History on hand. One of the best players at the table is 1 seat to my left. He came in as chip leader and was opening 90% because everybody was under average except him so we were folding everything. I played 1 pot with him where I called a 3bet with QJo ( horrible I know ). I then check called on an A94 board with 2 spades ( horrible I know, but I decide I will make a play on turn or river ). And when the Ts hit on the turn giving me straight and flush draws, I bet the turn and he folded. I showed the bluff ( also horrible I know ). So I basically played the entire hand horribly but I somehow won the pot. But the chip leader has now lost a lot of chips and he is opening very standard now. I've shown him that I will make life difficult for him even oop.

Then this hand comes up.

Please keep in mind that these numbers may not be exact but close.
Me - 50k
Chipleader - 80k

500/1000/100
* I raise with A8hh from mp to 2400
* CO calls
* Flop is A82 with 2 spades I believe. I bet 3000 and co calls. I am ready to shove on any raise here.
* Turn is Q, now there are 2 flush draws and I have none. I feel like this is a bad card for me.
* I check ( it's easier to play the hand betting I know... )
* CO bets 9,000 ... what do you do?

I know most people will laugh and me for even considering check fold with 2 pair in this spot, but here is what was going on in my mind.

1) Chip leader has tightened up substantially because he has lost a lot of chips. I know he doesn't want to play a pot with me with weaker hands because he doesn't have any idea how I will play post flop. I have shown a willingness to risk a lot of chips playing crazy. So I think his calling range preflop is AT+, KQ, pairs and maybe suited connectors. I don't think he's playing hands like A2s - A5s in this spot. But I also expect him to be raising with AK and raising big pairs.

2) On an A82 board he calls. I believe his calling range is AT+, AA, 88, 22, 99+ and flush draws. No straight draws are calling. But I've discounted AK, QQ+ because he probably 3bets those hands preflop.

3) When Q hits and there are 2 spade draws here is what I'm thinking.
* If I bet and he raises, I'm sure I'm crushed. I don't think he is ever trying to bluff me off of top pair in this spot. He could be raising combo draws like JTs but he probably expects me to call his raise so he might prefer to see the river cheaply.
* If I bet and he calls then he might be playing AT, AJ that way and flush draws. The q might have given some flush draws straight draws too. I don't think he's slow playing 2pair+ on such a drawy board. I don't think he has AK a lot because he would 3 bet preflop.
* When I check here's what I expect to happen
- he will check behind with all 1 pair hands hoping for cheap showdown. I just don't think he's going to bet a pair here and risk me check raising him with AK, AQ type hands and bluffs
- he might bet his draws here. So I will pay attention to bet sizing to figure out if I think he's drawing. But he also might check behind a lot to see the river cheaply.
- he will bet all his strong hands ( AQ, 88, 22 ) big given all the draws
* The hand plays much easier if I bet.. I know. But something told me to check instead so I did.
* I check, he bets 9k very confidently. I get the feeling he is totally willing to get it all in right now.

What do you do?
* I think a lot of people would consider c/r all in. But I really felt like I'm behind here when he bets. He's going to pot control almost all hands I beat.
* I don't think he is betting his draws that big because he's risking a lot of chips. I can see him betting $5k to $8k with drawing hands but I felt like a $9k bet means he is confident in his hand. And he just felt like he went from being unsure of where he was at to happy to bet.
* I honestly think bet / fold on turn is easy in that spot. And I strongly considered check / fold as well. I'm curious if people think I'm crazy for considering these lines.

yes, check/folding is insane...is the A a spade? Given your previous hand, making it 21.5k/call seems good, or you could just shove.

To be honest. I don't remember whether the A is a spade now. 50/50 on whether it was. This happened several days ago. I should write down notes on hands I have questions about in the future.

Is there any merit to c/c turn and river to induce bluffs?

well it depends, if he's the type of player to float flops, you can check turn to gain the extra chips from his floats since he will bet all his floats if you check turn , but if you bet turn you will lose out on those extra chips since he will fold all his floats, and if he bet's turn as a bluff he will most likely give up on most rivers when you call, so you can check shove turn to gain extra chips from his floats, if he's floating he won't call you're turn bet anyways so checking would work fine is he's the floaty type, and then you can decide weather to check jam or check call to induce river bluff, in this case check jam might work better since you won't like a lot of rivers.

and if you feel that you're beat, go with you're read and fold, nothing wrong with that, the hand in a vacuum you shouldn't fold, but no one here is at you're table, you're the one whose there and should have a feel for the dynamics of the table, and if you trust you're reads go with it.

and regarding his turn bet sizing, if he's the best player at the table as you mentioned, don't you think he could make his sizing look like what he wants "YOU" to see it as?

So I think part of being the best player at the table is he appears to have good discipline about picking the right spots to bluff, the right people to bluff and knowing how to conserve chips. He seemed to be checking behind most hands that had showdown value on the turn and making sure that he's not going to bluff off everything at this stage. He had just been in a mode where he played lots of hands and he tightened up significantly. I didn't think he would be floating and bluffing me as much as normal until he built his stack up a little. And I think there are better flops to float as well.

I agree with you that in a vacuum it's an auto check raise / get it all in on the turn type hand. And part of what I'm trying to learn is how much should you go with the probabilities and the "standard" play vs taking into account how somebody bets, what mood do you think they are in, how comfortable do they appear, etc . If I'm playing online I could c/r all in and when I'm up against a higher 2 pair just say what a cooler. But when I'm playing live and I really feel like I'm beat, I'm trying to figure out how much if ever should I incorporate that info. Because it's easy for your mind to play tricks on you and make you think your opponent is stronger than he is.

c/c c/c non spade rivers

+1

turn check is pretty bad, as played call turn and check call river

Why would you check call turn then lead out river?