When you hold top pair... Check? bet?

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Bet, if in early position(check raise if you know somebody will bet behind you). If you are in late position definately raise, I will sometimes 3-bet depending on the PF actions(obviously no three bet if there was a preflop raise and he raises on the flop, etc). You definately want to try and pick up the pot as soon as possible, as 8's are very vulnerable, consider catching an A or 8 on turn and river a gift. You do want to raise the flop in most instances if someone bets in front of you. Try and drive out as many as possible.

[Chex]

I re-read your initial post and it seems you reside on the passive side in this situation. You want to be the agressor and by agressor I don't merely mean bet, if you have an opportunity to raise if you happen to check the flop and it gets bet from behind, raise. You number 1, will possibly represent a stronger hand than your top pair top kicker, two: drive out drawing opponents with J Q K highs(A high hits, your even better, so hopefully the A highs keep calling). Play defense, protect your hand. (All of my comments thus far are basing that there is no PF raise).

[Rosencrantz1]

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You want to be the agressor and by agressor I don't merely mean bet, if you have an opportunity to raise if you happen to check the flop and it gets bet from behind, raise.

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Agreed! As others have said, we're assuming you didn't have a PFR. If someone did raise, I would lay this down in the BB.

I would definitely bet on the flop here. You're ahead of everything at this point except an overpair and, given that no one raised PF, that seems a little less likely (dependent on whatever reads you have, of course).

You didn't mention suits, but if there is fear of a flush draw (there is also fear of a straight draw with this board), you want to make it expensive for those draws while you have the best hand.

If an A falls on the turn, you're in good shape. A lot of other cards are scary (either because they complete a straight or flush or because they are overcards to your pair), so you might want to check the turn depending on the kind of action your flop bet generates.

In any case, I think you're better off trying to protect while the bets are small than checking here. If there is, say, a K10 out, or a QJ or something, you definitely want those people to fold (or to make a mistake in calling).