[QTip]

[ QUOTE ]
I think checking the flop is fine - at least against the players I play against (i.e. - could VERY easily have a nine, and will bluff later streets or pay off with worse hands). I do see what some of you are saying that if the blinds are only calling pf raises with pocket pairs in these games then betting the flop makes sense. However, a) will these same players actually get all-in on this flop with 88 or TT? and b) if you routinely chose to not gun it out on a paired-mid-card spr 11 flop with an overpair I don't think you'd lose as much value as y'all are talking about, and the upside can be pretty big (getting value later in the hand, masking your range, picking off bluffs, not going broke to a 9, etc.).

QTip, you did perhaps play it a little more carefully than you needed to on the turn and river. You might've raised the turn (either with the intention of folding to a 3-bet or getting it in, depending on villain), or value bet the river (definitely with the intention of folding to a checkraise).

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the visit here Sunny. It's always nice to get some confirmation from someone who co-authored a good book on the topic that what you did was "fine - at least against players they play against." [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

However, more so than aligning with my line taken, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on why I chose to do it since those reasons were mostly based on quotes from PNLHE.

Here they are from deeper in the thread.

"I guess I could sum my flop check up by quoting a couple lines from PNLHE:

1. Good players plan ahead to avoid tough decisions.

2. Avoid being threatened with an all-in when you aren't committed but want to see a show down.

How can we allow him to give us a tough decision? How can we allow him to threaten us with an all in?

Bet.

How can we avoid a tough decision here? How can we avoid being threatened with an all in since we're not committed and want to be at showdown?

Check.

Does it cost us much to check? Not at all. The value we miss if he called the flop can easily be made up and more by inducing bets from weaker hands. Free cards are almost a mute point here, so we're giving up little there as well.

Also, if we bet, we can expect him to make the correct response about 90% of the time.

"Bad nl players make things easy on their opponents by making plays to which the expected response is also the correct response. Bad players also don't plan ahead, and they wander into traps set by their opponents."

I'm a very active stealer in this game. If I were in the sb against me, I could have plenty of 9s. Also, pps and other hands. "

I'm the king of misapplication. Am I thinking correctly here?