[Nate tha' Great]

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Since he's still trying to get unstuck at the moment here's a hand he played that we argued about. 30/60 at Canterbury. Very straightforward/readable player open raises 3 off the button. Loose semi-aggressive coldcalls in the CO. Mike 3-bets on the button with AK and both players call. Flop is Q T 8 with 2 spades, its checked to him, he bets, both players call. Turn is a brick and its checked to him. Who bets/who checks? If I screwed this hand up he'll correct me around 5am when he gets out of his hole.

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Welcome to Gutshot Hell.

OK, let's give your opponents some hands.

Possible hand #1: AJ. Just on the fringe of getting odds enough to call the turn bet. But that's beside the point because you're ahead against this hand. Preferred action: BET.

Possible hand #2: JJ. Will probably call the turn with 6 presumed outs + some possibility that it is best. Will probably call the river too, unless an A or a K comes, which doesn't really help you very much. Preferred action: CHECK.

Possible hand #3: 99. This hand is ahead of you but you might stand a chance of folding it out. Its gutshot draw is not to the nuts, it's set outs are dirty, and it probably doesn't figure that it's ahead at the moment. Preferred action: BET.

Possible hand #4: AT. This hand could be ahead, but might not recognize that it is, and called one small bet on the flop hoping to make trips or two pair. Some opponents won't fold this to a turn bet, and some will, but since the reward of inducing a fold far outweighs the cost of putting an additional bet in, I think the preferred action is to BET.

Possible hand #5: KJ. Has an easy call on the flop with presumed 8-outer, and will also certainly call the turn. But since you're ahead you obviously prefer to BET.

Those are, I think, the 5 holdings you'll be up against most often. I'm assuming that your opponents are not so passive as to check-and-call with top pair on the flop, nor so aggressive as to wait to check-raise the turn with something like a set, though of course the latter assumption is somewhat dubious; a check-raise is problematic for you here because of the presence of the gutshot draw and the potential for a check-raise semibluff.

All in all, though, it seems to me that betting is the better play. Which is interesting, because my instinct lately has been to check in these spots.