[gobbledygeek]

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EDIT: I'm never going to get any better at this; maybe I should give up. I don't get it. There are open enders and a flush draw possible with 2 people other than villain already in the hand. The first caller is getting an immediate, what, like 5.25-1 on the call, and if he called the other one is getting better than 6. How does raising protect us from straight and flush draws? Can't we wait until the river and raise a blank/bet for value then?

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Flush draws and open-ended straight draws will almost always have the pot odds to continue regardless (almost) of how many bets are put in. The thing is, on the turn a flush draw (for example) is only going to come in on the river about 1 in 5 times. So 4 times your hand is going to hold up (if it is in fact ahead) to every 1 time it loses out to the flush draw; so charge the flush draw as much as possible. If you are ahead and only bet 1 BB, your net profit from the flush draw on the turn is (approximately) 4 BB (win) - 1 BB (lose) = 3BB; if you bet 2 BB it's 8 BB (win) - 2 BB (lose) = 6 BB.

Besides, a raise will force 1 pair hands (who have 5 outs to beat you, thus needing around 8.5:1), etc. to call unprofitably.

GsomeonecorrectmeifI'mwrongG