The flop is definitely a very pivotal point in any poker hand since this is make or break time for many players. The majority of people at the table won’t see the flop since they’ll muck their worthless cards to avoid paying the cost of the big blind, or greater. Those who do pay the cost to see the flop will then be sitting at a crossroads where they’ll be forced to make decisions that will affect them during later streets.
But when you’re making these decisions, it is very important not to fall in love with a strong flop because it could cost you major money on down the line. For instance, if you were holding A-K non-suited and hit a flop of As-7d-3s then you’d be in pretty solid shape since you’re holding top pair. However, there is still a flush draw present which means top pair may not be good in the end.
Still, the logical choice here is to make a raise and either push others out of the hand or make people pay to see the turn. If just one player stays in the hand then it could be trouble during later streets - especially if a third spade card would land on the board!
Even more dangerous than this is a low card such as the 7 because somebody could have been daring enough to call the raise with pocket 7’s. This makes the hand even more unpredictable and could cost anybody who plays their top pair with reckless abandon a lot of money in the end. That’s why you really need to avoid falling in love with flops and instead focus on the people you’re playing against. When you do this, you’ll be able to get a better read on if somebody has your top pair beat later on.