[TNixon]

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i play cash games mostly.

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I think this is where our big difference is then, but please feel free to point out any flaws in my logic:

I know that *in theory*, HUSNG play is supposed to be the same as cash play at similar blinds, but nobody plays them that way.

Especially not at full tilt, and most especially not for $5.

It's *soo* easy to get called on a paired board by hands that are drawing to 3 outs, that I bet it every time I hit, and usually put 2 barrels here if I miss.

I also don't think the bet on the turn is nearly as thin as you do, although pot is definitely overkill. 1/2 pot gets the same job done.

If you bet the flop and check the turn, you're almost guaranteed to have to make a very tough decision on the river, because there are three types of boards that every blufftard just *loves* to throw chips at: 4-straight boards, 4-flush boards, and paired flops.

If you check the flop, I think you lose way too much value from people who will call up to pot with 5 or fewer outs, and might even call a second barrel with ace high (kings and queens will usually fold to the second barrel). If you wait til the turn, you get extra bluffy action (which is really hard to take with this hand), and you also lose a lot of the nothing hands that might peel one off on the flop just for the hell of it.

So, I almost always bet both flop and turn here. Smaller than what the OP does (2/3 flop and 1/2 turn), and folding to the checkraise is obvious, of course, but if villain just calls the turn, I'm almost always going to throw a bet on the river, too.

You're behind a fair number of hands, but there are so many more that you're ahead of that will call all three streets (yes, I routinely get called down by pocket 2s in this situation), that I personally think checking the flop is really bad.

In trying to extract max value out of the typical "any pair is good to take to showdown, and ace high is usually good too" villain, though, I'm *really* bad at exercising pot control, which is probably why I get omgwtfpwned every time I try cash.

Oh yeah, and *DEFINITELY* raise preflop. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]