General middle-game strategy. Your middle-game strategy should be guided by two considerations: (1) Whether or not you have the best hand (varying from a lead to a sure winner) in one direction, and (2) whether or not your board represents your, hand accurately or not. You should play when you are satisfied that you have a good winning chance based on either or both of these considerations. If there is no chance for a representation, but you feel nearly sure of winning one direction, you should simply raise in order to build up your equity in the pot.

The more people you can entice into the pot, the more money you will win. If you hope to win by means of a representation, you should bet and raise consistently in the manner you would follow if you had a nearly certain or sure winner in the direction you are representing.Declaration is a dangerous game. There is one danger inherent in a declaration game which is not present at cards speak. At cards speak, if you have a good hand you can be fairly certain that any given opponent cannot defeat you in both directions (or, in the middle-game stage, that it is wildly unlikely that he can outdraw you in both directions).

At declaration, however, if you cannot read the holding of an opponent who may have a strong hand and is betting strongly, you are in a dangerous situation even if you are certain you cannot be defeated both ways. If an opponent may have you beaten in either direction, even though he cannot beat you both ways, drop out unless you have a very large equity in the pot. At cards speak you could afford to play, and simply hope to split the pot. At declaration, if you cannot read your opponent's hand accurately, you will be forced to guess which way to declare. Your opponent, on the other hand, is in a safe situation with a one-way lock. He will keep betting, and you must guess which immortal hand he has. This situation is extremely dangerous (more so in a pot limit or table stakes game than in a limit game) and should be avoided whenever possible. If the betting gets stiff and you don't have a good "reading" or a sure thing, drop out as soon as possible.