Quote:
Originally Posted by sixsevenoff
So you disagree with a c bet when we hit the flop? I c bet most hands, especially in position. He could easily have kx or 10J, and he calls with both I believe.
I'm not saying that you're wrong in checking back the flop, but could you please go into more detail as to why a check back makes sense?
I don't necessarily disagree with a c-bet, I certainly don't think it's the worst play. But it's also not the best play just because c-betting is standard and this particular situation makes me prefer a check to a bet.
When we hit the flop we need to asses how many streets of value our hand is worth. How many streets are we comfortable betting (or calling a bet).
Against bad passive players who call too liberally, this very well may be a 3-street hand. But that's not who our opponent is here. Per your description, he seems to be a good tough LAG. And I'd argue that our hand is probably worth two streets of value versus this kind of opponent rather than the 3 it's worth against someone who calls with any pair.
So, if we've established that we've only got a two street hand versus this opponent, the question then becomes "which streets do we bet?" And I think this is a good flop checking spot against a good opponent for a few reasons:
1. We likely have the best hand and we're unlikely to be outdrawn on this board so we aren't too worried about giving a free card here
2. Betting may induce a turn bet with a marginal hand from our aggressive opponent who would otherwise fold that hand to a flop c-bet - we retain the weaker parts of his range that he may bluff/incorrectly value bet with
3. We protect our flop checking range - only relevant if opponent is observant. But having a hand like this in our flop checking range after we are the PFR balances our range. Our flop checks don't mean that we missed the flop so our aggressive opponent can't just blindly bet at us because he doesn't know whether we're weak or not.
We can't bet all 3 streets with this hand so it's just a matter of deciding where to bet and where to check and I think it's a good flop checking spot.