Protecting your hand post flop

[Godders]

Hi all, Most poker authors/experts/players advocate a post flop raise to protect (or define) your hand and give the wrong pot odds to drawing hands. However, I've been thinking about the math, and something to me doesn't add up... If your opponent bets the size of the pot, then it's costing you half the pot to call. If you win the hand there and then, you'll get 2 x your stake (i.e. the pot after his raise), plus your original stake (that you called with) back. This to me suggests the pot odds are 3/1, or 33%. If you're on a flush draw, then your 9 outs means that you'll hit approx 36% of the time on the next 2 cards. An open ended straight draw will hit 32% of the time. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that the correct mathematical play is to always call any bet that's pot sized or less on the flop when you have an open-ended straight draw or better. The only draws that would be forced to fold to a C-bet would be a gutshot straight/backdoor straight/flush draws. Is this correct? Or am I missing something? Cheers Godders

[SteveO]

Re: Protecting your hand post flop Odds of 33% equates to 2/1and not 3/1 mate:ok