middle pair, flush draw HU on flop in raised pot

[Aces McGee]

Party 3/6
Haven't been at the table long. No read on opponent. I have been following up pretty much every preflop raise with a flop bet in my short time at the table.

One EP limper. Folded to me in the BB and I raise the KhJh. He calls. Two to the flop, which is

AhKs2h. What's my action?

-McGee

[soweak.]

Your action is to bet and raise. Any reads?

[chief444]

You shouldn't autobet with nothing, but check good hands. Even bad players will notice this. Bad players often do this generally...bluff frequently but then fail to value bet and slowplay strong hands. And since you've been autobetting everything as you noted, I see no reason to check now.

[istewart]

Awesome avatar!

[PokerFox]

witteles is damn annoying.

[Aces McGee]

I did bet here. But I thought about the hand some more and wondered if it might be a good time to check.

My thinking was that if I'm ahead, I'm way ahead; he has anywhere from 2 to 5 outs to beat me, but no more. And one or two of those outs will make me a flush. So by giving him a free card, I'm really not risking a lot in this small pot. Furthermore, I'm giving him the opportunity to read my check as weakness and bluff away some chips. I'm also giving him the opportunity to catch something that also makes me a bigger hand.

Furthermore, on occasion, I'll be behind on the flop.

Of course, there are other considerations. For one, it's almost a coinflip between me and him if he's ahead; if he has AcTh, for example, which is about as good as it can get for him, unless he has a set or two pair (both of which are unlikely) he's only a 53/47 favorite. So getting raised on the flop isn't really that bad.

He also might be willing to call a flop bet with something like a gutshot, but not the turn. Or he might call with a pocket pair, looking to spike and hoping I missed.

I'm still undecided about it.

-McGee

[chief444]

If it wins you extra money it's certainly worth considering. But like I said...when someone bets relentlessly on flops after raising preflop and then check/calls on a AKx flop it's pretty obvious you have something good.

[gh9801]

bet?

[W. Deranged]

I can come up with no good reasons not to bet here.

This is a very scary board. You are not going to induce any extra action by checking. Opponents will often "put you on an A" when you raise coming out of the SB. Checking on an AKx board just looks fishy.

You'll get called down by a worse K, pocket pair, gutshot, etc... here plenty of the time.

So just bet your hand.

[thejameser]

bet

[Aces McGee]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a very scary board. You are not going to induce any extra action by checking.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the conclusion I've eventually come to.

I bet, and he folded.

-McGee