Slowplaying top pair on the flop?

[IcemanDan]

I do this when I play no limit at home against my friends who all play extremely aggressively. In addition to usually taking down a huge pot it prevents them from bluffing into my checks later in the game. But how profitable is checking top pair in a 1/2 or 2/4 ring game?

Obviously, you're not going to check the flop when you have AK and the flop is something like: A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] unless you have the intention of check-raising.

Is it worth doing this when the flop is safer looking? I'm thinking if the average player only gets a small piece of the flop (like 2nd or 3rd button), they're a lot more likely to call bets on the turn and river if the flop was checked, especially if the turn and river are undercards to their pair. Then again, it is giving a free card to an inside straight draw or backdoor flush draw or pocket pairs looking for a set.