to negate the disadvantage of being oop mainly. Also to remove some of your opponent's read to your reaction to the newly revealed street

It doesn't do this. Your opponent still gets to decide if money goes in or not, same as if you checked after the flop came.

every experience ive had with this in live, especially limit hold em, leads me to believe the dark checks are for soft donks...sometimes when they check dark, i say "bet dark" and throw chips out there....cant tell you how confused they act and usually, they fold on the flop or the turn, which i also bet

Live games are full of passive, calling stations generally. We have 3 chances postflop to build a pot when we make a hand. I wouldn't personally ever give one of those away esp when cbetting frequencies are lower.

There are certain spots where I'm checking my whole range (I play LHE), so there checking in the dark would be fine from a convenience aspect. For example, if I'm defending my bb hu I never donk flop.

From a value standpoint, it adds some value by hiding information from your opponent. Effectively, your forcing him to act first. This added value is almost certainly overridden by potentially giving up the chance to act on that street, though.

Checking dark is a tool like most things in poker...use it wrong and it fails, but when used sparingly and at the proper time and place it can be useful...particularly against aggressive opponents who can be counted on to lead out (especially ones who are really cool and bet dark LOL, one check raise coming up)

I already addressed this - just because YOU know you're checking 100% doesn't mean he does. You give away this information when you check dark.

This is hooey. You are not forcing him to act first, you are giving up an opportunity for your own action. It's like saying handing over the ball in basketball is good because it forces the opposing team to act first.

checking in the dark can be optimal .
u cant lose value moving from 1 full street to half street game.

hence u use check in the dark where u think ure opponent is equal or better than u to cut down the complexity of the street your on.

i mean facing a pf raisor and ure OOP on flop. its much harder imo to balance a donking range with a check calling , check raisisng range then simply having a check calling and check raisng range.

having more option its good, obviously, but only if u can actually use it exploitively.

has for phil hellmuth, he often seem to be lost in cash game on tv, or maybe he use on tv precisely not to give tell on how he play out those shows, who knows....

I almost never check in the dark, but I believe it is good strategy heads-up deep-stacked against a villain so tilted and angry at you that he itching to get it all-in with minimal provocation.

This is especially true if you're going into the flop holding something like AJs, which can easily flop a draw to the nuts. If the villain flops a flush draw in the same suit then he'll check behind, smugly thinking he is exploiting your "error" of a dark check.

I do it in very specific circumstances. They are:

1.) Hand is heads-up.
2.) Opponent is a beginner/very poor player/afraid of me.
3.) I am OOP.
4.) Opponent is the original raiser.
5.) I am bored and feel like messing with opponent's head because I enjoy mentally abusing people at the table.

There is no real benefit in doing it other than occasionally getting a free look at the turn for drawing hands and tormenting weak players. I prefer to keep weak players happy and comfortable so they keep playing.

I was once at the table with a guy. One hand, the cards were dealt and he made a big deal about raising in the dark, announcing to the table that he hadn't looked at his cards. He gets a lot of action. He bets every street and ends up winning a big pot with AA.

I think a check in the dark is quiet situational.

In general, you not going to do it with premium hands because you will want to defend those hands.

Raising in the dark with aces preflop is definitely a good idea.

I think it's ok to check dark as the pre-flop caller. Personally I don't have a flop donk range, which is fine.

He's not talking about that rusty. Lots of people on this thread understand it well though. Checking in the dark is all about messing with the opponents understanding of our range. We're messing with our image. Our perceived range...

Every time we make a decision the opponents understanding of our range changes. If we check in the dark the opponent isn't able to take anything from our re-action to the future card/s before making their own action.

I don't use this move myself, presuming that it stops me from being able to direct the opponents understanding of my range towards specific hands. But, as I think, I do imagine that it would make my range look like it isn't going to change a great deal based on the future card/s.

I can also imagine it would often spaz my opponents out too. It would confuse their understanding of my range. But, I don't like dirty tricks. I prefer to fight like a gent.

I prefer LHE personally... There are situations where I love to check in the dark. As others have mentioned, the number of players in the hand, the hand that you're holding, and other factors always need to be considered.

A check in the dark before the river card with something like low pair and flush or straight draw can lead to a perfect check/raise situation that the other person walks right into. Otherwise, maybe I miss and they're either going to check so I get to show down without adding additional money, or he's going to bet and I can probably fold having gotten to see the last card for free. Sure - I might be losing out on throwing the last bet out there if I do hit, but how many players are left and what type of players am I up against? Is it worth risking 1 bet for the potential to check/raise and score another 2 or 3 if it hits? Do I have only a flush draw or a straight and a flush draw??.. If you ask me there are TONS of factors that go into a Check in the Dark. Depending on the player(s), the game itself and other factors - a check in the dark can be the perfect way to grab 1 or 2 extra bets out of each person in the hand under the right circumstances.

But, I'd also agree it's a little different in NLHE. You could be talking significantly more money by being able to throw that bet in there on the river.

The game of poker is not played in a vacuum. I will check dark for various reasons and against various opponents. Mostly given histories, stack sizes, and what I am trying to accomplish with my exact holding. Given the exact same hand and players and chip stack sizes the correct question is this: will the play of this hand change to my advantage given the check dark? If it won't, then no loss. If it will, and can to your advantage, then it's worthwhile.