[DougL]

You're playing roulette with a ruling on something like this. In a world with no published rule books, something borderline like this is going to be different floor person to floor person in the casino. I would be shocked to get a consistent ruling on this at most places.

Strategically, dark checking/betting may not be a bad play. If you play with a different group of people every session, I don't think dark checking/betting makes much sense. If you play with the same group of opponents often enough, even the bad players may have some idea of your tendencies. Tommy's posts are a lot better than anything I can say on the subject, but here are a few thoughts.

1) Against an aggressive opponent, you can check dark and be very sure that you can check raise if you have a hand. By letting him know it was dark, you can throw off his reads and may be able to influence further action. You may even be able to effectively have the button from the blind during flop betting, if you know the bet is coming from the correct seat.
2) Against a weak/passive table, a dark bet can put a lot of pressure on the people in early position. It may be irrational, but don’t make most of my money against rational opponents.
3) Against a thinking opponent, a dark check signals that you have a big A or exactly AK. You can pick your line from here. Do it with AK most of the time, do it without AK most of the time, etc. If he thinks the right amount to come up the read you want, I think it can be a money winner.

Again, against strangers there is a lot less point. If you play with a group of regulars, you might find a number of odd plays being added to your book.

Doug