After what happened earlier today at EPT6 Barcelona Roland de Wolfe will back me up on this, don't let go of your cards!

If you missed it in the live updates from the event Roland bluffed at a river with king-high and got looked up. He flashed a king and threw both his cards in the muck. As it turned out his opponent had queen-high and since he was the only one holding cards he was awarded the pot.

Suspicion of angle-shooting aside, Roland's nemesis did one thing right - he did not let go of his cards.

This lesson extends to anytime you have cards in front of you. You must protect them! I've seen dealers muck people's cards while they're all-in, knocking them out of the tournament regardless of what their opponents are holding.

I've even seen players hurl their own cards at another player's unprotected cards out of spite during multi-way pots. If you don't have something protecting your cards it becomes a dead hand the second someone else's cards touch them.

Roland found out the hard way today so learn from his mistake and protect your hand.

-- Matt Showell