I used to cbet most flops at 1-2 either hu or 3way with AK, but honestly felt like I was just burning money a lot of times and have been checking more

For example if I have a full buy in raise ep to ~15, get called by a short stack and get three low cards, should I just be checking down? Already has 20% of stack in

As with everything in poker ... It depends.

How often do you raise?

Can the other players put you on a pair (any pair) and/or is your range large enough that they would think that you 'could have' hit the board?

What are the ranges of the opponents who actually called?

What position are you raising from?

Based on your example ... 3 ways ($45 in pot) .. Flop 952 .. you c-bet $22 .. one caller with TT. You put $22 into a 'now' $89 pot. $22 is 25% of $89 ... via odds calculator you are still 25% to win this hand. This is a break even bet. And also probably your worst case scenario, eh? If you are up against AA/KK then 'thats poker'.

You will need to determine the range of the short stack and use that information to determine the size if your c-bet. If you feel that your opponent(s) also missed and they might have AQ/KQ/QJ type of hands then you really dont want a fold here or give them a free card, right?

The hand laid out above, if played in position, will allow you to force the short stack all-in after you have evaluated the Turn card as they will only have $40 or so behind. If they go all-in on the Flop you will be putting in $40 or so into $130 or so. This is the same 25% math from above ... So this would be a break even event.

Its up to you (and your bankroll) how to play the 'best' drawing hand in poker, but I think in cases like the one you laid out you need to determine what you want your image to be when determining how often and how much you will c-bet since its basically a break even event as I have laid it out here going to the River. How often will you get folds? That can tip the scale to betting your 'air' here? GL

Depends, you need to consider many variables:

1) How loose is his calling range preflop?
2) What is your image?
3) What is the texture like? Is is 335rainbow, 459 two toned, 754monotone?
4) What is his stackoff range usuallly like?
5) If you have no history and its an unknown, I would go with stereotypes.

An example of a board I cbet: 234r, 344dd, 622, etc. You may be bet/calling off some of these tbh if they are short stacks.
I would avoid cbetting into 2 people if a flop is like 459dd, 568, etc basically everytime.

In a vacuum though, we need more information, there is no blanket statement for success. Poker is situational.

If I'm playing tight AND villain is playing tight, I'll c-bet around 90% of flops. Avoiding flops like 789r; XsXsXs (no spade in our hand); even boards like 9sTsQd aren't worth c-betting, since we have reasonable equity (but we can't call a raise).

To put it simply, if we're tight and villain is tight, we can c-bet any board that isn't totally disgusting for our hand.

Far too broad a question.

But....

If he isnt just a tard and is really trying to play the game (can fold a middle pair) if need, then check shove if he bets half pot or less and you have 4-5 times his bet or more to shove. For most this will look like an overpair and they can fold. If they cannot fold any pair ever then make a small cbet and see if they want to play at all. You cannot allow them to turn you into a check folder with AK when it likely is the best hand often.

Think u mean passive, not tight. If player is tight then they're playing more premium hands and would be more likely to call down especially on a short stack.

Yes, I meant tight/passive. So rare to meet a tight/aggressive.

Wrong question really. Read the COTW or gazzillions of other material about cbetting (although you have to understand it, not copy/apply it because most of it is for internet play when a lot of pots are HU)

Picking AK on its own will not really help your game much, although fwiw I think even a large % of the winners in my games cbet terribly and play AK terribly.