77: A hypothetical

[akebono]

I'm pretty sure I play these situations awfully, but I'll take a stab.

Hand 1:
After SB's check-raise, I call and expect to call 1 bet on the river. I think I need a showdown to see if SB is slow playing a set of deuces or for some bizarre reason checked top pair on the flop (or maybe even Ax[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]). Depending on our opinion of MP3, I might even 3 bet to get him to go away and hopefully lock up SB so that we can check-check the river.

Hand 2:
I call. If I see the case 9 or 22, I'm fine with it. Even running into 88 wouldn't bug me so much. If Villain holds a higher PP then I'm making a note and considering the crying call as just the price of information.

Betting the flop in either case requires a different kind of table than the one you described. If you've got a bunch of 'fit or fold' players then betting is good. If you've got players who will speculate and hang around to catch their overs, then I think you have to let them tell you what they have and go from there.