[cero_z]

Thanks for the replies so far. Here are some of my thoughts:

KRANTZ, your point about Hero's weak-tight image limiting his action, thus rendering some 2p2 standard lines sub-optimal, is a good one IMO, and mirrors some of the general comments I have for this player. However, whether we're TAG, LAG, or weak-tight, I think that we have to be checkraising this flop as a default, in a HU match. Our hand is pretty big yet quite vulnerable, and I think that the hand plays out more +EV for us if we take an aggressive stance on the flop, which could mean leading the flop as well.

Whatever specific line we choose here, I think our thought process should be, "I have a strong hand right now, and I'm going to look to get some money in the pot. My hand is good enough that I don't have to be afraid of building the pot somewhat through aggressive action." I think that ideally, you want some decent money to go in on the flop, and not very much to go in on a lot of turn cards. I think playing aggressively on the flop, even OOP, is the best way to accomplish that.

IMO check-calling a normal (non-maniacal) player's flop bet plays right into your opponent's hands. You will generally see a bet, and if we call and check the turn, our opponent will realize that we either have a medium strength holding that will not be comfortable facing a bet, or that we are using the not-very-common (these days) line of c/c, check turn slowplay. In other words, our opponent should read us for the kind of hand we have, and make our lives tough.

If we c/r the flop, and follow it up with a bet on a lot of turns, we will force our opponents to make a much ballsier play if they want to test us, and at the same time, we'll avoid giving a free card with a hand that's still very often ahead (on any given turn card), but which is vulnerable to many cards.

Another thing I was considering is that when the Villain pushes the turn, that really tends to be trips+, or a hand that we really want to get in against. Here's my logic: better hands are overpairs, trip Qs, and boats. Obviously, these are all pretty unlikely holdings in the general sense: it's HU, those are just a few combinations, and it makes no sense to constantly fear the nuts. Worse hands are draws and smaller pairs. 77 could push in this spot if he decides he's not folding, and the board is getting progressively scarier, so he's better off getting his money in now. Any flush draw that picked up an additional draw on the turn would be a good candidate for a regular to push; in fact, IMO pushing would be by far the standard line there with ATd, T8d, etc. We have the 9d, which limits those combos somewhat.

BUT, with Jdxd, I think very few competent players would push, given the likelihood of blowing out hands that are now drawing super-thin. For that reason, I basically rule out a Jack in my opponent's hand when he pushes. That brings me back to the "he has a very big hand or a bluff" position, and I think if that's the range you put him on, you have to call, getting 2:1. What do you all think about this?

I tinkered with the hand history a little, for the sake of the discussion. In the actual hand, Hero bet the turn, and Villain folded, which I think will happen quite often, since Hero is usually still ahead at that point.