Why "protecting your hand from draws" is a bad way to think
How and why you shouldn't tilt when people complete long shot draws

You hear it all the time - "you should bet to protect your draws" - but is it really good to be thinking this way?  I don't think it is.  The problem with thinking this way is that it implies that letting people draw against you is a bad thing.  That's not a bad thing.  What's bad is letting people draw against you for free.

Betting your hands to protect them from draws works in practice but the idea behind it is wrong.  You'll never be able to protect your hands from draws.  No matter what you do, people are going to chase draws and sometimes hit them.  The only thing you need to worry about is making sure you're betting enough to give them bad pot odds for their draws.

There's really nothing wrong with the term itself if it's interpreted correctly.  Even I use the term all the time in my strategy articles.  The problems come with how it's implemented at the poker tables.  As soon as you realize you'll never be able to actually protect your hand, you'll be affected way less by bad beats and lost pots.

As soon as you bet enough to cut someone's pot odds, it's out of your hands.  They can chase if they want to and there's nothing you can do about that.  In fact, you should hope your opponents chase draws against the odds because every time they do that it's free money in your pocket.  And the times they do hit, well, think about it as a short term investment to keep them coming back for more.

If you are rooting for your opponents to chase draws against you, it won't feel like such a bad beat when they complete their draws and win your pots.  Most draws are going to hit at least 25% of the time so you want to go in expecting that.  Some days your opponents will complete 10 draws in a row against you and others they'll miss every time but it all evens out in the end.

The term "protecting your hand" seems to imply that there's something you can do to make your opponents not chase.  That's not true and thinking that way will only lead to more frustration for you.  Even if you could prevent your opponents from chasing against you it wouldn't be a good idea.  People chasing draws against you is where some of your biggest profits in poker originate.

So the next time you lose a pot to someone who made a terrible chase, don't bitch them out in the chat box.  Instead why don't you tell them what a great hand they made?  You should be encouraging your opponents to draw, not berating them for it.  You can get your revenge by acting nice and then taking all their money.  On top of that, you never know who else might be listening to you at the table.  If you yell at one person for chasing, not only do you educate the fish that it's a bad strategy but you make them afraid to chase against you.

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