[pokercurious]

One of the big AHA! moments I had was realizing that there were better and worse flops and opponents to cbet at. I know it's basic, but it's very important, because when somebody starting out hears "raise a lot PF, cbet frequently," they're liable to do so mindlessly.

If you're lucky, you get away with it for a while - especially if you draw the right kinds of opponents. But usually you find you're dumping a lot of chips when you cbet in bad spots.

The two key variables are obviously the flop texture and opponent's range/tendencies. I'd say you can absolutely cbet J5 profitably if you're playing a passive opponent who folds easily postflop (only continues with top pair+) on a rainbow flop of A92.

Easy things to pay attention to are how much your opponent is calling your PF raises and how often he calls a cbet given that he called the PF raise. If he's calling 1/10 PF raises, understand what his range looks like (very big cards, maybe PP's) and cbet or not according to whether those kinds of hands are likely to have the flop that you get.

And take HokieGreg's advice from the thread referenced above:

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Don't worry about short term results if you are missing and they are playing back at you.

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It's definitely a bad idea to either start playing too passively or start bluffing too much just because you're carddead.