[Pov]

SheridanCat has pretty much responded exactly as I would have. I second his thoughts with one possible exception I've been thinking about recently:

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When the game is LP, I often have a problem figuring out how to protect my hand...say I have AJd in early position and the flop comes Js-7s-2h. I've got TPTK on a fairly ragged board, but there's a flush draw possibility. I'd much rather be able to make it 2 bets to protect the pair, but when I try for the check-raise, it often just checks around. So I wind up just betting out, and folks are getting proper pot odds for the draw. This sort of thing happens a good bit.


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If the players are that passive, then I think betting out more is the right thing to do. While they might be getting proper pot odds to call your bet, giving a free card is even more dangerous. Your bet may also shake a player or two out of the hand. This has two benefits. First, it may help deny pot odds to the drawing player and it may keep you from being beaten by some unlikely two pair or a better pair if an overcard comes.


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It may seem like splitting hairs, but if this were AQ with TPTK I would be much more inclined to bet out if I thought a check-raise was unlikely to work. With the AJ or AT type hands I will often still go for the check-raise in these decently large pots. Notice that if you miss the check-raise, your double sized bet on the turn is exactly the size it would have been if you had check-raised but the pot is smaller. Your opponents also have one less card to draw so this bet is actually quite a bit better at protecting your hand than even a check-raise would have been.

Of course that's assuming no spade, K or Q hits on the turn. That's a lot of cards. It's precisely because it is so many cards that I'm tempted to wait for the turn since my hand will lose a lot of value a large percentage of the time I see little value in betting out this flop unless my opponents will now fold their KT or QT hands. But if the game is LP this is probably not the case and while their mistake makes us money, it isn't very much. For me lately this has tipped the scales to still trying for the check-raise and I think I like that better though I'm still thinking about it. Discussion is welcomed.