[Albert Moulton]

[ QUOTE ]
No he means OOP, so you can control the pot better, increase value, and occasionally cr bluff on a read

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, that is what I meant. And, on rereading even hand 2, the SPR is less than 5. So, if OP's target SPR was less than 5, then he should be willing to get all-in under most post-flop conditions when he hits his hand. So the guys in this thread who said "push" probably aren't making a mistake if villain might be taking this line with draws, TPWKs, and bluffs. I still think fold is better, as soah recommended, but a push isn't bad either. There is a lot of money already in the pot.

The checking OOP thing often works better with deeper stacks relative to the pot size at the flop, especially when the guy(s) behind your are tricky/aggressive.

So, as played in the OP for hand 2, betting out with a plan to either push or fold to a raise depending on who does it and for how much might be better in this case than checking. But I like to explore alternative lines when I see them. I just failed to look closely at the stack sizes and SPR in this case before throwing out the "check" idea.