I'd recommend looking at Championship No limit holdem for beginners by Cloutier and McEvoy, it has good advice on starting hand selection since you asked. I don't think his bet should be called a continuation bet since he didn't raise preflop, you did. The main reason I don't like a check raise here is that you're risking aout 800 to win about 300, I personally don't think you'll get him to fold often enough to make it work. Like I said, I persinally would just lead out the flop to avoid risking my whole stack, but if you want to play it a little riskier to have a chance at more chips, it's certainly not a terrible play.