[Freelancer]

if the board is really dry like this one I might occasionally check against a basic abc player. Protection isn't terribly important because most abc players don't call preflop with a lot of overcards (mostly PP's) and there's little value in betting since you'll fold out a lot of stuff you actually beat.

checking is also nice to 'balance' your play a bit, if people saw you check the flop a few times they'll respect your c-bets more in the future.



Having said that I still bet this flop for the following reasons;
c/c one bet or making one c-bet have close to the same ev.
I prefer having a crazy image so if I find a spot where checking and betting have an ev thats quite close together I prefer betting over checking. Since your definitley not missing a lot of value with betting over c/c I'd bet here (if he calls I'm pretty much done with the hand.