With as short as you are relative to the pot and the quality of this board, I think a check-call is fine here. You have an aggressive opponent who is likely to bet and there are really no turns that you’re afraid of - just a couple that might kill your action.

If you were deeper, a lead would make more sense, but any sort of bet and call will basically leave you with a pot sized bet in your stack. I’m check-calling here and maybe making a small lead on the turn to fake a blocker depending on what hits.

What actually happened: You checked and Player B bet about 1500. You called and the turn brought a 2h. You checked and Player B checked back. The turn came the Jh. You shoved and player B folded.

voted check raise but the staff’s assessment makes perfect sense to me. Learn something new every day!

what actually happened is exactly what i pictured happening when i instinctively reached for the check-call button.

then i realized a lead looks more like a blocking bet, and could induce a raise, or a stubborn call, after which a check looks like i stabbed at it and gave up…..much weaker line…probably get more action that way.

lead out here….

I voted lead thinking the same thing _CityBorn_ did. The donk bet looks weak and might induce a bluff raise. It’s risky, though; if the villain completely missed the flop we will likely lose the value we’d get from picking off his c-bet. Really, there’s no wrong way to play this unless we have a brain fart and fold.

I go with staff’s line.. if it goes check-check on flop I’ll fake blocker on turn. If we’re getting bet into (which is likely), we flat it and check the turn and lead river. If our opponent caught a piece of that flop we’ll probably end with all the chips in either way, if they missed completely I think check-call is the best line to have him either improve or try to take a stab at the pot at some point.

I agree 10000% with catcher. His logic is flawless!!!

I think a small “prober” bet is best here–about 1/3 or even less of pot. Yes there’s the chance of a lost continuation bet, but we gotta build the pot and this might induce the big raise. Too many cards kill the action not to get a little money in there immediately.

Good staff analysis.

I think a small bet is way too suspicious on this flop. Try to build the pot through deception. Maybe a club will come out and you’ll get something out of the Kc or Qc.

Check-raise to the aggressor. If he has Kc or an overpair which is easy given the board, he will bet. If he has missed overs, being aggressive he might bet as well. Leading says, “I lied preflop or I had garbage or a low pair preflop and called and monstered the flop, or I flopped a flush and like to lead oop into the aggressor with my made flushes”. I last “I flopped a flush and like to lead oop into the aggressor with my made flushes” is not easily believable because it is so far from the optimal play against villains unless he has you categorized as a sucky player. Why are you flat calling oop with garbage versus an aggressor? Again do you suck? If not, that probably isn’t the answer. So now we’re done to “I lied preflop” and “I monstered my small pair”. So why would you bet? To charge the draws and protect your hand. Do you defend your BB more than most? This is an important piece of information. Are you trying to bluff him out?