[elindauer]

You know James, I rarely think the free showdown play makes sense, and this hand is no exception.

You say "the board is drawy', but IMO that's actually an argument against the free showdown play, especially against an aggressive opponent. Folding in a spot where there are so many possible big draws that might 3-bet feels wrong.

The main thing though is that you have so little chance of folding a better hand. I think this is the key point for the free showdown play to be effective... you must believe that you can fold a fair number of better hands.

I think the most common example of this is a wheel draw with ace high. For example:

You raise the button with A4o. BB calls. Flop 238. BB donks, you call. Turn K. BB bets... you raise, planning a free showdown.

Now you can fold all kinds of pocket pairs that fear they are drawing to 2 outs, not to mention better ace highs. Note that you can safely fold to a 3-bet here, and will not have given up much against the kind of hand that is likely to 3-bet (very rare 2-pair / set type hands).

So, to sum up, you should make free showdowns when the putting in the extra bet on the turn buys significant fold equity.

-Eric