agree and especially true vs guys who mindlessly cbet any flop

and this is another good point.

assuming good postflop players and all other things being equal i personally prefer to play against someone in BB who splits up his range a lot early in the hand than someone who doesnt

This is so true. Most people play way too standard because deviating from the standard play requires a lot of thought. People do not see that donking is such an underrated concept, especially when ranges are wide! Lets say the button opens and you call in the BB. The only advantage that the button has (besides position ofc) is that he has premiums in his range, while you as the caller in the BB do not. But because ranges are so wide, the premiums are such a small fraction of both players' ranges.

The fact that people cbet relentlessly oop, and almost never donk shows that almost all players do not fully understand the game, and this is just one of many examples...

So yeah, initiative and 'having the lead' is overrated.

If you're playing against someone who bluff raises at a frequency less than optimal, then there's nothing wrong with a lot of 2 and 3 barreling after 3 betting preflop. The bet fold is a great play against this opponent because he won't exploit you and you can get value. It's when they like to bluffraise more than optimal that your strategy should change. This is when I like to play the flat all from the big blind strategy. I almost never donk. I only do it if my opponent is checking back a ton of flops, which doesn't happen very often.

Could you give some examples of a spot where you think donking flop is better than c/r?

Whoops, thought this was the no limit section, my bad :x

But my reasoning still stands to some extent. When you take a look at the ranges, you'll notice that they are not that much different when both ranges are wide.

I can give you my exact ranges for donking, but I doubt it will help anyone, because it depends a lot on how you play further along in the hand. Look at your reasoning for cbetting out of position, and ask yourself how donking would be different.

Donking feels unnatural, but always look at the situation with your whole range. Some people say that they don't want to donk because they will get raised alot; that's good for your value hands. Do you get alot of folds against a specific opponent? great for your semi-bluffs. If you donk a balanced range, villain can't exploit you.

I suppose the reasons to bet on the flop are the same in no limit than in limit; to get value on earlier streets without letting villain see extra cards, and win air vs air battles.

I'd like to think a little bit more about this. How much fold equity do you think you have on a flop c/r on a dry or semi-dry board? How wide do you check/call? (do you check/call AJ on a 3 8 T board with a backdoor flushdraw?, do you check/call with Q9 on that board) When you know your check/call range, it's easy to define your check/raise range. In no-limit, you have around 50% fold equity on your flop c/r in these spots, which makes it very profitable. But I suppose it's a little bit less in limit.

any time the chance of it being checked through is sufficiently high.

If you look at the extremes that on a certain flop villain cbets 100% then ofc we never donk. If villain cbets 0% then we never c/r and instead donk a lot of our range. The cutoff is then some place in between.

3 betting for value vs a set range is more of a quick calculation than a decision.

But im talking more about the difficulty of the decision than the quantity.

Being up against a maniac three bettor who can't slow down post is one of the most profitable situations in HU limit holdem imo.

In fact it's pretty hard to know what to do when you 3 bet j9o, it misses, then you get called on the flop. It's highly opponent dependent. It's probably harder to play in 3 bet situations with a weak range imo, especially against players who make negative EV calls in those situations.

Vs your high frequency bluffer I think you get more when you tighten your range to somthing like stove KTo+ then let him fail to adjust and get owned. Generally speaking turn spew is more valuable than flop spew so choosing the line that encourages the former will usually be better. Of course that is also opponent dependent.

I can't say I really disagree with you, but I think probably playing a weaker 3 bet range is going to be more difficult than just flatting. Playing a stronger range will be easier imo.

Is it a quick calculation in NL too? Equity doesn't equal EV, every chance you have to raise call or fold is a decision.