since you checked, you cannot c/r here, as you are facing the field with 2 cold. Right now, you have no hand to protect. 9 high is not winning many pots. With a bet, you are betting for value as long as you get 3+ callers, which I expect with this size field. Your sb complete is fine, as are the turn and the river.

-Jaran

[detruncate]

Hi DrModern. Welcome to the forum.

Your thoughts on this flop should be:

"I'm very unlikely to win with less than a flush, and knocking out players isn't going to change this. On the other hand, if I hit my flush I'm usually going to win, even if it stays 7-way. Therefore, I extract the most longterm value by encouraging as many opponents as possible to put money into the pot on the flop."

Happy pokering.

[jaxUp]

[ QUOTE ]

This post may get locked at some point (this forumn is not very noob friendly).

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would this ever get locked? It has perfectly good content, and both mods would never lock it. Also, detruncate is dead on.