[bbartlog]

Skoal is an excellent player, but I refuse to see how pot-committing yourself (at least thats the thinking I'm assuming he went w/ since he didn't b/f to the flop raise) w/ a lead-out here on this flop is more profitable than a c/f.

The initial raiser is committed, why would he want to play this out???

This is actually an interesting choice (could have been posted somewhere other than low-content). The initial raiser may not always be committed. If he has a hand that's going low (let's say A247), he might fold here - and SKOAL's chances of winning the pot any other way are small. Also, it's good advertising to play this way if you want action when you do hit the flop. As it played out, oskar had a couple of overcards to the J plus two backdoor flush draws, which made it worthwhile for him to continue. But I think he might miss this flop totally enough to fold one time in five. So I like the lead out. I think you could make and argument for bet/fold considering the hand in isolation, but that's a bad line to take for metagame reasons. So in short I think SKOAL played it all right.