playing $5/$5 buyin $300 - $1,000. Pot is limped with 6 players and flop is 4kx with two clubs. everyone checks around and i bet $25. Only one caller in MP. flop is x. I bet $75 and MP folds showing a king.
In general - how do you balance protecting your set from a flush draw vs. getting value from top pair drawing dead to a set?
Does the above situation change if preflop was raised to $25 by myself with 5 callers?
Play against worse players.
Have a worse image.
Bet smaller.
I mean I don't think you did anything wrong in the hand.
Of course the pot would've been bigger if you raised PF and the villain is likely to call more post flop since the pot is bigger and they are a little more committed.
But I wouldn't really recommend raising 44 over a bunch of limpers. You're not gonna flop a set that often.
I like a raise preflop because we can triple on good boards for us and since we'll see a river we're ~20% to hit our set instead of 13%~.
Also, we'll establish an active image and the rake will be less of a factor. Also, more RIO implications in a limped pot if you're not capable of clicking the fold button occasionally.
