Types of Plays: Protection Plays
When playing poker, it is important to learn about protection plays to reduce the possibility of bad beats against you (this doesn’t refer to an out-of-tune cover band, mind you... a bad beat is when someone with an inferior hand stays in the game and draws the cards that turn it into a winning hand.)
Essentially, protection plays focus on protecting your poker hand by betting, calling, or raising. It’s really the simplest play when you think about it – you have a good hand, and you will protect it (see it through) to the end.
So how does betting, calling, or raising protect a good hand? Well, playing protection poker will usually force those with inferior hands to drop out (obviously, this strategy is similar to defense plays, drawing plays, and isolation plays… indeed, these plays may all be very similar in action, and differ only in the mindset of the player at the time.)
These tactics are used to reduce the number of opponents in active play during a hand. In other words, the more players that remain to draw additional cards from the deck present more opportunities for others to improve their hand and beat yours. As a player, it is up to you to protect your hand, and reduce the number of people who will go against you at the showdown.
The term “protection” can also apply to the concept of collusion, usually in the form of riding along with an all-in player in certain games (like Texas Hold Em’). For example, a player (small Al) is short stacked, and is considered “all-in” when he makes his big blind play. Big Tony (who you consider a threat and would like to see removed from the game) then lands pocket K’s, and will likely try to reduce the number of opponents by betting big. You have a marginal hand, but since there is an all-in player who will be there until the end, you protect anyway by calling. This sort of protection play not only protects yourself, but the all-in player as well. In other words, by protecting, you made it “two against Big Tony” in your mind. There’s a pure probability shift – Tony goes from a 50% chance of winning to 33.3%.
Be forewarned: Any player that makes a bet on the basis of protecting another player’s hand is called “collusion”. If the dealer recognizes this sort of move, both players will likely be thrown out of the game (and Big Tony might want to pay you a visit too, so be careful here.)
