On the flop you have a lot more information to work with and the reasons for raising become numerous and more complex. This is where the strategy becomes more creative and less mechanical. There are many reasons to raise: ranging from protecting your hand, building a pot, bluffing and semi-bluffing, to gaining information or getting a free card on the next round. In most cases you want to be the aggressor if you've got the goods.

First, let's talk about defense: failing to protect a strong hand in a large pot is a very costly error. You protect your hand by betting and raising so that you put your opponents who hold weak draws on a decision between folding and making a bad call. Everyone has bad beat stories of how they bet and raised on every round only to be called and sucked out on by a horrible player. Bad beats suck, but guess what; you want those players to call you every time. They will pay you off far more in the long run, than beat you. Ignore the results of one hand and appreciate that you made the correct play by raising.

You can also play a little offense with your betting strategy and still make the right decisions. This will take greater skill and awareness of your table, but it makes the game a whole lot more fun. With a drawing hand, or even better, a hand with multi-way possibilities (ex. Ac-Jc on a board of Ah-9c-4c) start building a pot right away. The large pot will ensure you get the correct odds on your draw, and pay off big when you make your hand. Just as you don't fear protecting your hand, don't be so timid that you walk away from risky situations that are profitable to play aggressively.